Her parents married when they were around 17 or 18 years old and Elizabeth promptly gave birth to three daughters in quick succession: Dorian, Florian "Cissie" (1918–2010), and Georgiabell (1921–1988).

[3] Thirteen years after the birth of her third daughter, Elizabeth believed she was going through menopause and was shocked to discover that she was pregnant.

[5] Dorian graduated from Newton High School in Queens, New York, in 1935 and enrolled at Randolph-Macon Women's College in Lynchburg, Virginia.

After college, Dorian worked as a file clerk at a department store in Manhattan and as a tabulator, keeping track of radio program ratings.

After failing to be promoted because she was a woman and because of a wartime freeze on positions, Dorian quit and took a job with Republic Pictures as an apprentice copywriter.

"[10] Vreeland asked Dorian to return the next day, to be photographed for the cover of the June 1944 issue of Harper's Bazaar, her very first modeling assignment.

When Dorian became an enormous success though, they thought it was acceptable that their youngest daughter Suzy use the Parker last name when she also became a famous model.

Their second eldest daughter, Florian, also had modeling photos in Vogue and Harper's Bazaar, but quit when she married a man in the military, and was living in Oahu when Pearl Harbor was bombed in 1941.

Dorian quickly became busy with modeling assignments, landing on the covers of major magazines such as Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Paris Match, LIFE, and Elle.

Because of her schedule, Dorian's two children were sent to live with her parents in Florida, while she was based in New York City and traveling to Europe.

She worked with famous fashion photographers Irving Penn, John Rawlings, Cecil Beaton, and Paul Radkai.

On one assignment, she argued with Paul Radkai's wife Karen, who wanted to be a fashion photographer and to take many extra, and free, photos of Dorian for her portfolio.

Capote was fascinated by Dorian's lifestyle of non-stop men, coming and goings, and having a store across the street handle her phone calls, since there were no answering machines back in the early 1950s.

Capote's character Holly Golightly in his famous 1958 novel Breakfast at Tiffany's is said to be largely based on Dorian's life, as well as socialite Gloria Vanderbilt's.

Dorian's first ad was for "Fatal Apple" and was followed by "Sheer Dynamite," "Ultraviolet", "Fashion Plate", and "Cherries in the Snow."

In this two-page advertisement, Dorian is wearing a very tight, silver sequined gown swathed in a huge red wrap that was copied from a Balenciaga original.

Florian was married to an army officer and Mehle was the youngest Navy commander and fighter ace during WWII.

[14] Dorian's two older children, who were being raised by her parents in Pomona Park, Florida, came to live with the couple in Pennsylvania.

One day, at a photographer's studio, Dorian met a young fashion stylist named Eileen Ford.

The Fords were shocked during their initial meeting to see that Suzy was almost six inches taller than Dorian and had a larger frame, bright red hair, freckles, and green eyes.

Dorian became pregnant by him, but chose to have an abortion because she feared Mehle would divorce her and take full custody of their daughter Young Eve.

[17] Dorian continued her affair with Fon, even though his wife Carroll gave birth to their son Anthony de Portago around 1954.

To avoid a scandalous illegitimate pregnancy and the interest of gossip columnists in the United States, Dorian left her three other children with her parents in Florida and fled to Paris and then Switzerland.

In Switzerland, she spent time with Charlie Chaplin's large family before giving birth to her son Kim Blas Parker on September 27, 1955.

[19] Portago, still married, was now also openly dating actress Linda Christian, the ex-wife of actor Tyrone Power, in early 1957.

He told her that he was entering the famous Mille Miglia car race in Italy on May 8, 1957, and Carroll was supposed to sign their divorce papers on May 9.

During a solo ski vacation to Klosters, Switzerland, over Christmas 1960, 43-year-old Dorian slept with four men in one week in an attempt to get pregnant.

However, Dorian soon discovered that Kim had developed a serious drug addiction, and she sent him to live with her sister Suzy in California briefly.

Kim then returned to New York, and only six months after Dorian had resettled and reunited with him, he jumped 33 floors from his apartment window to his death, leaving a suicide note behind.

She also worked with Martha Stewart in the early 1980s and wrote two cookbooks, Pancakes: From Flapjacks to Crepes (1987) and Doughnuts: Over 3 Dozen Crullers, Fritters and Other Treats (1994) at the age of 77.