Friday, December 19, 2008
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Bill Blass to Close
Verushka, wearing Bill Blass, photographed by Richard Avedon, January 1967
By Eric Wilson
Nearly a decade after Bill Blass retired from Seventh Avenue, the company that bears his name is closing, with many of its remaining staff expected to leave this week. According to current and former designers who have carried on the collection in recent years, the company will close its showroom at 550 Seventh Avenue and eliminate about 30 remaining jobs there as early as Friday.
Craig Hoffman, the president of Bill Blass, declined to comment on Wednesday.
Michael Vollbracht, who designed the line from 2003 to 2007, said that several of his former colleagues had informed him of the company’s plans to close, given the economic climate. The label was put up for sale earlier this year by its parent company, NexCen Brands Inc., which announced in May that it was facing a severe cash squeeze. Bill Blass has since canceled its spring collection, and its latest designer, Peter Som, left the company in October and has not been replaced.
According to executives and designers still at the company, NexCen is still trying to sell the Bill Blass name with the hope that another company will later revive the runway collection.
This week, the company has been selling samples from Mr. Blass’s collections, along with boxes of Manolo Blahnik shoes that were used in runway shows, at discounts of 90 percent, but the broader archives appear to be headed to Indiana University in Bloomington, where a retrospective of Mr. Blass’s work was held shortly after he died in 2002.
“The demise of Bill Blass is not just saddening,” Mr. Vollbracht said.
“It’s another rude awakening to this industry, I think.”
Wednesday September 10, 2008
September 10 was a work day for me. After work, I went to the Anna Sui show with my co-workers. We had an unprecedented amount of models in the show:
- Agyness Deyn
- Bruna Tenorio
- Isabeli Fontana
- Jourdan Dunn
- Katrin Thormann
- Mina Cvetkovic
- Natasha Poly
- Naty Chabanenko
- Shannan Click
- Suzanne Diaz
- Toni Garrn
- Viktoriya Sasonkina
- Vlada Roslyakova
For Women, 13 was a lucky number!
After the show, I went to the V Magazine party, celebrating the V Magazine covers that Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin photographed, at the Mini Cooper Rooftop in Hell's Kitchen. Usually I skip fashion parties - especially during Fashion Week. But, I was with my co-workers and it seemed like a good idea at the time. We were able to skip the long line outside because we were with one of the models who was on the cover of V Magazine - who was also DJ'ing that night.
As soon as we got up the stairs, I was greeted by a girl I know.
This girl claims to be my friend, but she's not very friendly. Usually when I see her, she's quite rude. When I see her, sometime she will say hello, sometimes she won't. Either way, it doesn't matter to me.
The party was fun. Lykke Li performed.
Today I was looking through the latest V Magazine, and on page 42, the party page, I saw the photos that JD Ferguson took at the party. JD is a friend of mine. I once styled a test he shot of Carolina Pantoliano. I was shocked to see that JD photographed Barbara Bush at the V Magazine Party!
I was at the same party as Barbara Bush and I didn't know it!
Not George W. Bush's mother, the one who on March 18, 2003, two days before the beginning of the war on Iraq, when ABC's Good Morning America asked her about her family's television viewing habits; she replied:
I watch none. He [former President Bush] sits and listens and I read books, because I know perfectly well that, don't take offense, that 90 percent of what I hear on television is supposition, when we're talking about the news. And he's not, not as understanding of my pettiness about that. But why should we hear about body bags and deaths, and how many, what day it's gonna happen, and how many this or that or what do you suppose? Or, I mean, it's not relevant. So, why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that, and watch him suffer.
And, while visiting a Houston relief center for people displaced by Hurricane Katrina, told the radio program Marketplace,
"Almost everyone I've talked to says, 'We're gonna move to Houston.' What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas... Everybody is so overwhelmed by the hospitality, and so many of the people in the arenas here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them".
No, not that Barbara Bush.
No, I was at the same party as George W. Bush's daughter, also named Barbara Bush.
I am disappointed I didn't get the opportunity to meet her, and talk to her. Barbara Bush is the same age as my brother, Joseph. Besides being my brother, and my best friend, Joseph is an Iraq War Veteran. He joined the Marines as a teenager and was sent to Iraq in 2003. My brother was in Iraq at the same time that Barbara Bush was interning at Proenza Schoueler. Our father is retired from the phone company, and currently drives a bus - he picks up senior citizens and brings them to the senior citizen recreation center.
Barbara Bush's father, George W. Bush, is until January 29, 2009, the President of the United States of America (POTUS). Barbara Bush's father made a series of claims prior to the Iraq War, each intended to support the idea that Saddam Hussein was a grave and imminent threat. None of these claims were true.
Eight Pre-War Bush Claims since proven false:
• No weapons of mass destruction of any kind were found in Iraq.
• No mobile biological weapons labs were found in Iraq.
• Iraq did not seek to acquire yellowcake uranium from Africa.
• The aluminum tubes were not suitable for nuclear weapons development.
• Mohamed Atta, the lead 9/11 hijacker, did not meet with Iraqi intelligence in Prague.
• Iraq did not provide chemical weapons training to al-Qaeda.
• There was no collaborative relationship between Iraq and al-Qaeda.
• The implication that Iraq was involved in the attacks of 9/11 was untrue.
According to The U.S. Department of Defense, as of December 16, 2008, 10 a.m., there were
4,211 US military fatalities in the Arabian Sea, Bahrain, Gulf of Aden, Gulf of Oman, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Persian Gulf, Qatar, Red Sea, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates. 17,279 US soldiers were wounded in action in this area.
My brother, Joseph, could have been one of those dead or wounded soldiers. Fortunately he is alive, safe, and lives with me.
If I had met Barbara Bush at the V Magazine party on September 10, 2008 I would have asked her some tough, but fair, questions. Although I can not hold her responsable for the actions of her father, I would want some answers.
I left the party shortly after midnight. I'm not sure if Barbara Bush was still at the party. Perhaps I accidentally spent part of the 7th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks at a party with Barbara Bush!
On September 11, 2001 I was working at a different modelling agency in NYC, with direct views of the World Trade Center.
On 9/11/2001 Barbara Bush's father, President George W. Bush was reading The Pet Goat to a group of schoolchildren at Emma E. Booker Elementary School at the moment (then-White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card) informed him of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
After Card informed him that United Airlines Flight 175 had hit the South Tower of the World Trade Center, Bush continued reading the book for more than seven minutes. Bush's critics, notably Michael Moore in his film Fahrenheit 9/11, have argued that the fact that Bush continued to read the book after being notified of the attacks shows that he was indecisive. After spending about twenty minutes with the children, Bush was scheduled to give a short press conference at about 9:30. At the conference inside the school, Bush made his first speech about the attacks and was not evacuated by the Secret Service. According to Bill Sammon in Fighting Back: The War on Terrorism from Inside the White House, Bush's then-Press Secretary Ari Fleischer was in the back of the classroom holding a pad on which he had written "DON'T SAY ANYTHING YET."Osama bin Laden made reference to the story in a videotaped speech released just prior to the 2004 U.S. presidential election, claiming that Bush's reading of the book had given the hijackers more than enough time to carry out the attacks.
Every day I think about that day, and being in Manhattan and how my life was changed since then.
If I spoke to Barbara Bush at V Magazine party I would ask her how 9/11 changed her life. I would ask her how often she thinks about 9/11.
While my brother was in Iraq. I couldn't read the New York Times, or watch the news at all. Every time I heard anything about Iraq I could only imagine the worst. The day he came home safe was the biggest relief of my life.
If I spoke to Barbara Bush at the V Magazine party I would ask her if she was able to read the New York Times or watch the tv news while she was interning at Proenza Schouler.
I know that's not really party talk. But I have learned that true freedom is the ability to speak truth to power.
Video of Barbara Bush's father, George W. Bush reading on 9/11:
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
J Setting with Jaquel Knight
Beyonce performs "Get Me Bodied", wearing Balenciaga by Nicolas Ghesquière spring 2007 leggings.
J-Setting is a form of dancing has been a part of black gay culture for at least a decade, and was inspired by the famed Jackson State University band’s dance line, which is known as the Prancing J-Settes. The lead-and-mimic style of dancing—actually an interpretation of Bob Fosse's style in All That Jazz and Chicago— has been re-appropriated by black gay youth across the country, but is particularly popular in the South.
J-setting is a fixture in black gay clubs across Atlanta and other parts of the country—especially in Atlanta clubs such as Traxx and Chicago clubs like the Prop House—, with teams of dancers engaging in fierce battles against one another on the dance floor.
Jaquel Knight, a 19 year old choreographer from Atlanta choreographed Beyonce's video "Single Ladies". Jaquel was chosen by longtime Destiny's Child and Beyonce choreographer Frank Gatson.
“[Being a gay icon is] definitely my goal, and my dream,“ Knowles revealed during a 2006 interview with Here! TV. “That’s the ultimate thing I could be. That’s the ultimate compliment for me.”
Tracy Garraud of Vibe Magazine asks: Beyoncé: The New Queen of Queer?., and says: How Beyoncé became the gay man's best friend, and why it's important.
This queer did not elect Beyonce queen. She is not my best friend.
Friendship is a term used to denote co-operative and supportive behavior between two or more people. In this sense, the term connotes a relationship which involves mutual knowledge, esteem, and affection and respect along with a degree of rendering service to friends in times of need or crisis. Friends will welcome each other's company and exhibit loyalty towards each other, often to the point of altruism. Their tastes will usually be similar and may converge, and they will share enjoyable activities. They will also engage in mutually helping behavior, such as exchange of advice and the sharing of hardship. A friend is someone who may often demonstrate reciprocating and reflective behaviors. Yet for many, friendship is nothing more than the trust that someone or something will not harm them.
My friends stick by me, support me, and love me. They don't use me when its convenient and then deny me to my face.
It is all very grand of Beyonce to utlize the talents of gay choreographers, fashion designers, makeup artists, and hair stylists. Without the gays she would be wearing her mothers tacky clothes, dancing the running man, and washing and setting her own wig.
And really, what has Beyonce ever done for the gays?
Where was Beyonce when Propositon 8 was put on the ballot in California? Why hasn't she spoken out against this bigotry and hatred?
Christina Aguilera, a true friend of the gays, spoke out against Proposition 8.
"Last night, there was a whole rally that I saw for Prop. 8," she told MTV News. "A lot of people came out with their signs, and I think [Prop. 8] is discrimination and I don't understand how people can be so closed-minded and so judgmental. We chose an African-American president, and it means so much ... [it's] a time in history of great change and open-mindedness. Why is this any different? It just doesn't make sense to me. Why you would put so much money behind something [aimed at] stopping from people loving each other and bonding together? I just don't understand it. It's hard for me to grasp. But I would've been out there with my rally sign as well."
George Clooney, a different kind of gay icon, told E!'s Ted Casablanca, "At some point in our lifetime, gay marriage won't be an issue, and everyone who stood against this civil right will look as outdated as George Wallace standing on the school steps keeping James Hood from entering the University of Alabama because he was black."
Beyonce's silence on Proposition 8 is deafening. Jaquel Knight and Jonte are the real deal. Beyonce is the new Pat Boone: taking the fierceness of gay culture and watering it down for the masses.
J Setting:
Beyonce J Setting:
Beyonce dancing with Jonte:
Jaquel Knight's Choreography Reel:
Jaquel's Ladies night:
Bob Fosse's Sweet Charity:
Bob Fosse's All That Jazz:
Bob Fosse's Chicago:
Christina Aguilera speaks out against Proposition 8:
Proposition 8 The Musical:
J-Setting is a form of dancing has been a part of black gay culture for at least a decade, and was inspired by the famed Jackson State University band’s dance line, which is known as the Prancing J-Settes. The lead-and-mimic style of dancing—actually an interpretation of Bob Fosse's style in All That Jazz and Chicago— has been re-appropriated by black gay youth across the country, but is particularly popular in the South.
J-setting is a fixture in black gay clubs across Atlanta and other parts of the country—especially in Atlanta clubs such as Traxx and Chicago clubs like the Prop House—, with teams of dancers engaging in fierce battles against one another on the dance floor.
Jaquel Knight, a 19 year old choreographer from Atlanta choreographed Beyonce's video "Single Ladies". Jaquel was chosen by longtime Destiny's Child and Beyonce choreographer Frank Gatson.
“[Being a gay icon is] definitely my goal, and my dream,“ Knowles revealed during a 2006 interview with Here! TV. “That’s the ultimate thing I could be. That’s the ultimate compliment for me.”
Tracy Garraud of Vibe Magazine asks: Beyoncé: The New Queen of Queer?., and says: How Beyoncé became the gay man's best friend, and why it's important.
This queer did not elect Beyonce queen. She is not my best friend.
Friendship is a term used to denote co-operative and supportive behavior between two or more people. In this sense, the term connotes a relationship which involves mutual knowledge, esteem, and affection and respect along with a degree of rendering service to friends in times of need or crisis. Friends will welcome each other's company and exhibit loyalty towards each other, often to the point of altruism. Their tastes will usually be similar and may converge, and they will share enjoyable activities. They will also engage in mutually helping behavior, such as exchange of advice and the sharing of hardship. A friend is someone who may often demonstrate reciprocating and reflective behaviors. Yet for many, friendship is nothing more than the trust that someone or something will not harm them.
My friends stick by me, support me, and love me. They don't use me when its convenient and then deny me to my face.
It is all very grand of Beyonce to utlize the talents of gay choreographers, fashion designers, makeup artists, and hair stylists. Without the gays she would be wearing her mothers tacky clothes, dancing the running man, and washing and setting her own wig.
And really, what has Beyonce ever done for the gays?
Where was Beyonce when Propositon 8 was put on the ballot in California? Why hasn't she spoken out against this bigotry and hatred?
Christina Aguilera, a true friend of the gays, spoke out against Proposition 8.
"Last night, there was a whole rally that I saw for Prop. 8," she told MTV News. "A lot of people came out with their signs, and I think [Prop. 8] is discrimination and I don't understand how people can be so closed-minded and so judgmental. We chose an African-American president, and it means so much ... [it's] a time in history of great change and open-mindedness. Why is this any different? It just doesn't make sense to me. Why you would put so much money behind something [aimed at] stopping from people loving each other and bonding together? I just don't understand it. It's hard for me to grasp. But I would've been out there with my rally sign as well."
George Clooney, a different kind of gay icon, told E!'s Ted Casablanca, "At some point in our lifetime, gay marriage won't be an issue, and everyone who stood against this civil right will look as outdated as George Wallace standing on the school steps keeping James Hood from entering the University of Alabama because he was black."
Beyonce's silence on Proposition 8 is deafening. Jaquel Knight and Jonte are the real deal. Beyonce is the new Pat Boone: taking the fierceness of gay culture and watering it down for the masses.
J Setting:
Beyonce J Setting:
Beyonce dancing with Jonte:
Jaquel Knight's Choreography Reel:
Jaquel's Ladies night:
Bob Fosse's Sweet Charity:
Bob Fosse's All That Jazz:
Bob Fosse's Chicago:
Christina Aguilera speaks out against Proposition 8:
Proposition 8 The Musical:
Monday, December 15, 2008
Beyonce: I am....the new Pat Boone
Christmas is a time to be thankful for freedom, health, love, and friendship.
It is also a time to remember those who are less fortunate, or are no longer around to celebrate the holiday.
This Christmas, please think of JonBenet Ramsey. This Christmas is the 12 anniversary of her murder. She would be 18 years old if she were alive today. We will never know what woman she would have been....
Would she have been an entertainer like Beyonce? Beyonce and JonBenet have many parallels. They both have mothers who encouraged them to perform in provocative costumes. Beyonce performed on Star Search as a child. JonBenet competed in beauty pageants as a child.
Also, like JonBenet, Beyonce has a mother who dressed her up in provocative tacky clothes to perform in.
Beyonce Knowles is a cipher - she can be whatever you want her to be: Star Search contestant, girl group member, girl group leader, solo artist, superstar, girlfriend, wife, daughter, sister, Diana Ross, Deena Jones, Sasha Fierce, model, dancer, actress...............
Beyonce has always confused me, and left me cold. Her mother would dress her in tacky revealing costumes, yet she she wanted to be seen as a chaste Christian.
When Vanity sang "Nasty Girl" she sang "I'm looking for a man to love me, Like I've never been loved before. I'm looking for a man that'll do it anywhere,Even on the limousine floor.".
When Beyonce sang her version of " Nasty Girl" she sang: "These men don't want no hot female that's been around the block female, you nasty girl. Shakin' that thang on that man, lookin' all stank and nasty. Swore you look cute girl in them dukes, booty all out lookin' trashy. Sleazy put some clothes on, I told ya. Don't walk out ya heezy without clothes on, I told ya. You nasty girl, you nasty, you trashy. You classless girl, you sleazy you freaky.".
Her image didn't match her message.
Today, Beyonce has a couple of new tricks: performing in Gareth Pugh outfits - copying the moves Bob Fossse choreographed for Gwen Verdon, and some dancing new moves from choreographer Jonte.
I am not impressed. Beyonce is merely mimicking the postures and carriage of the Legendre fierce children of New York, as seen in Jennie Livingston's "Paris is Burning". Pop stars bringing the style of a minority safely to the white American masses is an old story. Pat Boone took the songs of Little Richard and homogenized them in the 1950's.
In 2009 I am lookign forward to more freedom, originality, peace, creativity, inspiration, and positive energy!
Agyness Deyn and Beyonce wearing Gareth Pugh:
JonBenet Ramsey:
Paris Is Burning:
Walk it out Fosse:
Jonte:
Single Ladies:
Single Ladies + Single Man + Fosse:
Cubby dances to Beyonce's Single Ladies Video:
Single Ladies (BIG GIRL REMIX)
Friday, December 12, 2008
Bettie Page, Queen of Pinups, Dies at 85
Bettie Page, a legendary pinup girl whose photographs in the nude, in bondage and in naughty-but-nice poses appeared in men’s magazines and private stashes across America in the 1950s and set the stage for the sexual revolution of the rebellious ’60s, died Thursday in Los Angeles. She was 85.
Her death was reported by her agent, Mark Roesler, on Ms. Page’s Web site, bettiepage.com.
Ms. Page, whose popularity underwent a cult-like revival in the last 20 years, had been hospitalized for three weeks with pneumonia and was about to be released Dec. 2 when she suffered a heart attack, said Mr. Roesler, of CMG Worldwide. She was transferred in a coma to Kindred Hospital, where she died.
In her trademark raven bangs, spike heels and killer curves, Ms. Page was the most famous pinup girl of the post-World War II era, a centerfold on a million locker doors and garage walls. She was also a major influence in the fashion industry and a target of Senator Estes Kefauver’s anti-pornography investigators.
But in 1957, at the height of her fame, she disappeared, and for three decades her private life — two failed marriages, a fight against poverty and mental illness, resurrection as a born-again Christian, years of seclusion in Southern California — was a mystery to all but a few close friends.
Then in the late 1980s and early ’90s, she was rediscovered and a Bettie Page renaissance began. David Stevens, creator of the comic-book and later movie character the Rocketeer, immortalized her as the Rocketeer’s girlfriend. Fashion designers revived her look. Uma Thurman, in bangs, reincarnated Bettie in Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction,” and Demi Moore, Madonna and others appeared in Page-like photos.
There were Bettie Page playing cards, lunch boxes, action figures, T-shirts and beach towels. Her saucy images went up in nightclubs. Bettie Page fan clubs sprang up. Look-alike contests, featuring leather-and-lace and kitten-with-a-whip Betties, were organized. Hundreds of Web sites appeared, including her own, which had 588 million hits in five years, CMG Worldwide said in 2006.
Biographies were published, including her authorized version, “Bettie Page: The Life of a Pin-Up Legend,” (General Publishing Group) which appeared in 1996. It was written by Karen Essex and James L. Swanson.
A movie, “The Notorious Bettie Page,” starring Gretchen Mol as Bettie and directed by Mary Harron for Picturehouse and HBO Films, was released in 2006, adapted from “The Real Bettie Page,” by Richard Foster. Bettie May Page was born in Jackson, Tenn., the eldest girl of Roy and Edna Page’s six children. The father, an auto mechanic, molested all three of his daughters, Ms. Page said years later, and was divorced by his wife when Bettie was 10. She and some of her siblings were placed for a time in an orphanage. She attended high school in Nashville, and was almost a straight-A student, graduating second in her class.
She graduated from Peabody College, a part of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, but a teaching career was brief. “I couldn’t control my students, especially the boys,” she said. She tried secretarial work, married Billy Neal in 1943 and moved to San Francisco, where she modeled fur coats for a few years. She divorced Mr. Neal in 1947, moved to New York and enrolled in acting classes.
She had a few stage and television appearances, but it was a chance meeting that changed her life. On the beach at Coney Island in 1950, she met Jerry Tibbs, a police officer and photographer, who assembled her first pinup portfolio. By 1951, the brother-sister photographers Irving and Paula Klaw, who ran a mail-order business in cheesecake, were promoting the Bettie Page image with spike heels and whips, while Bunny Yeager’s pictures featured her in jungle shots, with and without leopards skins.
Her pictures were ogled in Wink, Eyeful, Titter, Beauty Parade and other magazines, and in leather-fetish 8- and 16-millimeter films. Her first name was often misspelled. Her big break was the Playboy centerfold in January 1955, when she winked in a Santa Claus cap as she put a bulb on a Christmas tree. Money and offers rolled in, but as she recalled years later, she was becoming depressed.
In 1955, she received a summons from a Senate committee headed by Senator Kefauver, a Tennessee Democrat, that was investigating pornography. She was never compelled to testify, but the uproar and other pressures drove her to quit modeling two years later. She moved to Florida. Subsequent marriages to Armond Walterson and Harry Lear ended in divorce, and there were no children. She moved to California in 1978.
For years Ms. Page lived on Social Security benefits. After a nervous breakdown, she was arrested for an attack on a landlady, but was found not guilty by reason of insanity and sent to a California mental institution. She emerged years later as a born-again Christian, immersing herself in Bible studies and serving as an adviser to the Billy Graham Crusade.
In recent years, she had lived in Southern California on the proceeds of her revival. Occasionally, she gave interviews in her gentle Southern drawl, but largely stayed out of the public eye — and steadfastly refused to be photographed.
“I want to be remembered as I was when I was young and in my golden times,” she told The Los Angeles Times in 2006. “I want to be remembered as a woman who changed people’s perspectives concerning nudity in its natural form.”
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Love
On today in 1937, Edward VIII's abdication as King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the British Dominions beyond the Seas, and Emperor of India became effective.
The Edward VIII abdication crisis occurred in the British Empire in 1936, when the desire of King-Emperor Edward VIII to marry Wallis Simpson, a twice-divorced American socialite, caused a constitutional crisis.
The marriage was opposed by the King's governments in the United Kingdom and the Dominions. Religious, legal, political, and moral objections were raised. Mrs Simpson was perceived to be an unsuitable consort because of her two failed marriages, and it was widely assumed by the Establishment that she was driven by love of money or position rather than love for the King. Despite the opposition, Edward declared that he loved Mrs Simpson and intended to marry her whether the governments approved or not.
The widespread unwillingness to accept Mrs Simpson as the King's consort, and the King's refusal to give her up, led to Edward's abdication on 11 December 1936. He was succeeded by his brother Albert as George VI. Edward was given the title His Royal Highness the Duke of Windsor following his abdication, and he married Mrs Simpson the following year. They remained married until his death 35 years later.
Before, during and after World War II, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor were suspected by many in government and society of being Nazi sympathisers.
The Duke and Duchess lived in France in the pre-war years. In 1937, they visited Germany as personal guests of the Nazi leader, Adolf Hitler, a tour much publicised by the German media. Hitler said of the Duchess, "she would have made a good Queen."
In the 1950s and 1960s, she and the Duke shuttled between Europe and the United States, living a life of leisure as society celebrities. After the Duke's death in 1972, the Duchess lived in seclusion and was rarely seen in public. Her private life has been a source of much speculation, and she remains a controversial figure in British history.
The Woman I Love (1972, made-for-TV movie) focused on Edward VIII's love affair with Wallis Simpson. Wallis was portrayed by Faye Dunaway
The Edward VIII abdication crisis occurred in the British Empire in 1936, when the desire of King-Emperor Edward VIII to marry Wallis Simpson, a twice-divorced American socialite, caused a constitutional crisis.
The marriage was opposed by the King's governments in the United Kingdom and the Dominions. Religious, legal, political, and moral objections were raised. Mrs Simpson was perceived to be an unsuitable consort because of her two failed marriages, and it was widely assumed by the Establishment that she was driven by love of money or position rather than love for the King. Despite the opposition, Edward declared that he loved Mrs Simpson and intended to marry her whether the governments approved or not.
The widespread unwillingness to accept Mrs Simpson as the King's consort, and the King's refusal to give her up, led to Edward's abdication on 11 December 1936. He was succeeded by his brother Albert as George VI. Edward was given the title His Royal Highness the Duke of Windsor following his abdication, and he married Mrs Simpson the following year. They remained married until his death 35 years later.
Before, during and after World War II, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor were suspected by many in government and society of being Nazi sympathisers.
The Duke and Duchess lived in France in the pre-war years. In 1937, they visited Germany as personal guests of the Nazi leader, Adolf Hitler, a tour much publicised by the German media. Hitler said of the Duchess, "she would have made a good Queen."
In the 1950s and 1960s, she and the Duke shuttled between Europe and the United States, living a life of leisure as society celebrities. After the Duke's death in 1972, the Duchess lived in seclusion and was rarely seen in public. Her private life has been a source of much speculation, and she remains a controversial figure in British history.
The Woman I Love (1972, made-for-TV movie) focused on Edward VIII's love affair with Wallis Simpson. Wallis was portrayed by Faye Dunaway
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Christmas Party Looks
Attending a Christmas treasure hunt party at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, Agyness wore a slinky pink dress and fluffy coat.
I love this look.
Dressing for Christmas parties is tough. As the days get shorter and shorter, its tempting to stay in and cuddle underneath a warm blanket. A great compromise is wearing something warm and comforting over your holiday look.
What will you be wearing to all tommorows Christmas Parties?
Narciso Rodriguez Pre Fall 2009 Collection - Ana Mihajlovic
Narciso Rodriguez may be coming off a major coup—Michelle Obama wore a dress from his Spring show to her husband's election night rally, in case you were hiding under a ballot machine—but there's been no slowing down.
"This is our most polished pre-collection ever," Rodriguez said. "It has to be; we do so much more business now during the pre-seasons."
Perhaps taking a cue from Obama's red and black embroidered dress, the designer infused pre-fall with plenty of brilliant colors—fuchsia, ruby, deep purple, and inky blue. He also continued to play with the banding motifs that made his last collection so sexy. It wasn't all provocation, though.
There was an ice gray shift dress that the designer himself decreed "very presidential."
By Nicole Phelps
"This is our most polished pre-collection ever," Rodriguez said. "It has to be; we do so much more business now during the pre-seasons."
Perhaps taking a cue from Obama's red and black embroidered dress, the designer infused pre-fall with plenty of brilliant colors—fuchsia, ruby, deep purple, and inky blue. He also continued to play with the banding motifs that made his last collection so sexy. It wasn't all provocation, though.
There was an ice gray shift dress that the designer himself decreed "very presidential."
By Nicole Phelps
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Mexico dreaming
Cameron Russell sent me a cellphone snap from a trip to Mexico last weekend....
I love the winter, but am eagerly looking forward to the end of the work year!
all the leaves are brown
and the sky is grey
I've been for a walk
on a winter's day
Isabeli Fontana - 2009 covers
Numero December 2008 / January 2009 cover, ph: Solve Sundsbo
German Vogue January 2009 cover, ph: Vincent Peters
German Vogue January 2009 cover, ph: Vincent Peters
Valeria Dmitrienko polaroids
These polaroids were taken yesterday afternoon at the Women/Supreme studio.
This polaroid was taken yesterday morning at Art & Commerce/Prod N by Alina Zakaite:
This polaroid was taken yesterday morning at Art & Commerce/Prod N by Alina Zakaite:
Friday, December 5, 2008
Post America - Steven Meisel in 032c
The New York Times has a fascinating preview of Alex de Looz' interview with Steven Meisel from the "Post-America" issue of 032c Magazine.
the magazine has "a 14-page fold-out section that kept the production quality high: when you hold this issue in your hands, and when you pull out this colorful, fold-out archive of two decades’ worth of Vogue Italia covers — all shot by Meisel — you experience a lush, compact moment of “Print crisis? What print crisis?” It’s a Technicolor Vogue accordion, but it also has a certain grace, which is very much in line with 032c’s changing from what T Magazine itself once called the “new ugly” and channeling that into our own kind of energetic classicism."
Seen in the fold out is one of the original WOMEN women: Shana Zadrick. While at Women, Shana had four Italian Vogue covers in a row: September, October, November and December 1991.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
December 2009 Italian Vogue cover: Katrin Thormann, ph: Steven Meisel
Katrin Thormann is moving fashion forward.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Daisy Lowe, ph: Steven Meisel for Pringle spring 2009 campaign
PRINGLE’S NEW GUARD:
Pringle of Scotland has tapped Daisy Lowe — shot by Steven Meisel in spare, black-and-white tones — alongside male models Ash Stymest and Gordie Walker for its spring 2009 campaign.
“We were looking at iconic faces…we wanted it to feel young, vibrant and very British,” said Clare Waight Keller, creative director of Pringle.
Fabien Baron at Baron & Baron worked with Waight Keller as artistic director for the campaign, which was styled by Karl Templer with hair by Guido Palau and makeup by Pat McGrath.
Waight Keller said she wanted the campaign to have a “Sixties feel, in the way that Avedon and Bailey captured the spirit of the people of the time.” The campaign will break in March issues of titles including Vogue, W, Interview and Harper’s Bazaar.
Monday, December 1, 2008
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