Perish the thought, but the founder of the largest modeling agency in the Southwest no longer lives and breathes fashion. These days, in fact, when Kim Dawson travels with her husband, George, she doesn’t shop or even note the latest trends. “I figure that’s what I do at home,” says the 77-year-old, who prefers the theater and other culture to couture. “We’ve taken up going to Europe, which is sort of interesting and different. We get lost a lot.” Not that she considers herself retired. “I start to think, ‘What will I do when I retire? It’s going to be dull and boring,’” she explains. “So George and I both go in to work every day.” Dawson got into the modeling game more than fifty years ago when she was discovered by model agent Harry Conover, and she walked runways from New York to Paris. In 1959 she started her own agency in Dallas after she realized she could make more money managing the careers of girls like herself. Her daughter Lisa runs the business now, looking through portfolios in the hope of spotting the next Bridget Hall or Angie Harmon (both former Dawson models), but Mom lends her selective eye on occasion: “From time to time I’ll be curious and look, but mostly, if I don’t look at all, it’s okay too.”
