[8] She moved from Sweden to Paris to train for ballet (after participating with choreographer Astrid Malmborg in an international competition) and worked as a private dance teacher with Fernand Fonssagrives,[8] which then led to a modeling career.

[5][8] In July 1939, she appeared in the German illustrated weekly Der Stern and was photographed also by André Steiner.

[11] Her image appeared on the cover of many magazines during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s,[12][9] including Town & Country, Life, Time, Vogue, and the original Vanity Fair.

[3] Fonssagrives died, aged 80, in New York, survived by her second husband, Irving Penn, and her two children: her daughter Mia Fonssagrives-Solow, a fashion and jewelry designer and sculptor who was married to real estate developer and art collector Sheldon Solow, and her son, Tom Penn, a designer.

[18] The Elton John photography collection auction, held by Christie's on 15 October 2004, sold a 1950 Irving Penn photograph of Fonssagrives for $57,360.