Model Helen Selby

You may not recognize the name of Helen Selby, but you may recognize her face.  She was the statuesque beauty who was the spokesmodel for Legg's Sheer Elegance pantyhose as part of a campaign to convince women that this plain old nylon pantyhose felt like Oriental silk.

 

Today, using a model of  East Asian descent to play up to ethnic stereotypes of the Orient and its exotic goods seems highly inappropriate.  But in the early 1980s, when this campaign was in full force, it must have been considered groundbreaking to feature a model of East Asian origin at all.

And even though she does have a great pair of legs, Helen Selby - who is now married and is known as Helen Gumpel - could still turn on the sex appeal in a photo that focused on her face, be it in a closeup like this . . .

. . . or a glamour shot like this.

She was represented by the Elite agency in New York at the beginning of the eighties before moving on to the Prestige agency there, and later, the Legends agency, also in New York.