you know my motivation given my reputation

I've long adored Bianca Jagger - her style is beyond impeccable and her humanitarian efforts are commendable. Not too long ago I had a Facebook discussion with a friend of mine consisting of how excellent Bianca is, with photographic evidence to back up our claims. This conversation showed me something - two people as different in style as my friend and I are both saw something aspirational in Bianca. There is a reason she is a fashion icon - her worldly look is idolized the world over. Her style, though unpredictable and constantly cutting edge, has some key components we can all learn and adapt into our lives. Here are my tips on how to dress like Bianca Jagger.

Keys to Bianca's look:
1. Adopt a quirky accessory and make it your signature - whether it was a turban, dove feathers in her hair, strange headpieces, or a walking stick, Bianca always hit the clubs and concerts with an item of interest. These items kept her look constantly edgy and kept her adoring public waiting for what wacky accessory she would adopt next.
2. Go to the max - most of think of short little numbers as our go-to going out outfits, but Bianca opted for loose-fitting maxidresses with either spaghetti straps or an off-the-shoulder look. Her long and loose dresses were sexier than most all of the other skimpy 70s looks that have appeared in the photos of Studio 54.
3. Channel your inner dude - Bianca wasn't afraid to trying menswear trends, and she usually rocked them more than Mick! When you think of androgynous chic done right, often your mind goes right to Bianca in one of her many pantsuits. The pieces don't have to be YSL, but right-fitting classic pieces - like a fitted blazer, slouchy trousers, and a tuxedo blouse - are style signatures that can look like a million dollars, no matter the real cost.
4. Understand there's no such thing as too much of a good thing - too many necklaces, beads, bracelets, or boys? There was no such thing in Bianca's world! Remember that more is more!

Title: from "Tonight" (Enrique Iglesias) ... I know, I'm kinda ashamed

How to be like Edie Sedgwick

With a life as quick and bright as a shooting star, Edie Sedgwick has become an icon of the sixties underground for her style, beauty, warmth, and her troubled personal life. Quite arguably Warhol's most famous superstar, Edie was the subject of numerous songs, books, and a biopic with a cult-like following (she also inadvertently was a central part of the lawsuit Bob Dylan filed as a result of Factory Girl's implication of his role in her death). In addition to the legions of girls who copied "her fog, her amphetamine, and her pearls" during the 1960s, Edie has inspired many modern-day gals. Taking style cues from Sedgwick is not just Factory Girl star Sienna Miller, but also the likes of Nicole Richie, Mary-Kate Olsen, Samaire Armstrong, Lindsay Lohan, the late Brittany Murphy (I wrote a post about Edie and Brittany a few months ago), and many other young girls who look smashing wearing black tights en lieu of pants. I myself have been a devoted fan of Edie for many years, and I offer my abbreviated guide to Sedgwick-dom to any (and every) one fascinated with the first "poor little rich girl":

Edie's Wardrobe:

• Black opaque tights
• Fur coats (in a variety of different kinds: mink, leopard, monkey, fox, etc.)
• Black leotards (to wear to dance class)
• Black-and-white striped anything - tee shirts, sweaters, tank tops
• Boatneck shirts (especially black-and-white striped boatnecks!)
• Sleeveless shift dresses in metallics, monochrome prints, and a variety of different materials (Edie had a Betsey Johnson-designed shift dress made out of vinyl when Edie was the spokesmodel for Betsey's line Paraphernalia)
• White v-neck tee shirts
• Black mohair turtleneck with long sleeves
• Tight, short miniskirts

Her Accessories:

• Shoulder-duster earrings (Check out Steve Sasco Designs for exact replicas of Edie's earrings. Sasco was jewelry designer for Factory Girl - I can vouch for his designs; I own several pairs and they are exquisite)
• Black undergarments (rocked onscreen by Edie during Poor Little Rich Girl and Beauty No. 2)
• Black ballet flats
• Black high heels (slingbacks, etc.)
• Fishnet tights
• Long chain necklaces to layer with one another
• Black rosary necklace
• Brown leather rhino from Abercrombie and Fitch
• Hats (newsboy caps, wide-brimmed felt hats, fur cloche hats)
• Her two perfumes of choice were by fashion house Rochas: Fracas, and Femme (seen in Poor Little Rich Girl)

Pastimes:

• Sketching portraits of horses
• Listening to the Everly Brothers while ordering orange juice and coffee, applying makeup, getting dressed, and explaining how she spent her entire inheritance in six months (a la Poor Little Rich Girl)
• Posing for the pages of Vogue
• Hanging out at the Factory
• Burning down rooms in the Chelsea
• Dancing, dancing, dancing

Acquaintances:

• Betsey Johnson
• Bob Dylan and Bob Neuwirth
• Andy Warhol
• Brigid Berlin
• Baby Jane Holzer
• The Velvet Underground
• Mick Jagger
• Ultra Violet
• Chuck Wein
• Sally Kirkland
• Bibbe Hansen
• Salvador Dali
• Judy Garland
• Diana Vreeland

Hangouts:

• The silver Factory
• Santa Barbara ranch
• Silver Hill Hospital
• The Chelsea Hotel
• Max's Kansas City

Pearls of Wisdom:

• "I think drugs are like strawberries and peaches."
• "I'd like to turn the whole world on just for a moment. Just for a moment."
• "I'll have to put more earrings on. I bet that someone could analyze me and tell my condition by my earrings."
• "I know a lot of rich people and they're all pigs."
• "I really like good, beautiful clothes. I love the space, Courreges things. I love Rudi Gernreich. I hate to go through seventeen buttons. I'm nervous enough going someplace."
• "Speed is the ultimate, all-time high. That first rush - wow! Just that burning, searing, soaring sense of perfection. There's no way to explain it unless you've been through it."
• "I'm greedy. I'd like to keep most of it for myself and a few others, a few of my friends. Keep that superlative high just on the cusp of each day so that I radiate sunshine."
• "Wherever I've gone I've been quite notorious. And quite innocently so."
• "I lived a very isolated life. When you start at twenty, you have a lot of nonsense to work out of your system."
• "I had fun, but I really didn't have anyone I particularly loved. And I still don't, except for loving friends, but I mean I haven't been in love with anyone in years and years. But I have a certain amount of faith that it'll come."
• "I made a mask out of my face because I didn't realize I was quite beautiful. God blessed me so. I practically destroyed it. I had to wear heavy black eyelashes like bat wings, and dark lines under my eyes, and cut all my hair off, my long dark hair. Cut it off and stripped it silver and blonde. All those little maneuvers I did out of things that were happening in my life that upset me."
• "You care enough, that you want your life to be fulfilled in a living way. Not in a painting way, not in a writing way ... You really do want it to be involved in living, corresponding with other living objects, moving, changing, that kind of thing."
• "They say use it, channel it. Do it, like there will be a sign, be an artist, you're so creative, do anything, you've got to do it, use it. Then, things like, and you've got to collect yourself too. I mean, you know, make your hair more about yourself, self-respect. But I mean, ridiculous."
• [About a dream she had] "It's like my having to walk down thousands and thousands of white marble stairs ... and nothing but a very very blue sky, very blue, like ... Yes, and I'd have to walk down them forever. I never thought about going up ... I don't know, don't you think that must mean something? It never occurred to me to turn around, I mean, why didn't I think that way? This was after I had the car accident."
• "It's sort of like a mockery, in a way of reality because they think everything is smiles and sweetness and flowers where there is something bitter to taste. And to pretend there isn't is foolish. I mean the ones that wander around and know, at the same time, and yet wear flowers, and they deserve to wear flowers. And they've earned their smile. You can tell by people's eyes."

"Private? What makes you think my life is private?"

One of the most well-liked gals around is Miss Elizabeth Taylor. Sure Debbie Reynolds is probably not her biggest fan, but during her career spanning more than half and century, Miss Taylor has counted more best friends than husbands (!) Throughout her life she has counted Montgomery Clift, Rock Hudson, Grace Kelly, Michael Jackson, Liza Minnelli, Jane Powell, among others, as her closest friends.

I have long been a great fan of Elizabeth Taylor's. Ever since I saw her in National Velvet when I was a horse-obsessed six-year-old, I have longed to be like her. There is a definite charming quality in Elizabeth's presence, seen onscreen as well as off. She is always the most beautiful and enchanting person around, bar none.

How to be like Elizabeth Taylor:

• Start a collection. Elizabeth is known worldwide for her large collection of jewels. She has written a book about her "love affair" with jewelry, though is not against parting with certain pieces if the cause is right. She sold her 69.42 carat ring from Richard Burton in an auction in order to raise money for her politician love John Warner.
• Love animals. Elizabeth has called her many pets (from puppies to a chipmunk named Nibbles that she wrote a book about when she was a teenager) her best friends. She also shares her love - she gave James Dean a Siamese kitten he named Marcus shortly before the actor's death.
• Crusade for a cause close to your heart. After close friend Rock Hudson lost his battle with AIDS, she founded the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation.
• Be business-savvy. Elizabeth was the first actress to be paid one million dollars (for her role in Cleopatra), and has been quoted as saying "If someone is dumb enough to offer me a million dollars to make a picture, I'm certainly not dumb enough to turn it down."
• Live by love and virtue. Elizabeth was an honest believer in finding love. "You don't start a movie expecting to crash," she has said, "You get married expecting it to be forever. That's why you get married." Despite being married eight times, Elizabeth has said "I've only slept with men I've been married to. How many women can make that claim?"
• Be humble and, most importantly, be yourself. Elizabeth has admitted, "I don't think I am a beautiful woman. Ava Gardner is. I think Audrey Hepburn is. But the way I look is all right with me. Because I want to be me. I don't take vitamins or do exercise. I can lose weight when I want to, mainly by just not eating."

the first real step...

My first act in the Dolly Rocker Girl project is that I have made it my goal to finally learn how to play the guitar. No matter how swoon-worthy I think it is whenever a boy knows how to play guitar, I always thinks its so cool when girls can strum a tune. Think of all the girls out there who can play guitar - Marianne, Jane, Francoise, Mary - so many!

I've already made a list of songs I want to learn: Blackbird, Mother Nature's Son, I Will, Wild Horses, House of the Rising Sun (Marianne Faithfull version, natch), Goodbye, and While My Guitar Gently Weeps. Quite ambitious, I know, but I have faith that I am motivated and bored enough to actually go through with it this time.

Anyone out there have any suggestions for a guitar novice? I'm teaching myself, which may turn out to be a huge mistake, but I'm adamant in doing this.

How to be like Patrica Franchini from "À bout de souffle"

I've always thought that Jean Seberg had incredible style. It gave me faith that a simple Midwestern girl could dress so easily and beautifully Parisian. Seberg's role as Patricia Franchini in Jean-Luc Godards's 1959 French Wave film "À bout de souffle" (named last week by TCM one of the 15 most influential films of all time) encapsulates the chic style she is remembered for. Like the real-life Seberg, Patricia was an American expat living in Paris. But because Patricia's end is far less tragis than Jean's, I've come up with a list of everything one would need to wear, say, live, and do to be like Godard's heroine.
Patricia's Wardrobe:

• The New York Herald Tribune shirt – I purchased mine from Neighborhoodies. I suggest the Girls Communitee style in white (natch…), as it is closest to the type that Jean wore
• Black Capri pants
• A striped circle dress with a rounded collar, big buttons, and matching belt at the waist
• White cashmere cardigan
• Wool pencil dress, nipped at the waist, button down front and two large pockets on the chest
• Your man’s large button down shirt
• Black and white (horizontal) striped boatneck sweater
• Black and grey (vertical) striped shirt with no sleeves
• White twill shorts
• Black pleated skirt (ending at your knees)

Patricia: What is your greatest ambition in life?
Parvulesco: To become immortal…and then die.

Patricia's Accessories:

• Black oblong retro sunglasses
• Small white purse
• Flat black loafers
• Black ballet slippers
• A small silver watch (worn on the left wrist)
• Fedora (borrowed from your man)
• Copies of the New York Herald Tribune
• White high heels
• A teddy bear with a white bow
• Prints from Renior, Picasso, and Paul Klee

Patricia: Why do you want to make love to me?
Michel: Because you’re beautiful.
Patricia: But I’m not beautiful.
Michel: Okay, then because you’re ugly.

Her Pastimes:

• Aspiring to be a journalist
• Selling the “New York Herald Tribune” on the Champs-Elysées
• Harboring fugitives
• Quoting Faulkner, Thomas, and Rilke

Patricia: Do you know William Faulkner?
Michel: No. Who’s he? Have you slept with him?

Acquaintances:

• handsome young French thugs who think they're Humphrey Bogart
• police men

Hangouts:

• sidewalk cafés
• her apartment
• the cinema (where she sneaks into the screening of Whirpool)
• the Champs-Elysées

Pearls of Wisdom:

• It’s sad to fall asleep. It separates people. Even when you’re sleeping together, you’re all alone.
• I don’t know if I’m unhappy because I’m not free, or if I’m not free because I’m unhappy.
• Are you afraid of getting old? I am.
• Between grief and nothing, I will take grief.
• We look at each other in the eye, and it’s no use.
• I’d like to think about something, and I can’t.

Check out Vogue’s old editorial featuring Christy Turlington as Patricia, and look at Mia Kirshner’s reimagining of Patricia on “The L Word” for some modern-day inspirations of Patricia