A Look Back at Gloria Vanderbilt’s Heiress Style Through the Years
At 93, Gloria Vanderbilt contains multitudes, and wears them on the outside, too. The only child of railroad heir Reginald Vanderbilt, she was born an American heiress and raised by her aunt, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney in the center of the New York social scene. In her younger years, she was an actress and muse for famous photographers like Richard Avedon and Horst P. Horst, making numerous appearances in Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar. She also later became a fashion designer, being one of the first to dare to take on denim. Vanderbilt married four times in her life—always to a creative man—and was also rumored to have dated Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, Howard Hughes, and Roald Dahl. Today, she’s the adoring mother of Anderson Cooper, an accomplished artist, author, and now Instagram star. She’s not one for selfies, but having been in the public eye since she was a child, Gloria Vanderbilt has a long history of fabulous appearances.
11934
Gloria Vanderbilt with her aunt, Gertrude Vanderbilt-Whitney, who was granted custody of the young heiress after the case was made that her mother was unfit to parent.
21937
Gloria Vanderbilt Whitney rides on horseback in 1937 wearing a traditional suit and tie. She lived in her aunt Gertrude’s mansion in Old Westbury, Long Island.
31939
Gloria Vanderbilt sits on a Louis Vuitton trunk suitcase with her aunt Gertrud Vanderbilt-Whitney after returning to New York from Cuba in 1939.
41939
Gloria Vanderbilt and her mother, Gloria Morgan-Vanderbilt, take a stroll in Los Angeles in 1939. Gloria wears a polka dot dress with a white collar.
51941
Gloria Vanderbilt married the agent and alleged mobster, Pat DiCicco at the age of 17 in her mother’s Beverly Hills home. They divorced four years later.
61944
Gloria Vanderbilt poses for an issue of Vogue magazine in 1944 wearing a striped dress with her hair in a coiled braid.
71954
Gloria Vanderbilt poses by the pool in a one piece bathing suit and hat. This was just a year before her divorce from her second husband, the conductor Leopold Stokowski.
81950
Gloria Vanderbilt poses in her kitchen wearing pearls and a floral dress covered in roses circa 1950. Her son, Christopher Stokowski, was born in 1952.
91953
Gloria Vanderbilt photographed by Cecil Beaton for Vogue in 1953 while wearing a polka dot dress with a lifting collar.
101956
Gloria Vanderbilt wed her third husband, the director Sidney Lumet, in 1956. They divorced in August 1963 and had no children together.
111955
Gloria Vanderbilt wearing a fur sweater, dress, and diamond choker necklace while in the lobby of hotel Gladstone in 1955.
121955
Gloria Vanderbilt poses for photographers outside the Astor Theater before the premiere of Elia Kazan’s “East of Eden” in 1955.
131950s
Frank Sinatra wears an overcoat and hat while on a date with Gloria Vanderbilt, who wears a jacket trimmed with fur, in the late 1950s.
141960s
Gloria Vanderbilt poses in a mod jumper dress, bangles, and a striped handbag in the late 1960s in New York City.
151963
Gloria Vanderbilt Cooper wears a gingham dress and necktie with Gucci loafers while sitting with her fourth husband, Wyatt Cooper.
161966
Gloria Vanderbilt photographed by Horst P. Horst for Vogue while at home wearing a white lace dress designed by Mainbocher.
171968
Gloria Vanderbilt poses for a 1968 Vogue magazine issue against a wallpaper of violets while wearing a high-collar purple top.
181968
Gloria Vanderbilt attends the premiere of Trilogy in 1968 at the Art Theater in New York City wearing a polka dot dress.
191968
Gloria Vanderbilt attends a premiere at the Ziegfeld Theatre with her husband Wyatt Cooper in 1968 wearing a black and white dress and enormous diamond costume necklace.
201969
Gloria Vanderbilt attends a gallery opening in 1969 in New York City wearing tulle-trimmed top with bell sleeves and a high-collar.
211970
Gloria Vanderbilt poses with her husband, Wyatt Cooper at the Nine O’clocks Winter Ball in honor of Colonel Serge Obolensky’s 80th birthday at the Plaza Hotel.
221970
Gloria Vanderbilt is photographed by Horst P. Horst for Vogue on the patchwork floor in her apartment wearing Japonoiserie-styled patchwork, silk caftan with ruffled collar, hair pulled back into her usual classic chignon.
231972
American author and actor Wyatt Emory Cooper and wife Gloria Vanderbilt Cooper sit with their sons, Carter (1965 – 1988) and Anderson Cooper in Southampton home in 1972.
241972
Gloria Vanderbilt poses at home with her sons Anderson and Carter Cooper (1965 – 1988) in Southampton, New York in 1972.
251972
Gloria Vanderbilt leaves a party in a tight white lace dress with ribbon trim and bell sleeves alongside her husband, Wyatt Cooper.
261975
Gloria Vanderbilt photographed by Horst P. Horst for Vogue while in her studio with pantings on the walls and floor.
271975
Gloria Vanderbilt photographed by Horst P. Horst for Vogue while culred up on a couch with flowered printed pillows she designed.
281979
Gloria Vanderbilt attends the “Fashions of The Hapsburg Era” Costume Institute Gala at Metropolitan Museum of Art wearing a fuzzy purple jacket in 1979.
291985
Gloria Vanderbilt is photographed by Horst P. Horst for Vanity Fair while wearing a pleated dress most likely by Fortuny while posing in front of a large portrait of her mother in her penthouse in Gracie Square in New York City.
