everyday i watch you paint the town so pretty

Not just one of my favorite Marianne looks, but one of my favorite looks of all time. I love the combination of the patterned frock with simple knee-high boots. If I could dress like this everyday, I most definitely would. 

Title: from "Streetwalker" (Michael Jackson)

when she goes to work you can hear the strings, grace finds beauty in everything

I love photos of the ever-so-stunning and talented Grace Coddington. Known as the Creative Director of Vogue, as well as Anna Wintour's right-hand flame-haired woman, many of us didn't know that Grace was a highly successful model during the sixties. I was struck by her beauty when she shared photos of her modeling days with the documentary The September Issue, which I saw a few months back and have continued to watch and re-watch. She had an angular yet petite face that could off anything - from a mid sixties pixie cut to those Biba-inspired finger waves. And those signature fiery locks! Oh, how I love her hair - it's so beautiful and it's so distinctly Grace.

Title: from "Grace" (U2)

get a dose of her in jackboots and kilt, she's killer-diller when she's dressed to the hilt

I consider Yoko Ono to be an unwitting fashion icon. Known professionally as an avant-garde artist - nay artiste - and personally as a key figure in the Lennon legend, the idea of becoming a fashion vixen probably never crossed Miss Ono's mind. But with her penchant for short shorts to show off those long lean gams of hers, as well as her rotation of sharp blazers, mini dresses, printed blouses, and sunnies so big she could give Jackie O a run for her money, it's hard to deny that Yoko is a fashionable presence. Being a fan of the monochrome myself, I love that Yoko turns so faithfully to black and white in her wardrobe - whether in her all-white wedding outfit (including white miniskirt, go-go boots, and full floppy hat) or black tailored tux with white satin top hat at the Grammy's (love her standing next to Beyonce!). Forty years and more in the public, and she's rarely missed on a look.

Title: from "Polythene Pam" (The Beatles)

wrapped in songs and gypsy shawls, color up the sunshine hours

The gal that I will be channelling this summer is one of the most fabulous, incredible women that I've ever seen: Marisa Berenson. She is equal parts Talitha Getty's jetset gypsyness and Jean Shrimpton's mod model beauty. Granddaughter of the legendary designer Elsa Schiaparelli, fashion runs through Marisa's veins, as evident through her penchant for large ethnic baubles, long patterned maxidresses, crazy headgear, and those wild flowing brunette locks. One of the few successful models-turned-actors, the one constant in Marissa's life was her incredible style appeal. I can't wait to get my Berenson on!

Title: from "Ladies of the Canyon" (Joni Mitchell)

like a true nature’s child, we were born, born to be wild

Nicole Richie is a modern day fashion icon of mine for her effortless(-looking) earth mama-meets-glittering socialite style. She's one of those gals who I would term a 'rich hippie'. She runs around Hollywood in her long worn-out maxidresses, oversized tunics, ripped jeans, spike-high Louboutins, scuffed-up Balenciaga bag, and stacks of bracelets and beads. It is no coincidence that her style heavily draws influence from the 60s and 70s bohemian threads that I am obsessed with - whether wearing retro originals or hippie-inspired fashions from her own lines, Winter Kate and House of Harlow 1960, Nicole always looks like she has just stepped out of the pages of Us Weekly from another decade. Honestly, I want every single thing from her clothing and accessories collections - a wonderful assortment of paisleys and prints in deep earthy colors make up much of the Winter Kate line, and fantastic statement-making jewelry (like giant cocktail rings, stackable gold bangles, ethnic-inspired shapes) and oversized sunglasses - similar to those that first launched Nicole to style stardom years ago when she worked with Rachel Zoe - can be found a-plenty in the House of Harlow.

Title: from "Born to be Wild" (Steppenwolf)

just a wild rambling rose, seeking mysteries untold, no regret for the path that i chose

Being back in the warm Texan weather reminds me that in a world outside of the snow-buried New York landscape, spring is fast approaching. And with spring comes my insatiable desire for beautiful, light, white dresses. A few weeks ago, my bloggy-friend JessM did a post on the dreamy, angelic style of the Lisbon sisters, whose 1970s style is so lustworthy. Thinking about beautiful seventies style, my mind travels to the 1975 Australian film, Picnic at Hanging Rock. The film tells the story of a group of schoolgirls who disappear on Valentine's Day in 1900 after being drawn to the mysterious rock formation Hanging Rock.

The ambiguous, unresolved story is matched by the dreamlike aura of the cinematography, which makes the film - in a phrase - hauntingly beautiful (or beautifully haunting, depending on how you view it). Peter Weir's direction reminds me a lot of the photography of David Hamilton, whose photographs always have a distinctive hazy ethereal beauty to them. The girls are outfitted in gorgeous turn-of-the-century fashions: long white dresses in lace and linen, wild flowers and cameo brooches, patterned parasols, leather lace-up boots, delicate corsetted waistlines, matched with fresh makeup-free faces and long flowing hair.

While Picnic is certainly a mystery film, it does not follow the norm in terms of horror/suspense films. There is no blood, no gore, no villain or hero - and the eeriness of the unexplained fate of the girls, matched with the dreams had by several characters as to their fates, makes this story much more affecting than the typical mystery films of today.

Title: from "Wildflowers" (Linda Ronstadt)

Then and Now: Veronica Lake and Cate Blanchett

Just recently I've realized how similar two of my favorite actresses, Veronica Lake and Cate Blanchett, look to one another. Cate has the magical ability to transform herself in every new photo shoot or film that she is in, morphing into Grace Kelly and Marlene Dietrich on the red carpet, Ingrid Bergman (superbly done in The Good German), Katharine Hepburn (to Oscar-winning perfection in The Aviator), and Bob Dylan (in I'm Not There). 

Cate's talent is matched with rare grace and poise that is reminiscent of a time in Hollywood's Golden Age when femme fatales like Veronica ruled the screen. 

With pale blonde locks styled in Veronica's eponymous peek-a-boo hairstyle, both women look like the cat's meow in their subtly sexy 1930s makeup and shimmery, sparkly gowns

Cate is the best in the business when it comes to portraying famous figures of years past - whether Queen Elizabeth I or the queen of the silver screen, Veronica Lake, she's always perfectly cast. Here, Cate mimics Veronica's distinctive kittenish slouch 

doll, i need to see you pull your knee socks up

I love France Gall's yé-yé style - her penchant for smart miniskirts, bold minidresses, tailored sweaters, and sweet hair accessories is rivaled by only one thing: her love of knee socks. 
For years, the thought of knee socks immediately brought me back to the uniformed days of high school, when I wore knee socks every day with my skirt, buttondown, blazer, and saddle shoes. Whenever I looked at a pair of knee socks, I was immediately fifteen years old again. It was all like a terrible acid flashback, but instead of seeing trippy psychedelic colors, I was seeing green-and-white plaid.

But the way that France has worn knee socks here – in many different ways, and with many different styles – it makes me want to break out a pair of my oft-worn knee-highs and dance around to swinging tunes in my bedroom (perhaps "Laisse tomber les filles" - my France Gall song of choice). And with a style as sweet as her voice, who wouldn't want to look like the girl who Serge Gainsbourg dubbed the French Lolita? 

Title: from "Butterfly" (Jason Mraz) 

come and be a child of the blue, we make the azure dream come true

Rusalochka is a 1976 retelling of the Hans Christian Andersen tale, "The Little Mermaid." The film, directed by Vladimir Bychkov, is a far cry from its Disney relative as this film seeks to recreate the haunting and tragic love of the sea nymph and her prince. A collaborative effort between the USSR and Bulgaria, Bychkov's film recounts the tale of a young mermaid who gives up her life in the sea to live on land with a dashing prince she rescued during a storm.
Instead of giving up her voice, the little mermaid in Rusalochka trades her fantastic blue hair for for a pair of legs. Though don't feel too bad for the little mermaid - instead of the blue hair, she gets flaxen locks that would make even the Lisbon sisters jealous. Viktoriya Novikova, who plays the little mermaid (or 'malkata rusalka', in Bulgarian) is perfect in the role - her angelic, ethereal beauty is matched only by her innocent, girlishly charming voice. Though the film is in a different language (Russian, but in most copies there is an English dub available), the warmth and love of Novikova's mermaid needs no translation - she makes the longing, the desires, and the unfailing hope of the little mermaid universal.
As the film was made in the seventies, there is a certain dreamy, soft quality to the way that the film was photographed - which makes it all the more lovely to watch. I absolutely adore the costumes that Novikova wears throughout the film - though set in the Middle Ages, the mermaid's dresses are pieces that I would love to wear today.

Title: from "Mermaids" (Xandria)

you're reading all them high fashion magazines, the clothes you're wearing girl they're causing public scenes

As has been said dozens of times since its closing in the seventies, Biba is back! The House of Fraser, which purchased the brand in 2009, has reinvigorated the legendary label to garner a success similar to when Barbara Hulanicki was at the helm. 

The latest campaign for the new Biba has Daisy Lowe as the face, and is set in the same decadent luxury of the early campaigns - which matched 60s/70s bohemianism with 20s/30s Art Deco decadence. Heavy velvet curtains, Oriental carpets, gilded mirrors and frayed, overstuffed chairs with frames chipped with gold paint - all signal the decayed decadence that so fascinated the Biba brand. But while the setting is right, I'm a bit unsure of the clothes themselves. The creations that Lowe is wearing do not scream 'BIBA!' to me. Yes, I know that times (and, by default, fashions) have changed since Biba's heyday, but the new line doesn't appear so much a maturation of style as a complete separation from what the label originally represented. 

Though, to be fair, this may be intentional - Stephanie Chen (of House of Fraser) said that their Biba is "not a retro collection." But what about all of us Biba babes out there? Those of us who long ago fell in love with the billowy maxidresses, the wide-legged trousers, the delicate silk tunics, the femininely-tailored menswear in heavy tweeds and plaids, that were worn by the likes of Twiggy, Pattie Boyd, Marianne Faithfull, Julie Christie, Cher, and Princess Anne! 

Well, unless you can get a hold of some of Barbara Hulanicki's designs she made for Asda (and if you can, please let me know!) - content yourself with glorious photos of Biba babes

I'm not sure how old these photos are (or if they're from a relaunch) but with outfits inspired by Chinese silk pajamas, as well as floor-length leopard coats - I'd be hard-pressed to ignore them

Pattie Boyd, who describes Biba "Barbara Hulanicki's brain child" in her book Wonderful Tonight as one of her favorite stores of the sixties, also modeled for the brand

If any brand could bring bonnets back into style, it was Biba

Some fantastic catalogue looks - ranging from Victorian-inspired high-neck dresses to girlish menswear pieces (complete with ties and hats!) 

Stephanie Farrow, little sister of Mia, was another famous face of Biba

Twiggy modeled for the label various times over the years, most notably with the launch of Big Biba, where she posed in different rooms of the fashion house

The simplicity of Biba's designs sometimes goes overlooked in favor of remembering the label as a hippie brand - but the focus on miniskirts, shift dresses, wide-legged trousers, deep v-neck blouses, low-slung belts or long scarves was particularly gorgeous, especially matched with the neutral tones of Biba's favored "Auntie Colours"

Title: from "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone" (The Monkees)

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.*

pretty pink hair, big brown dress hair eyes, gotta get to your pink house

I was inspired by my lovely friend Melissa over at Glamoretta to do a post about my strangely deep love of pink hair. I've known Melissa since we were eleven years old - she's one of the few girls in the blogosphere that I know in the 'real' world. She has really great style and is so gorge - I definitely recommend that you check out her blog. We've already decided we are going to take over the fashion world, so there's that. Plus she's really awesome.
Okay, enough fawning - onto the post. At the end of last school year, one of my best friends Meg and I decided on a whim to dye our hair streaks of color. I chose pink and Meg chose blue. We were stone cold sober, I might add. I don't know why, but people tend to assume that this was a drunken decision. But no. Actually, dyeing my hair was pretty much the extent of my teenage rebellion. Pretty pathetic in the scope of other kids my age "livin' on the edge," but adding a little Kool-Aid color (or kolor, if you will) was enough for me. (But to be fair, it's pretty much a fact that pink hair isn't for the faint of heart. As Rizzo said of Sandy in Grease, "she's too pure to be pink").
Of course, once I came home after semester's end, my mother made an appointment at our salon to have the pink situation 'corrected.' So here is an ode to pink hair. Because obviously nothing says Christmas quite like dyeing one's hair to resemble cotton candy.

Here's the image from Glamoretta that started it all 

Scarlett Johansson in Lost in Translation. And of course, who can forget the lovely pink tinted hair that ScarJo sported in the Louis Vuitton SS'07 ad campaign? 

One of my favorite modern-day models, Abbey Lee Kershaw

Anja Rubic, with hair resembling the color and texture of sugar-spun cotton candy

I don't really know what Audrey Kitching does ... except have hot hot pink hair and every Tarina Tarantino necklace that I've ever wanted

Avril Lavigne - I really love her eye make up here too

Dree Hemingway does a subtle pink tint, a less dramatic version of the look she sported in the Valentino S'10 advertisements 

Pink hair doesn't always have to be a drastic statement of rebellion. This light pink shade looks the picture of ladylike perfection, with a hue that even matches tulip petals

Another sophisticated take on pink hair. This light shade hovers between pink and lavender, which is another beautiful color to do. I like that this model sports a bit of an Ombre look here - with the pink at its deepest color at the roots, moving to pure platinum blonde at the ends

Lustworthy pink hair and chubby (faux) fur coat - a union of my two great loves

Gwen Stefani sported bright pink hair during her early days in No Doubt and again when she first branched out in her solo career, in tandem with her launch of L.A.M.B.

John Galliano's runway models rock painted-on pink hair

Julia Roberts with a very subtle, mama-approved take on the look

Kate Moss, who has accomplished the amazing feat of matching her lipstick to her locks

With wigs that have touched on every color in the spectrum, it's no surprise that Lady Gaga has tried out pink hair

Lily Allen turned heads when she dyed her entire head Barbie pink

Mary-Kate Olsen does a dirty bohemian take on pink hair

Natalia Vodianova in W Magazine (September 2006), shot by Craig McDean 

I'm not well-acquainted with the stripper world, but I'm guessing that most of those ladies aren't nearly as lovely as Natalie Portman's alluring Alice in Closer

I remember being unhealthily in love with Rachel McAdams and her pink streaks when I was in high school. I distinctly remember pouring over her editorial in Elle Magazine where she wore the newest haute couture gowns instead of studying for my course exams during our March finals week. I studied her look so intensely, I can remember of the top of my head one of the dresses - a light seafoam color Chanel HC gown with feathers and sequins - that was worn by Kirsten Dunst to the Oscars (though I preferred Rachel, plus the pink)

Evan Rachel Wood and Nikki Reed in Thirteen

Post-shaved head and umbrella-gate, at least Britney could still make a few good decisions on her own: pink bobbed wig and a leopard print dress

I know it's a massive cultural generalization to say, but I don't think it's offensive if it's true. That being said, Asian countries like China and Japan are the source of trendy, cutting-edge hairstyles. These girls are never afraid to experiment - they were the first to rock the Ombre hair (a look that I am now sporting) and so many other looks. This young Tokyo fashion maven takes inspiration from the split-dye look from Vivienne Westwood's runway events

Blog-stars Carolina Engman and Krystal Simpson

The lovely Sharon Tate with pink locks

you got me heels over head

Earlier today, I was doing some casually internet-stalking (as I so normally do) and I found a photograph of Edie Sedgwick on tumblr that really reminded me of a previous photo I'd seen of her. It wasn't just the peroxide blonde cropped 'do or the painted eyes or even the monochrome-minimalist wear that she so rocked that triggered my memory - it was her pose. 

Hoisting her lower body up in the air, allowing her dancer legs to be shown off to the nth degree, was Edie's go-to pose in a lot of modeling as well as Factory shots. There's a light-heartedness to these photos, and that's how I like to think of Edie - a free-spirited young woman, happy enough with her life to kick up her legs and have a laugh. 

(*sidenote: my yoga instructor says that this is a really good position to practice, especially if you want to strengthen your back*)