Jane Holzer (née Brukenfeld; born October 23, 1940), also known as Baby Jane, is an American model, actress, art collector, and real estate investor. She rose to prominence during the 1960s as Pop artist Andy Warhol's first "Superstar."
Known for her voluminous teased blonde hair, Holzer emerged as an influential figure in the international fashion scene and became emblematic of a new form of media celebrity in the 1960s. A muse to photographer David Bailey, she was described by Vogue editor-in-chief Diana Vreeland as "the most contemporary girl I know." She appeared on the cover of British Vogue and Show magazine in 1964. That same year, journalist Tom Wolfe heralded her as the "Girl of the Year," recognizing her as a symbol of the era's emerging youth culture and changing social landscape. Holzer starred in several of Warhol's underground films, including Soap Opera (1964), Couch (1964), Batman Dracula (1964), and Camp (1965). In 1966, Women's Wear Daily named her one of New York's "fashion revolutionaries." She later established a successful career as a real estate investor in Palm Beach.
Jane Brukenfeld was born and raised in Palm Beach, Florida, the daughter of real estate and insurance investor Carl Brukenfeld (1906–1962). Her family's wealth derived from extensive real estate holdings throughout Florida, including numerous properties in Palm Beach and more than eight miles of oceanfront land on Merritt Island, now part of Cape Canaveral. Her father and grandfather, Morris Brukenfeld, were active in the development of Worth Avenue, helping to found the Worth Avenue Merchants Association and constructing several commercial buildings along the avenue. In 1951, her father established the Brukenfeld Family Foundation, a philanthropic organization.
She grew up in a Jewish household and attended Palm Beach High School for a year before transferring to Cherry Lawn School in Darien, Connecticut.
Brukenfeld was admitted to Finch Junior College in Manhattan, but she spent most of her time at dancing at El Morocco, and "flunked out of college on purpose to become a model."
Before her marriage, Jane Holzer modeled professionally under her maiden name, Jane Brukenfeld, in New York and Paris. She was scheduled to walk in Hubert de Givenchy's Paris couture presentations but left the city shortly before the shows to marry Leonard Holzer.
In April 1963, the British magazine Tatler and Bystander profiled Holzer in its series of beauty in fashion, describing her as an elegant young American socialite whose style was reminiscent of Grace Kelly. The magazine highlighted her Paris wardrobe, her preference for the designs of Coco Chanel, Balenciaga, Yves Saint Laurent, and Hermès, and suggested that she was a future contender for the International Best Dressed List. It also compared her appearance to that of Italian actress Monica Vitti.
Later in 1963, Holzer's modeling career gained momentum after she traveled to London, where she was photographed by David Bailey. In a 1964 interview with Tom Wolfe, Holzer credited Bailey with launching her career, saying, "Bailey created four girls that summer. He created Jean Shrimpton, he created me, he created Angela Howard and Susan Murray. There's no photographer like that in America. Avedon hasn’t done that for a girl, Penn hasn't, and Bailey created four girls in one summer. He did some pictures of me for the English Vogue, and that was all it took."
The earliest known published use of her nickname "Baby Jane" appeared in October 1963, when society columnist Cholly Knickerbocker reported on Holzer's shopping trip in Paris. The sobriquet remained associated with her throughout her career. According to Holzer, the nickname had been jokingly given to her by Women's Wear Daily columnist Carol Bjorkman as a reference to the 1962 film What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? Although Bjorkman did not refer to Holzer as "Baby Jane" in her "Carol Says" column until October 1964, Holzer credited her with originating the nickname.
During the summer of 1964, Holzer attracted the attention of Diana Vreeland, editor-in-chief of Vogue, while attending the Paris haute couture collections as a private client. Impressed by Holzer's distinctive appearance, particularly her teased hairstyle, Vreeland described her as "the most contemporary girl I know." She recalled later that year, "She just happened to have the greatest head of hair. And a tiny face like a narcissus. Lovely bones. She just looked great. That's all anyone's supposed to look. She just looked super." Vreeland invited Holzer to model for Vogue, and her first photographs appeared in the magazine's October 1, 1964, issue.
Holzer's hairstyle, which contrasted with the short, sculpted cuts promoted by leading Parisian hairdressers at the time, became a subject of discussion during the couture season. Vogue presented her as a symbol of individuality in fashion, describing her as "the perfect case for individuality at the top of the silhouette." Her appearance helped popularize a renewed interest in voluminous hairstyles, and she subsequently appeared on the cover of the November 1964 issues of British Vogue and Show, the magazine of the arts.
In June 1964, Holzer first met Warhol when British magazine editor Nicky Haslam arranged a party at Holzer's Park Avenue apartment in Manhattan. The gathering also marked Warhol's first meeting with musician Mick Jagger, who was concluding his first American tour with the Rolling Stones. A few days later Holzer later encountered Warhol in front of Bloomingdale's, and he invited her to appear in his films. Warhol recalled in his 1980 memoir POPism: The Warhol '60s that he was drawn to Holzer's beauty and enthusiasm. She "wanted to do everything" and eagerly accepted his invitation to become a Warhol superstar. "Andy calls everything super," said Holzer in 1964. "I'm a super star, he's a super-director, we make super epics—and I mean, it's a completely new and natural way of acting. You can't imagine what really beautiful things can happen!"
The first film they worked on together was Soap Opera (1964). Between 1964 and 1965, Holzer appeared in ten of Warhol's Screen Tests and performed without payment in several of his underground films, including Couch (1964), Batman Dracula (1964), and Camp (1965). Her appearances in Warhol's films helped establish her as one of the most recognizable personalities in the avant-garde New York scene.
In December 1964, Holzer gained further recognition when journalist Tom Wolfe profiled her in the New York Herald Tribune, naming her the "Girl of the Year" and presenting her as a symbol of the emerging youth culture of the 1960s. The profile also quoted Vogue editor-in-chief Diana Vreeland, who described Holzer as "the most contemporary girl I know." Wolfe discussed the "Mods and Rockers Ball," a party held in October 1964 at photographer Jerry Schatzberg's studio to celebrate the Rolling Stones during their second American tour. The event coincided with Holzer's 24th birthday, and she was presented with a birthday cake.
Holzer's growing prominence was reflected in the December 7, 1964, issue of Newsweek, which described her as a Warhol superstar. The magazine wrote that, with her "mane of blond hair, her hyper-thyroid drive and buckshot hedonism," she epitomized "the pants-wearing young set who feed on the hybrid world of pop, flick, and hip."
On December 14, 1964, The New York Times fashion journalist Marilyn Bender identified Holzer as emblematic of a changing social order in which young socialites, rather than aristocrats or actresses, were setting fashion trends. Bender wrote that Holzer "symbolizes the new society and the new style" and quoted her as saying, "There is no class any more. Everybody is equal."
In the March 19, 1965, issue of Life, Holzer was featured in the article "Underground Clothes," in which she was photographed with a projected image from one of Warhol's films. In the same issue, she was profiled in the article "Way-out Baby Jane Is Really In," which described her as one of the first to embrace the avant-garde fashions of André Courrèges and emerging English designers.