Susanna is a woman whose life story has been a constant source of inspiration to me. From the very first moment I learned about her journey, I was captivated by her courage, creativity, and unwavering authenticity. Susanna’s life reads like an extraordinary tapestry woven from art, resilience, and the relentless pursuit of self-realization. She began her transition at the tender age of 13, long before society had language or understanding for people like her, and navigated the complexities of gender identity with astonishing bravery. By 19, she had undergone her gender-affirming surgery, and she has lived her life unapologetically as a woman ever since. Susanna’s story is not just about survival; it is about thriving in the face of immense challenges. She grew up in a time when transgender people were largely invisible and unsupported, yet she cultivated a life filled with beauty, creativity, and remarkable accomplishments. As a teenager, she modeled for Salvador Dali, becoming part of the limited edition folio of prints The Twelve Tribes of Israel. She embodied the legendary “Asher,” the lost tribe symbolized by the olive tree, and began forging connections with some of the most iconic figures in art and culture, including Amanda Lear, International Chrysis, and Candy Darling. Her experiences with these trailblazing personalities shaped her sense of self, artistry, and poise.
But Susanna’s life is not only defined by glamour and extraordinary encounters. She has endured profound personal challenges, from the complicated dynamics of family relationships to life-threatening accidents that tested her resilience. Yet through it all, she has emerged stronger, redefining herself again and again with grace, creativity, and determination. Her work as a garden historian, picture framer, and mirror maker demonstrates not only her artistic sensibility but also her commitment to leaving a lasting mark on the world. Whether restoring 18th- and 19th-century shell-work grottos, creating delicate mirrors for historic estates, or writing academic articles on garden history, Susanna approaches everything with passion, precision, and a love for beauty. What makes Susanna truly inspiring to me is the way she has lived her life fully, authentically, and unapologetically. She has seen and survived eras of profound change in both social attitudes and legal protections for transgender people, and she continues to thrive at 70, embodying strength, elegance, and resilience. Her life is a testament to courage, the pursuit of beauty in all its forms, and the power of being unapologetically oneself.
In meeting Susanna, one encounters not only a pioneer and artist but also a warm, thoughtful, and incredibly generous soul. She has faced the world’s harshest judgments and its most dazzling opportunities, and through it all, she has remained true to herself. For me personally, Susanna represents everything I aspire to: the strength to embrace one’s identity, the creativity to leave a meaningful legacy, and the courage to live life on one’s own terms. Her story is not just inspiring, it is a roadmap for anyone seeking to live authentically, boldly, and beautifully. It is with immense admiration and excitement that I share this conversation with Susanna, a woman who continues to illuminate the path for others through her life, her work, and her extraordinary example.
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| Susanna wearing a hand-knit Scarf & Beret by New York designer Pierrot Carrilero, circa 2022 (London). |
Susanna: Hello Monika! I was delighted to be invited to contribute, and thank you so much for your thoroughly uplifting introduction! By the way, I greatly admire your journalistic work and have enjoyed reading your various interviews with members of our diverse transgender community – some of whom I know personally. You are an inspiration for me too!
It was only fairly recently that I started to realise I may be considered a so-called ‘pioneering sister’! As a child, I first started reading about Christine Jorgensen and later saw her on American television shows, and as a young teenager,, I read about April Ashley, Coccinelle, Bambi, and others. I suppose I have always thought of these particular women as my ‘pioneers’. When we are young I think we need brave trans women as role models (also brave cis women!). Our role models show us the way and set an example of strength and beauty. If I now represent that example for anyone, I am very pleased and honored!
Monika: I can’t help starting this interview by saying that you look stunning! Honestly, is this all just amazing genes, or do you have some secret elixir or perhaps a lifetime of fabulous style and attitude that keeps you looking so radiant?
Susanna: Well, thank you for saying so, Monika – much appreciated! Frankly, I have had to work hard on this – not only when I was a teenager going through my transition (starting at age 13), but at every age since then. From early on in my journey, I have attempted to keep myself healthy and fit (both mind and body). I have avoided taking extreme measures whenever considering having procedures done.
As a young adult, after some initial setbacks (read as ‘lessons learned’), I made a point of finding the best and safest specialist doctors. I rarely had much money to spare, so saving up for the very best treatment was important to me. And even today, this is still my approach – although I am certainly 70 years old now, and that fact does present its own set of new challenges going forward.
Monika: That’s really inspiring, especially your long-term approach to health and self-care. You mentioned you’ve been careful with your skin since an early age. What started your interest in skincare?
Susanna: I suppose if there is a ‘secret’ to reveal, one of the most important things I did from an early age was to look after my skin meticulously. When I lived in New York City in the early to mid-1970s, I saved up to consult Dr Norman Orentreich, a top dermatologist (he had developed the Clinique skin care system for Estee Lauder and the Buf-Puf for 3M).
I remember clearly the first time I went to his office on 5th Avenue. In the waiting room, I saw the former model Carmen Dell’Orefice – at that time, I didn’t know who she was exactly but I thought she was so elegant and her skin was glowing. If nothing else, I knew then I had found the right dermatologist! Indeed, now that Carmen is in her 90s, I see that her skin is still flawless and, remarkably, she has been able to continue her career! Even after I moved to London in the early 1980s, I used to come back to New York every few years just to see Dr Orentreich. I like to think the effort has paid some dividends!
Monika: I love that story! And what about your personal style? How did you develop such a timeless sense of presentation and confidence?
Susanna: As far as my style and presentation generally, I have always tried to keep things simple, and I endeavour to put my best foot forward every single day and in every situation. Moving to New York at 17 was good for me in this regard.
One of the best pieces of advice I ever received came from the modeling agent (and former model) Wilhelmina Cooper (who was then unusually tall in the modeling industry at 5 ft 11 in). I went to see her at her offices in New York to ask if she thought I could be a model. She noticed when I walked in the room that I slouched – she asked, “Why are you trying to make yourself smaller?” Of course, I was embarrassed – she said “you are tall and thin and striking to look at – everyone is going to see you by the way – so when you enter a room, why not give everyone something marvelous to look at?”
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| Susanna in 1992 (London), a preliminary test for Lord Snowdon's photo shoot. |
As I progressed it turned out I got better with my posture and with projecting confidence. Even today at 70, I hold Wilhelimina’s advice close to my heart. I still use it for so many situations – believe me it works! All I can say is try it!
Monika: That’s wonderful advice. And what happened next with Wilhelmina? Did she help you start modeling?
Susanna: I should say that Wilhelmina told me that day that rather than putting me in her books as a model, the best (and really only) thing she could do for me was to send me over to meet the artist Salvador Dali. She mentioned that I somewhat reminded her of a European fashion model named Amanda Lear whose modeling career and image Dali had famously helped to cultivate in the art scene in Paris, and in London.
Wilhelmina referenced a 1971 edition of Paris Vogue that Dali had ‘guest edited’, which featured many extraordinary images of Amanda captured by the megastar British photographer David Bailey. She also mentioned in the same context Andy Warhol and his beautiful muse Candy Darling (whom I already knew about and greatly admired). Wilhelmina emphasised that she believed I would have the best chance as an artist’s or designer’s ‘muse’ rather than struggling as an ordinary commercial model.
In hindsight, I believe she was actually helping me to understand (without saying so explicitly) that a transsexual model – no matter how beautiful – would need a prominent ‘creative sponsor’ in order to thrive and survive in the world of fashion and art. “First, you must believe in your own beauty and build your confidence!” she added.
Monika: What an incredible turn of events that Wilhelmina saw something in you that called for an artist’s muse rather than just another commercial model. I’d love to hear more about Salvador Dalí. How did your first encounter with him unfold, and what was it like to become his muse?
Susanna: Yes, I am grateful that Wilhelmina offered to at least help guide me – while almost certainly recognising that I was a ‘transsexual’ (that’s how we referred to ourselves back in those days), hence her discreet reference to Amanda Lear and Candy Darling being muses for two of the world’s top artists.
Monika: So, in a sense, Wilhelmina saw your potential not just in fashion, but in art. Did you get the feeling she already knew how challenging it would be for a trans model to break into the mainstream industry back then?
Susanna: Looking back, I think Wilhelmina was really telling me that the mainstream fashion industry wasn’t quite ready for a trans model – at least not in America. But she seemed to think I could do something exciting in the art scene in New York if I had the confidence to get out there.
She promised to write a note to Salvador Dali with a Polaroid of me, which seemed to me such a kind and helpful gesture. I never saw Wilhelmina after that but then after I met Dali I noticed he had my Polaroid and Wilhelmina’s note on the desk in his suite.
Monika: That’s such a cinematic setup! And what happened next? How did fate actually bring you face to face with Dalí?
Susanna: The most astonishing thing occurred later in the day after leaving Wilhelmina’s office. I returned to my hotel room (at The Allerton Hotel for Women), where I received a phone call from a dear friend who worked a PR job at Air France in New York. He said that he had been sent to meet two celebrity passengers flying in on Concorde from Paris. He told me they were the pop singer Patrick Juvet accompanied by the model Amanda Lear.
Apparently, my friend rode in the limousine with them, and when they got to the St Regis Hotel, he was invited in to meet Salvador Dali! It was such a coincidence, really. My friend was very excited because in the course of speaking with Dali he had told the maestro all about me and, apparently, whispered that he thought I was every bit as stunning as Amanda Lear, but unlike her, had not yet been transformed by sex reassignment surgery. On hearing this, Dali had insisted that he return with me the next evening at exactly 6:30! Clearly, one way or the other, I was destined to meet Salvador Dali!
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| Susanna with Salvador Dali in New York, 1974. |
Monika: Oh, that must have felt almost surreal — being summoned by Dalí himself! What do you remember about getting ready for that meeting and your first impressions when you arrived?
Susanna: The experience of going to meet Dali for the first time at the St Regis Hotel was by far the most extraordinary in all my life. With my friend’s help, I had spent the day at his apartment getting ready – he had insisted I should wear something entirely see-through so that Dali could see my androgynous body clearly – at that point, I had not yet had any surgery – only four years of hormones. I draped myself in a long white sheer hippy robe. And we bought (from a Greenwich Village florist) seven white gardenias and some small rustic twigs, which we formed into a kind of sacrificial headpiece or crown.
I remember saying to my friend that I felt like a lamb being prepared for a ritual slaughter! I also wore lots of jingle-jangle bracelets and tiny little bells on my wrists and ankles – as I moved, I sounded like an elaborate wind chime. So much of this attire I was familiar with – having spent some time in San Francisco and having associated with some few of the gender-fluid Cockettes who had been friends. However, I felt very nervous letting New York City see my entire body. Nonetheless, I had in my mind practising Wilhelmina’s advice concerning confidence and “owning the room”.
Monika: That outfit sounds like a work of art in itself! But it sounds like the evening didn’t go entirely smoothly. What happened on your way to the hotel?
Susanna: We caught a taxi and headed for the St Regis Hotel but on the way, the taxi had an accident, and my friend got a deep gash to his forehead, which started to bleed. I wanted to take him to the nearest hospital but he insisted we carry on to meet Dali, so we continued on foot up Fifth Avenue. By the time we arrived at the hotel, we were late – Dali had specified 6:30 exactly! And my friend was still bleeding from his head and my white robes were spattered and smeared with blood while trying to attend to him. Both Dali and his wife Gala were waiting for us in the lounge. Dali rose gallantly to greet me and kissed my hand. He seemed mesmerised by me.
I recall saying to Dali nervously something to the effect of “So sorry, the ritual sacrifice has already begun”. He seemed totally oblivious to my poor bleeding friend, and when Gala protested to her husband, Dali became animated and asked a member of the hotel staff to take him out and attend to him out of his sight. Gala went out in the lobby and instructed the house manager to call an ambulance for my friend. She came back into the lounge and sat opposite me and stared intensely – she said nothing for a long time and then abruptly left.
Monika: What an unforgettable introduction! And then Amanda Lear arrived, right? How did that meeting unfold? What did Dalí say when he finally saw you together?
Susanna: Amanda Lear arrived, and Dali introduced us. He asked me to stand up and show them my body, which was completely visible through my sheer robe. Dali spoke alternately in French and English with Lear, and I could decipher Dali making a proclamation about “one marvelous hermaphrodite” and “le mysterious angel appears at this precise moment for Dali”. What I didn’t know at the time was that my friend had told Dali upon their first meeting that I was known in San Francisco as ‘the Angel of Light’ (this was actually a reference to a theatre troop started by ‘Hibiscus’, who was originally a founder of the gender-bending Cockettes).
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| Susanna in late 1980s (London) while working as a makeup artist for Yves St Laurent Beaute. |
Monika: That’s absolutely mesmerizing — the whole scene sounds like something straight out of a surrealist painting! What happened after that first meeting — did you begin working with Dalí right away?
Susanna: Later that evening would be my first modeling session with Dali. It was one of many to come during the next two seasons in New York. At the time, his energy was committed to numerous small and several larger projects, but the main project that I believe he was focusing on while working with me was the creation of his Teatro Dali Museum and the numerous designs needed for the various sculptors constantly at work in Spain. During that period in my life, I consider that I was there to decorate and enliven Dali’s world. The experience would end up changing the course of my own life very dramatically.
Monika: Salvador Dalí’s fascination with transgender women was reflected not only in his relationship with Amanda Lear, but also with International Chrysis and, allegedly, April Ashley. Do you think this interest was part of his broader celebration of rebellion against societal norms, or was it, in your view, a genuine appreciation of feminine beauty, yours and that of other remarkable women around him?
Susanna: Amanda Lear had long been Dali’s principal muse and his most visible companion in those days, and there was no doubt that he enjoyed an extraordinary bond with her. They seemed soulmates and – I am told – had even staged a ‘symbolic marriage’ ceremony in Dali’s garden in Spain – even though Dali was already married. I believe they had originally met in the mid-1960s in Paris (according to Lear, in any case).
END OF PART 1
All photos: courtesy of Susanna.
© 2025 - Monika Kowalska
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