Avedon was born in to a Jewish family in New York where his family create a successful retail dress business on Fifth Avenue, called Avedon’s Fifth Avenue. Richards interest in fashion and portrait photography probably started because his families business is heavily focused on fashion. in 1944 Avedon work as a photographer for an advertising company in a department store where he was noticed by Alexey Brodovitch who was a director for a fashion magazine called Harper's Bazaar.
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