Inspirational Dresses

I've been loving what Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli have been creating for Valentino since taking over the reigns of the prestigious house and this Fall's collection hasn't changed my opinion. Sometimes impractical but always beautiful their eye for detail is admirable. Just look at that embroidery on the the final dress I've posted here.
Sure it's not Valentino Garavani - the looks lack his grown-up glamour - but these pretty dresses certainly won't have Valentino turning pale.
In fact, considering his hue, that may well be nigh on impossible.

Smashing, positively dashing ...

Famed photographer, diarist and costumier Cecil Beaton had already been lauded for his costumes for the London and New York theatrical productions of My Fair Lady (starring Julie Andrews) when he was commissioned to create costumes for the film version. From the December 1963 issue of US Vogue comes this gorgeous preview of those very costumes, photographed by Cecil himself and starring the new Eliza Doolittle, fashion plate Audrey Hepburn. Says Vogue ...

the delicious dilemma we have here is simply this: When Audrey Hepburn, on the brink of the plummiest part of the decade, cast those great enrapturing eyes on the clothes Cecil Beaton designed for everyone else in the cast, she suddenly knew that 'Liza is one of those heroines with almost Nothing to Wear ... Shaw invented her long before he wrote Pygmalion, as a "rapscalliony flower girl in an apron and three orange and red ostrich feathers." Tatters and violets, that's what Eliza starts with. But Audrey Hepburn, before taking to those real garn rags, had one glorious whirl with the gilded-lily dazzle clothes designed for the swells and chiquerinos of the Acscot Chorus and Convent Garden.

The final result, of course, was an Oscar winning bounty of timeless beauty. And thankfully for us Audrey so loved that frilled dress with the organdie boa in the final image that Cecil created one for Eliza in mauve that she wore in the scene in Mrs Higgins' garden. Set in 1914, My Fair Lady covers the same period (and merges the same crowds) as Downton Abbey.

Don't you just love the shades of black, white and grey in the famous Ascot scene from the film? And the hats, oh my, the hats. Vogue says that with his hats Cecil Beaton 'blows life into the statue.'

Arthur Elgort

Lots of pretty pictures to begin the week, all courtesy of famed photographer Arthur Elgort, who is credited with bringing in the 'snapshot' style of high fashion photography in the 70s. He was most active in the 70s, 80s and early 90s and has shot all the top models and still works for Vogue and others today.

Brand New Vintage Fun

Only a couple of weeks now until the Vintage Fashion Emporium (downstairs at the Sydney Antiques Centre) launches their brand new monthly Vintage Bazaar. Held on the first Saturday of every month there will be seventeen stalls of vintage goodness - eleven permanent and six visitors - plus yummy high tea, live vintage flavoured music AND a styling service for those looking for something in particular or planning an event. Or perhaps a whole new wardrobe? It goes without saying that I'm looking forward to it.

Marilyn Monroe

Further to my last post here is a selection of favourite shots of Marilyn taken in 1962. She was slim, luminous and chic in that last year of her life (let's not debate here what her actual state-of-mind may have been). 1962 was the year that she was hired, fired and then hired again on the film Somethings Got to Give (images 1 & 7) and that she left New York and memories of Arthur Miller behind to buy her own house in Brentwood, LA. That year she sang happy birthday for the US President, vowed to push Elizabeth Taylor from the cover of all the tabloids, posed for Bert Stern for the famous last sitting (image 6) and began working on an autobiography with photographer George Barris (images 2, 3, 4 & 5)
Last night I went out with a few girlfriends to see My Week With Marilyn and I thought Michelle Williams was amazingly good. I haven't seen Meryl in The Iron Lady yet, but surely her performance is deserved of an Oscar? Just like Marilyn, I couldn't take my eyes off her.

Norma Jeane

Some Norma Jeane modelling shots to start the week. I love the colour intensity of these 1940s Kodachrome photographs. Marilyn's look evolved through the decades - 40s, 50s and 60s - so that her beauty always remained in style. I love the girl-next-door prettiness of her 1940s dark blond phase, but I do believe Marilyn was at the height of her beauty in the last year of her life.
Who was your favourite Norma/Marilyn?

Family Photo

My mother found this fascinating photograph amongst my grandmother's things the other day (my grandmother - always called nanny by my brother and I - sadly passed away three weeks ago). The photograph is actually a mock wedding snapshot, an exercise to show off what my nanny and others had created in sewing school. My nanny is the 'bridesmaid' on the right and the photo was taken when she was about 15 years old, so probably in 1940. Aren't the dresses spectacular? My nanny went on to design and sew her own wedding dress six years later, as well as all her bridesmaids gowns. She was a prodigious seamstress; I have one skirt in my wardrobe that she made for my mother in the 1980s that I always get compliments on when I wear it.
My nanny was always impeccably dressed and had a real love for fashion. It's a passion that has definitely been inherited.