In 1960, a row of brownstones across from photographer Ormond Gigli's studio were about to be demolished. Gigli had a vision of 43 women in formal dress posing in the windows of the façade. He secured permission from the city for the project, and the day before the buildings were razed, he created this image, which includes his own wife as well as the spouse of the demolition supervisor. Girls in the Windows became Gigli's signature work, and is one of the most iconic images in the history of fashion photography.

Ormond Gigli is best known for his photojournalism and fashion photography. His images of celebrity figures like Sophia Loren, John F. Kennedy, Judy Garland, and Marcel Duchamp made him famous in his lifetime. Born in New York, NY, in 1925, Gigli graduated from the School of Modern Photography in 1942, then served in the Navy during World War II. After the war, the artist began photographing important figures in sports, theater, dance, and society for publications such as Time, Life, and the Saturday Evening Post. His editorial work lent itself to his personal art photography, and in the 1970s and 1980s, Gigli turned his eye towards advertising work. The artist’s work has been exhibited globally, and much of it has permeated popular American culture. Today, he lives and works in New York.