she looks quite delightfully stoned, she's the darling of the discotheque crowd, of her lineage she's rightfully proud

I've had this collage for about over a year just sitting in my folders, but for some reason this seemed like the right time to write about it. Sometimes you just have a feeling about when to do certain things...

Despite the list of resolutions (and decisions and revisions, as T.S. would say) I have already compiled and will surely post here for the new year, all I really want in 2011 is to become Talitha Getty. While I'm not particularly eager to adopt the 'live fast, die young, and leave a beautiful corpse' ideology that has come to define Talitha's short life, I do admire her sense of savoir-vivre and free-spiritedness. 

Talitha was an original in so many senses: the original Poor Little Rich Girl (she was born three years before Edie, after all), bohemian goddess, socialite-turned-actress (then turned socialite again). 

Nowadays terms like 'bohemian queen' and 'rich hippie' are tossed around like the latest Matthew Williamson bag on the shoulder of whatever It-Girl with a paycheck to burn, but Talitha was true bohemian royalty. The daughter of Willem Jilts Pol, a painter, and the grand-daughter of painter Augustus John (himself a leading art figure in the world of Bohemianism), her DNA assured that she would have a creative life, at the very least. 

She married oil heir John Paul Getty Jr. in the mid-sixties and, with him, became the toast of Swingin' London. The duo hung out with Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull, Celia Birtwell and Ossie Clark. Yves Saint Laurent described the young couple as a living, breathing Fitzgerald novel. And indeed, no other couple besides F. Scott and Zelda themselves embodied "the Beautiful and the Damned" romantic relationship like the young Gettys.

An amazing thing about Talitha is that a singular photo has come to define not just her life, but an entire life style. And I'm sure you know the photo I'm talking about - Talitha, crouched down almost clutching the wall, in a brightly colored caftan and otherwise white outfit on a Moroccan rooftop with her husband John, a hooded figure in the distant background. The photo has remained timeless, encapsulating the glamour and privilege of a certain class: the gypsy jetsetters, decadent artists and their glamorous muses, the children of the aristocracy who chose to hang out with drug dealers and gangsters rather than the House of Lords. Though Talitha and John are both dressed in styles common among the streets, their clothing is immaculately designed and more detailed than the average tunic off the street. Talitha is able to wear an essentially all-white outfit, which for me means classy (probably because of a scene in Maid in Manhattan, a movie I saw once in sixth grade and never care to see or discuss ever again, that linked white pants to the upper class). 

I read an article that likened Rachel Zoe to the 21st century Talitha, which I very much disagree with. But hold your horses if you think that this is just an anti-Zoe rant - I love RZ (I own her book and I cheered her on in her reality show whenever she found a dress that Anne Hathaway loved and I swooned when ever she and Brad made fashion googly eyes at each other ... I really adore Brad, too). That being said, I really don't see Rachel and Talitha being at all alike. Beyond the penchant for thick gold bangles and rings, and maxidresses, caftans and various other ethnic-inspired garb, there is little connection between these two women that I can see. For me, it isn't just what is hanging in someone's closet that can relate them to a previous style icon, but they also have to share the same style ideology. Rachel is first and foremost a stylist - over years and years, she crafted her signature look of Studio 54-meets-Eastern adventurer. She talks a lot about making herself into a brand, and her look is a conscious part of that. Not to say that it isn't a natural part of her, but it's her job to look that way as well. 

Talitha, on the other hand, was part of the age of wealthy Londoners who were privileged enough to adventure and discover things on their own. She was able to party in London with Mick and Marianne, and live in Marrakech with her husband. Fashion was part of that discovery. We forget how fast the fads, fashions, and beliefs of the sixties changed for the youth dictating the movements. Though its her luxe hippie look that she is best known for, Talitha wasn't running around in harem pants all her life. When she married John Getty Jr. in December 1966 she was decked out in Mod finest: a white mini skirt trimmed with mink fur and go-go style boots. Within two years she was total boho mama. Her death in 1971 at the age of 30 solidified her image as decadent and exotic. Forgive me if I sound insensitive discussing her death in purely how it affected her status as a fashion symbol, but her death in mid-'71 trapped her in that image. Whereas Zoe has had the time to adopt and eliminate different influences in order to understand what works with her aesthetic, we don't really know if Talitha would have moved on in the seventies from the look she is so synonymous with. She was never allowed the chance to change with the times; she will forever be the young woman in the Morrocan threads posing on a rooftop. We can only imagine the woman she would have become - style-wise (fabulous club gal like Bianca or total 'Little House on the Prairie' chic like Stevie?), professionally and personally. But 'what ifs' are dirty words - there's no use pondering what can never be. All we can really do is think about what we know, and celebrate the life of a great woman like Talitha Getty, who was gone far too soon.

*Update - Oh yeah, AND she was in "Barbarella" ... which means she's pretty much golden.*

qui qu'a vu coco

Coco Avant Chanel, with Audrey Tautou as the titular role

Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky, where Anna Mouglalis portrays the fashion dynamo

I had the pleasure of watching Coco Avant Chanel (known as Coco Before Chanel here in the States) and Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky back-to-back the other night. If you’re going to do an evening with Coco biopics, this is the order to do them in. Subject-wise, the stories overlapped for just three minutes. C Avant C ended after the death of Coco’s lifelong love Arthur ‘Boy’ Capel in an automobile accident in 1919. CC&IS picks up right after that – Capel is only in the film briefly, then the narrative jumps forward seven years to the aftermath of his death, where Chanel was described to be the only woman who could make grief look chic.

Not only do the films each examine different eras in the fashion titan’s life, but, through the narrative, two decidedly very different women emerge.

In Coco Avant Chanel, Audrey Tautou plays the young, feisty gamine Gabrielle Chanel, nicknamed ‘Coco’ by her lover after the song she sings with her sister in their cabaret act. Tautou’s Coco is a hardworking, strategic young woman who didn’t know quite what she wanted – except to move beyond the memories of her father’s abandonment of her at an orphanage during her early years and her job as a seamstress. She engages in an affair with a baron, Etienne Balsan, whose high-profile friends gives her an entrée into French society as well as a posh pad to stay at. Balsan never comes off in the film as having the deep desire for Coco that Boy Capel does, but it is obvious that he had deep affection for her.

While staying at Balsan’s mansion, Chanel continues her hobby of making hats, gifting them to various girl friends and mistresses who stop by the Balsan home. It is Boy Capel who encourages Coco to take her talent as a hat-maker beyond just a hobby – he believes that she could be a real force in the fashion world. His encouragement allowed Coco to pursue a career, and his leisurely style of dress – relaxed suits and jersey shirts – were greatly influential upon Chanel’s early masculine womenswear designs. As Coco the designer finds great success in Paris, tragedy strikes when Capel dies unexpectedly. The last images of Coco in the film are of a heartbroken woman, left without her love but with the thriving business that he inspired her to create.

In Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky, Coco Chanel has already found success in the fashion world. When she invites Stravinsky and his family to stay with her at her country home, she is independently wealthy. She is not the romantic young girl with designs on becoming an actress like in Tautou’s depiction; the woman that Anna Mouglalis portrays is icy, beautiful, and self-assured almost to the point of callousness. When she embarks on an affair with Stravinsky, she denies herself the passion that previous film’s dynamic between Capel and Chanel (or even she and Balsan, for that matter). She wants what she wants – and, in that particular case, she wanted to be with the man who created such tremendous music that she admired. Never mind that Stravinsky’s wife, who is dying of consumption, and children are in the next room. The affair serves a greater creative purpose, the film seems to say – borne out of their illicit relationship is the creation of Chanel No. 5 and Stravinsky’s experimentation with freer form and Neoclassicism.

If Coco at the end of C Avant C had become hardened because of Capel’s death, the austerity that she possesses in CC&IS is unwavering. It is almost as though she is playing a game – she is an actress within her own world and she can never be off her cue. The poise that she maintains in this film is almost frightening. She seems unreal, like an unfinished character in a Fitzgerald novel; a femme fatale who was only given a short treatment. I finished the movie feeling (and understanding) less about the fashion great than when I started.

But maybe that’s the appeal - and the purpose. The Chanel brand has created a permanent air of mystery around itself – a certain French sophistication where only those in the know truly know. To deconstruct the woman at the helm of the brand would be to turn the Chanel world into something comprehendible to anyone who was willing to dedicate two hours of their life to a movie. Honestly, I can’t imagine anything worse than if a young university student like I felt like I could understand and relate to Coco Chanel. No, Coco was in a league all her own. 

two is a crowd, but three is a party

Just mere months after two Marilyn Monroe biopics were announced, starring Naomi Watts and Michelle Williams, respectively, news is breaking that Angelina Jolie will take a stab at the role of the late screen legend. Jolie is set to star in the film version of "The Life and Opinions of Maf the Bog, and of His Friend Marilyn Monroe," by Andrew O'Hagan.

O'Hagan's tale tells the story of the controversial last two years of Monroe's life, told through the eyes of her Maltese terrier Maf (short for Mafia). In real life, the pup was a gift from friend Frank Sinatra, who is to be played by George Clooney in the film. Monroe toted Maf around to the residences of her famous friends, and got his belly scratched by the Rat Pack and President Kennedy.

The 35-year-old Jolie is in the perfect age bracket to portray Monroe in her later years, as she died in August 1962 at the age of 36. But is Angelina - who allegedly beat out contenders such as Mad Men lovely Christina Hendricks (my personal swoon) and Monroe-lookalike Scarlett Johansson - best suited to play Marilyn? She will have to put on some serious curves if she wants to go from her svelte ass-kicker physique in Salt to the delicately feminine form of Monroe. And also, will a woman who made a career out of playing action heroes, assassins, and sociopaths be able to bring the charm and vulnerability to this role? Though her turn in Changeling is a good indication of her range, one has to consider that the careful direction of Clint Eastwood had to do with evoking those emotions.

And for George Clooney, whose acting empire includes his takeover of the role Danny Ocean, a role made legendary by Frank Sinatra in the original Ocean's Eleven, is an interesting choice to play the blue-eyed crooner. Though names like Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Harry Connick Jr. were danced around for the role, the charming leading man won the role of ... a charming leading man. But it's hard to form an opinion around this casting choice. First off (and perhaps most inconsequentially), George Clooney has hazel brown eyes. Frank Sinatra was known for his ice-blue eyes. Sure color contacts are no problem, but so much of Clooney's handsomeness is centered around his gently wrinkled sad brown eyes. Would color contacts change his physical appearance enough ... or too much? He's got the rough brash handsomeness that Sinatra had, but I don't know how to envision him as the late legend. I want to closely monitor Clooney's development of the Sinatra role, because Frank Sinatra is near and dear to my heart (as a six-year-old, I expected to marry him by 13. Sadly, he died before my teen years).

With the prospect of Angelina also taking on the role of Cleopatra, made famous by Elizabeth Taylor in the 1963 MGM megaproduction, it seems like a major 1960s redux in Angelina's career. While both Jolie and Elizabeth Taylor shot down rumors that Angie would be portraying Taylor in a biopic of her life with Richard Burton (with Liz even tweeting "No one is going to play Elizabeth Taylor, but Elizabeth Taylor. Not at least until I'm dead, and at the moment I'm having too much fun being alive"), rumors still swirl that Angie will take on one of Taylor's most famous roles. With at least 28 film depictions of Cleopatra, does the world need another Hollywood version of the life of the Egyptian queen? Producer Scott Rudin (No Country for Old Men, Revolutionary Road, Julie & Julia, and all of the Wes Anderson films) has the rights for the film version of the book Queen of the Nile, Cleopatra: A Life. The book's author, Stacy Schiff, who will be involved in the film adaptation of her biography has stated that she wishes to mirror the on-and-off screen love affair present in the 1963 version between Elizabeth and Richard Burton. Her perfect Marc Anthony: Brad Pitt.

Controversy over Jolie's casting in both life stories of Marilyn and Cleopatra is blasting over the internet. Though many say that Angelina is 'too white' to play the African queen, I think that the edginess of Queen Cleo's life is better suited for the acting talents of Angelina Jolie. I could much sooner envision Angie in gold bracelets, heavy cat eye liner, ruling a country and seducing the world's most powerful men than hear her impersonate the breathy girly voice and ditzy persona of Monroe. We can already kind of envision Jolie in each of the roles: she had a Monroe-esque platinum blonde cut in the romcom Life or Something Like It, and she was picture perfect as the Greek queen Olympias in Alexander.

"...it's nice, people knowing who you are and all of that, and feeling that you've meant something to them."

Dozens of actresses have portrayed Marilyn Monroe in some capacity. An icon of beauty, fragility, femininity, and Old Hollywood, it's easy to understand why Marilyn's essence is still so present almost forty years after her passing. While I don't endorse the likes of Paris Hilton or Britney Spears dressing up as our dear Marilyn to hawk some new perfume of their's, and I still morally oppose La Lohan's rendition of "The Last Sitting" from a few years ago, I accept (and even occasionally embrace) young actresses who adopt certain characteristics of Marilyn Monroe in their acting. Whether it's Amy Adams doing her best Lorelei Lee impression in Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day; or Poppy Montgomery, Sally Kirkland, Kim Stanley, Catherine Hicks, Theresa Russell, Sophie Monk, Mira Sorvino, Ashley Judd, and several others who have portrayed the actress herself. In the last few days it has been announced that two biopics about MM are underway.

Both Naomi Watts and Michelle Williams are set to portray the tragic screen icon in two projects slated for production in 2011. Naomi Watts, 41, is five years older than Marilyn Monroe was when she passed away. Watts is set to star as the actress in Blonde, the faux-Monroe memoir penned by Joyce Carol Oates. Director Andrew Dominik told ScreenDaily.com, "Why is Marilyn Monroe the great female icon of the 20th century? For men, she is an object of sexual desire that desperately in need of rescue. For women, she embodies all the injustices visited upon the feminine, a sister, a Cinderella, consigned to live among the ashes."

While Dominik had found his Marilyn in Naomi Watts, Michelle Williams was announced to play the late star in My Week With Marilyn (terrible name for a film, but what can you do?), a story centered around Monroe's time in London during the 1957 filming of The Prince and the Showgirl, her fantastic film with Laurence Olivier.

Honestly, while I love both of these two actresses, I find it difficult to imagine either of them in the role of Marilyn Monroe. I do not doubt their respective talents, but I've just never seen them through the bombshell lens. I'm excited to see how these projects turn out, and it will be interesting to finally see an actress besides Scarlett Johansson gain comparisons to Monroe.

Image credit: People online

fashion face-off: pattie boyd vs. jenny boyd

It's no surprise when sisters share each others' clothing. When you have a sibling that is essentially the same clothing size as you, your closet virtually doubles in size and the possibilities are seemingly endless. What is interesting is seeing how each item of clothing is interpreted by each person. The Olsen twins do it all the time - what appears androgynously chic on Ashley can look grunge glam on Mary-Kate. One of my favorite sister duos is Pattie and Jenny Boyd. As they were both legendary musical muses and top models of the 1960s, it's no surprise that they also have similarities in the clothing that they wore.

Middle image is courtesy of Child of the Moon

In the top image, the sisters are both seen wearing a psychedelic print mini dress that Pattie exhibited during her 2008 appearance at Beatlefest. On an August 1967 trip to California with hubby George and Beatles press agent Derek Taylor, Pattie visited her sister Jenny, who was by then living in the Haight-Asbury district of San Francisco, rocking this tiny frock. Her look was completed by purple gladiator sandles, an embroidered vest, and many strands of beads and stacks of bangles. Jenny borrowed the dress when she appeared in Donovan's promotional video for "Wear Your Love Like Heaven." This was during the time when Donovan was falling in love with the middle Boyd sister, and the video coincided with the composition of the song "Jennifer Juniper," which was about Jenny. With the mini dress, Jenny added a pair of white linen pants, a red velvet cape, beaded necklace and bracelets, and opted to go barefoot.

While modeling with her sister for the British magazine Petticoat, Jenny got her hands on this pair of incredible purple suede gladiator sandals. She didn't get to wear them for long - Pattie kindly took them off of her hands and sported them frequently throughout 1967, where the shoes made almost regular appearances during the Summer of Love trip through San Francisco. Both of the Boyd girls paired the knee-high sandals with lushly-colored mini dresses and as many hippie love beads and accessories as they could find.