Antoinette Frissell Bacon (born in 1907), known as Toni Frissell, was an American photographer known for her fashion photography, World War II photographs, and portraits of famous Americans, Europeans, children, and women from all walks of life.

Innovative in approach, Frissell was the first to photograph her formally dressed models outside, in natural sunlight, instead of in the usual studio setting. Striving for a natural look, she didn’t pose her subjects either. She explained, “I try to make them look not like Powers girls modelling, but like human beings.” Frissell was with Vogue for eleven years, before signing on with Harper’s Bazaar in 1931. 

Frissell followed her career in fashion by volunteering to serve as a pictorial historian for the Red Cross when World War II began. She spent ten weeks photographing in England and Scotland in 1941 and later covered assignments in other parts of the world for the American Army Air Forces and as a freelancer for a number of publications. Employed by the Office of War Information, Frissell also served as official photographer of the Women’s Army Corps, receiving a star and two overseas stripes for her work at the front as a wartime correspondent. Frissell also became the first female staff photographer for Sports Illustrated magazine in 1953, and was one of the few female sports photographers for several decades.

 

Frissell died in 1988.