In her 80s but as beautiful as ever! Model Carmen Dell'Orefice is striking in black as she helps launch the V&A's stunning new fashion photography exhibition

• The model, 83, was at the V&A Museum in London's Kensington
  
• Posed next to own photo in new exhibition Horst: Photographer of Style
  
• Horst was one of the greatest fashion photographers of the 20th Century
• Iconic works include Vogue covers, major designers and Hollywood stars
  

By Ruth Styles for MailOnline

Published: 12:05 EST, 3 September 2014 | Updated: 15:17 EST, 3 September 2014

She might be well into her 80s but time seems to have had little effect on Carmen Dell'Orefice's striking looks.

Posing next to a photo taken in the 1950s, the model cut an elegant figure in a floor-length black dress as she helped to launch the Victoria and Albert Museum's newest exhibition.

Horst: Photographer of Style opens on Saturday and includes 250 of his stunning fashion photographs including, unsurprisingly, plenty of Dell'Orefice herself.

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Still got it: The model showed off her stunning figure and proved why she's still working despite being 83

Stunning: Carmen Dell'Orefice with a portrait taken by Horst in the 1950s appearing in the V&A's new exhibition

Born in 1931, Dell'Orefice started modelling aged 15 in 1947 and has since gone on to star on countless covers and in scores of campaigns, among them Rolex and Isaac Mizrahi.

During her lengthy career, she also worked with some of the greatest photographers of the 20th Century, among them Irving Penn and German-born Vogue favourite, Horst P. Horst.

Horst, a man who racked up a record 90 Vogue covers over the course of his lengthy career, was famous for his work in haute couture - and for the surrealist touches he loved.

The photographer, real name Horst Paul Albert Bohrmann, was born in Weißenfels-an-der-Saale but worked predominantly in Paris and New York.

Glamorous: Dell'Orefice in a striking 1981 photo taken for Town and Country magazine by Norman Parkinson

The man himself: Photographer Horst. P. Horst during a photo shoot with Lisa Fonssagrives in New York in 1949

Striking: A colour-drenched shot of model Muriel Maxwell applying lipstick taken for US Vogue in July 1939

Iconic: This photo, the Mainbocher Corset, was taken in 1939 and is one of the 20th Century's most iconic shots

'Horst was one of the greatest photographers of fashion and society,' explains Martin Roth, director of the V&A.

'He produced some of the most famous and evocative images of the 20th century. This exhibition will shine a light on all aspects of his long and distinguished career.'

One of his most famous images, and one of the most iconic photos of the 20th Century, is the Mainbocher Corset, which was taken in Vogue’s Paris studio in 1939.

Although he died in 1999, the late photographer remains a source of inspiration for designers and photographers today, most notably Donna Karan.

While Karan's work doesn't make an appearance, exquisite images of Chanel, Schiaparelli and Vionnet collections taken in 1930s Paris do, as do surrealist works taken a decade later.

A taste of the Horst: Photographer of Style exhibit at the V&A

Beautiful: A gorgeous 1939 shot of a model in a Hattie Carnegie dress taken for American Vogue

Modern: As Horst aged, his talent for photography remained as this 1987 shot taken in New York reveals

Dramatic: This graphic 1947 shot shows a model perched on the arm of a chair, wearing a Schiaparelli dress

After moving to New York in the 1940s, Horst experimented with early colour techniques and his meticulously composed, artfully-lit images leapt from the magazine page.

But while Horst is most famous for his fashion work, he also produced stunning documentary photos, including nature shots and others of people living in the Middle East.

Along with these, the exhibition also includes original contact sheets, sketches and archive film footage, as well as previously unseen photos.

Horst: Photographer of Style opens on 6th September and runs until 4th January 2015. For more information, see vam.ac.uk

Hollywood: Horst wasn't only famouse for fashion as this classic 1942 photo of Marlene Dietrich demonstrates

Surreal: A Horst photograph of Salvador Dalí's costumes for Leonid Massine's ballet Bacchanale, 1939

Elegant: This unusual photo of a model balancing a ball on her feet made the cover of US Vogue in 1941

Couture: Some of the striking couture gowns photographed by Horst are also included in the V&A exhibition

Must see: The exhibition, which opens on Saturday, runs until early January at the V&A in South Kensington

Here's 20 Great Reasons to Visit the V&A museum

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