Friday 23 January 2009

MARILYN MONROE

We just adore her. What we love about Marilyn is the paradox between her character and her real self, so estranged from the diamonds-are-a-girl’s-best-friend/dumb-blonde cliché she worked and perfected in a unique fashion. A frail and vulnerable girl, the real Marilyn was completely uninterested in jewels but quite liked literature, only she wouldn’t show it too much “because men don’t like it”. Wounded animal look and girly whispering voice, mysterious and primal; she was the true essence of femininity. Seldom understood but always admired, she will stay an icon: not so much for her platinum-blonde hair, dark beauty spot and red shiny lips, but for her magnetic personality. She earned it for herself.

Thursday 8 January 2009

ERTÉ


Erté is a unique character, both in the art and fashion fields. The Russian-born, Parisian-adopted illustrator shaped the 20’s and its characteristic sense of style – Art Déco – just as much as Coco Chanel, Paquin or Le Corbusier. His dreamlike illustrations show us the ideal life of the 1920’s well-to-do young lady. Exotic, impossible garments of the most excessive textures, shapes and colours are worn on crazy, fantastic nights. Or days. Erté’s work is a symbol of a time when extravagance was normality, when logic and loony meant the same thing, when people lived like there was no future- and no past. Erté is, therefore, the ultimate fashion utopia.