Susie Owens
{{Short description|American model and businesswoman (born 1956)}}
{{for|other people with the same name|Susan Owens (disambiguation)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2019}}
{{Infobox Playboy Playmate
| image =
| imagesize = 150px
| caption =
| name = Susie Owens
| issue = March 1988
| birth_name =
| birth_place = Arkansas City, Kansas, US
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1956|5|28|mf=y}}
| height = {{height|ft=5|in=8}}
| preceded = Kari Kennell
| succeeded = Eloise Broady
}}
Susie Diane Owens (born May 28, 1956) is an American model and businesswoman. She was featured as Playboy{{'s}} Playmate of the Month for March 1988. From 1988 to 2016, she worked in the perfume business, creating the fragrances Child for women and Heir for men.
Early life and education
Owens was born on May 28, 1956, in Arkansas City, Kansas,{{cite web |title=Susie Owens |url=https://www.playboy.com/susie-owens|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150217055849/https://www.playboy.com/susie-owens |website=Playboy |access-date=November 10, 2019 |archive-date=February 17, 2015}} and raised in Oklahoma.{{cite news |title=Dallas perfumer, a former Playboy centerfold, finds her calling in handcrafted scent |url=https://www.dallasnews.com/arts-entertainment/2013/10/12/dallas-perfumer-a-former-playboy-centerfold-finds-her-calling-in-handcrafted-scent/ |access-date=November 10, 2019 |work=Dallas News |date=October 12, 2013 |language=en}} She obtained a nursing degree and worked in Dallas as a model and stripper.
Career
=Model and actress=
In 1983 Owens appeared in her first Playboy pictorial. She was featured as Playboy{{'s}} Playmate of the Month for March 1988, when she was 31. Afterwards, she moved to Los Angeles, living in the Playboy Mansion. She dated rock star Bret Michaels and worked as a B-movie actress.{{cite magazine |last1=Figueiredo |first1=Tiffany |title=The Rise Of A Cult-Fave Perfume |url=http://digital.360westmagazine.com/publication/?i=18420&article_id=176433&view=articleBrowser&ver=html5#{%22issue_id%22:18420,%22view%22:%22articleBrowser%22,%22article_id%22:%22176433%22} |access-date=November 10, 2019 |magazine=360 West |date=July 2009 |pages=46–47}}{{cite magazine |last1=Brendan |first1=McNally |title=Q&A With Susan D. Owens |url=https://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/2010/january/q-and-a-with-susan-d-owens/ |access-date=November 10, 2019 |magazine=D Magazine |date=January 2010 |language=en}}
Owens also worked as a mascot for the Golden Apple Comics stores, playing Flaxen, a dowdy nurse who is transformed into an attractive blonde superheroine who must investigate fraud in a nuclear power plant.{{cite AV media|work=CNN|title='Flaxen' Comic Book Character Mirrors Creator's Life|last=Hilliard|first=Gloria|date=April 23, 1993|via=LexisNexis|url=https://advance.lexis.com/api/permalink/deeea450-2de1-4df6-a8e2-dab40fc5252f/}}{{cite news |last1=Bibisi |first1=Suzan |title=Frumpy Nurse Now Superhero – A living wonder woman and Playboy pinup |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&docref=news/0EB4F4FFDED9748B&f=basic |work=San Francisco Chronicle |date=April 14, 1993|via=NewsBank}} Her portrayal of Flaxen served as the basis for the 1992 comic book of the same name,{{cite news |last1=Herrick |first1=Lynn |title=Comic books discover the real super woman|url=https://advance.lexis.com/api/permalink/0477c23f-913b-4ca3-8a88-f274c18abbb8/|access-date=November 10, 2019 |work=Orange County Register |date=November 22, 1994|via=LexisNexis}} The 1992 Comics was written by Mark Evanier and drawn by Richard Howell with ink by Tim Burgard and Jim Mooney, the cover is a painting by Steve Rude and published by 'Golden Apple Comics' Distributed by Dark Horse Comics A second comic book, Flaxen: Alter-Ego was produced in 1995 and was written by James Hudnall, pencilled by Brian Michael Bendis, and inked by David W. Mack it was Published Caliber Press,{{cite web |last1=Kreiner |first1=Rich |title=5,137 Pages of Brian Michael Bendis |url=http://archives.tcj.com/271/r_bendis.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120323193657/http://archives.tcj.com/271/r_bendis.html |archive-date=March 23, 2012|website=The Comics Journal |access-date=November 10, 2019 |date=March 23, 2012}} as well as the 1995 sequel Flaxen: Alter Ego.{{cite web |last1=Hudnall |first1=James |title=Bibliography |url=http://jameshudnall.com/about-2/bibliography/ |website=jameshudnall.com |date=January 31, 2010}}
=Perfume business=
In 1988, Owens experimented with perfume supplies, creating the fragrance she would later call "Child". She began to wear it herself, and then to bottle small batches for sale in Fred Segal's Apothia and other boutiques.{{cite news |last1=Mitchell |first1=Keri |title=Susan Owens Q&A |url=https://lakewood.advocatemag.com/2006/09/01/susan-owens-qa-2/ |access-date=November 10, 2019 |work=Advocate: Lakewood/East Dallas |date=September 1, 2006}} Following the 1994 Northridge earthquake and the death of her father, Owens decided to give up her career at Playboy and return to Dallas. She worked as a nurse in a plastic surgery practice, while continuing to sell perfume on the side under the name Susan D. Owens.
In 2000, the actress Jennie Garth told InStyle magazine that Child "drives men wild", causing a sharp increase in demand. Owens left her nursing job and began making fragrances full-time. In addition to Child, she developed the men's scent Heir.{{cite news |last1=Walter |first1=Sarah |title=Not a Perfume Person? Try Fragrance Oils |url=https://www.instyle.com/news/not-perfume-person-try-fragrance-oils |work=InStyle |access-date=November 10, 2019 |language=en |date=December 20, 2014}} She blended and bottled the products by hand in her garage; by 2006, she was producing 50,000 bottles of Child perfume and lotion per year. Child acquired a cult following, with celebrities such as Madonna and Jennifer Aniston reportedly using it. A reporter for the lifestyle magazine 360 West characterised Child as "a heady white jasmine-based fragrance". In 2013, a 1-ounce bottle cost almost {{US$|100}}. Owens sold the business in 2016 to the cosmetics retailer Beautyhabit.{{cite news |last1=Osinski |first1=Nichole |title=Child perfume owner sells business |url=https://lakewood.advocatemag.com/2016/11/11/child-perfume-owner-sells-business/ |access-date=November 10, 2019 |work=Advocate: Lakewood/East Dallas |date=November 11, 2016}}
Personal life
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{playmate|susie-owens|Susie Owens}}
- {{IMDb name|0654466|Susie Owens}}
{{Playmates of 1988}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Owens, Susie}}
Category:Actresses from Kansas
Category:American cosmetics businesspeople
Category:1980s Playboy Playmates
Category:Businesspeople from Kansas
Category:Businesspeople from Dallas