The sun is out!

To celebrate a sunny day in NYC, I post this HOT picture.

Charlotte Olympia Dellal

The super-talented Carlotte Olympia Dellal has done it again!
Her shoes are so gorgeous, timeless and feminine, I am dreaming of dancing the night away wearing these.












http://www.charlotteolympia.com/

Carla Bruni, First Lady of France

Carla Bruni is fun. She always knows how to ham it up for the international press. She clearly knows she got a great behind. And she never wears cardigans to official functions.
Swoon.

Fashion imitating Art

Found this in my magazine collection:
Julianne Moore photographed for Harper's Bazaar by Peter Lindbergh in 2008.

Gown, Ralph Lauren Collection

Madame X, 1884 by John Singer Sargent

Dress, Lanvin; Thigh-highs, Wolford

Seated Woman With Bent Knee, 1917 by Egon Schiele

Corset, Bottega Veneta

The Cripple, 1997 by John Currin

Hand-painted and embroidered dress and platforms, Dior Haute Couture

Adele Bloch-Bauer I, 1907 by Gustav Klimt

Sweater, and skirt, Calvin Klein Collection. Gloves, Carolina Amato.

Woman With a Fan, 1919 by Amadeo Modigliani

Sheer dress, slipdress, hat, mask, and belt, Louis Vuitton; Folio, Anya Hindmarch

Man Crazy Nurse #3, 2003 by Richard Prince

Madame X

This is one of my favorite paintings and John Singer Sargent is one of my favorite Painters.
The Book is a great Summer Read.
Enjoy.

Charles Dana Gibson - Illustrator

At the turn of the 20th century, Charles Dana Gibson's eponymous creation, "The Gibson Girl" embodied the new beauty ideal. Poised, patrician and romantic, she was America's Ragtime Pinup.











Source: www.gibson-girls.com

Archive Collection from Conde Nast

Yachting
Legendary lensman Edward Steichen vastly varied his subject matter—from horticulture to naval combat—throughout his lengthy, illustrious career. When he turned his camera on the worlds of fashion and celebrity as chief photographer for Condé Nast from 1923 to 1938, he produced some of the era's freshest and most glamorous portraits and fashion editorial images. Case in point: This image of four models leisurely sitting on a yacht, dressed in fashionably loose-shouldered jackets, skirts, and cloches from the July 15, 1928, Vogue.

This photograph alludes to a carefree cruise scene, but the setting was actually created in a studio. A model reclines under a large-brimmed pink sun hat. Cigarette in hand, she rests her red espadrille-clad feet on a rail resembling a ship's mast. A pair of raffia shoes, a red silk scarf, and eyeglasses hang from the rail. The John Rawlings photograph, one of thousands created by the fashion photographer during his 30 years with Condé Nast, appeared in the January 1, 1944, Vogue. Rawlings created more than 200 Vogue and Glamour covers and numerous feature photographs during the mid-20th century.

Mme. Mathieu St. Laurent with Son Yves
An intimate familial moment between legendary Yves Saint Laurent and his mother, Madame Mathieu Saint Laurent, was captured by photographer Willy Rizzo. At the time, Monsieur Saint Laurent was working for Christian Dior, following Dior's death. Naturally, the young designer's mother is wearing a Dior cocktail dress with a pin on the back shoulder. The image appeared in the April 15, 1960, Vogue.

Marisa Berenson in Indian Tunic
Superstar model Marisa Berenson lounges on the floor of an all-white studio. Clad in a mauve lamé Indian tunic-and-pants set by Chanel, she manages to look exotic in the most mundane of locales. Berenson's ability to transform herself into a number of characters became her legacy. Gianni Penati's photograph appeared in the January 1, 1969, Vogue.

Lace-Shadowed Eye
The 1960s was an era for innovation in both fashion and beauty. A model's lace-shadowed eye—created by makeup artist Pablo for Elizabeth Arden—in this Bert Stern portrait from the December 1, 1964, Vogue is a perfect example. The silver hammered-silk cap is by Halston.

Jerry Hall
Model Jerry Hall (at left) and another model walk the beach holding the bridles of their dappled gray horses. Horses of Spanish and Arabian descent commonly carry this coloring. Stan Malinowski's photograph appeared in the December 1977 Vogue.

Jean Patchett in Bathing Suit
Thanks to a stunning use of light, this photograph could double as a painting. Model Jean Patchett wears a pale pink velveteen bathing suit with a high Empire waist and finished with romper pants. The entire room is infused with the blush hue, and the floor virtually absorbs its color. Horst P. Horst's romantic photograph appeared in the December 2, 1955, Vogue.

Frances McLaughlin-Gill's photograph, which appeared in the December 1, 1946, Vogue, features a model with her hair pulled back by a clip. She wears a low-cut crocheted evening sweater, her back curved and her body turned away from the camera. In terms of composition, this work harks back to early-20th-century portraiture, but given the model's unconventional pose, it captures a rare moment indeed.

Source: www.condenaststore.com

Vinegar Secrets for Beauty, House and Garden

This is not very glamorous, but very effective, doesn't harm you or the environment and costs pennies!
I tried most of them and they really do work.
Try it!

If you use Vinegar for cleaning, it doesn't matter what kind you use, except Brown(cider) Vinegar will stain porous materials.
So use vinegar wisely!!

- Put white vinegar in a spray bottle. Crumple up a sheet of old newspaper. Spray the window with vinegar and wipe down with the newspaper. Your windows are now sparkling clean

- Deodorize the air. Vinegar is a natural air freshener when sprayed in a room.

- Take 1 cup of vinegar and warm water into a large glass and use to rinse your hair after you shampoo. Vinegar adds highlights to brunettehair, restores the acid mantel, and removes soap film and sebum oil.

- You take 1 tablespoon full and swollow when you have the hiccups. It stops them instantly.

- Relieve dry and itchy skin. Add 2 tablespoons to bath water.

- Fight dandruff, by rinsing with vinegar and 2 cups of warm water, after shampooing.

- Soothe a sore throat. Put a teaspoon of vinegar in a glass of water. Gargle, then swallow.

- Get rid of lint in clothes. Add 1/2 cup of vinegar to the rinse cycle.

- Prevent lint from clinging to clothes: Add one cup vinegar to each wash load.

- Get smoke smell out of clothes by adding a cup of vinegar to a bath tub of hot water.
Hang clothes above the steam.

- Remove perspiration stains from clothes by applying one part vinegar to four parts water,then rinse.

- Deodorant and anti-perspirants stains may be removed from clothing by lightly rubbing with distilled vinegar and laundering as usual.

- Cotton and wool blankets become soft, fluffy and free of soap odor if 2 cups of distilled vinegar are added to the rinse cycle of the wash.

- Clothes will rinse better if a cup of vinegar is added to the last rinse water. The acid in vinegar is too mild to harm fabrics but strong enough to dissolve the alkalies in soaps and detergents.

- Deodorize a wool sweater: Wash sweater, then rinse in equal parts vinegar and water to remove odor.

- After a hem or seam is removed, there are often unsightly holes left in the fabric. These holes can be removed by placing a cloth, moistened with
distilled vinegar, under the fabric and ironing.

- Freshen vegetables. Soak wilted vegetables in 2 cups of water and a tablespoon of vinegar.

- Boil better eggs by adding 2 tablespoons water before boiling. Keeps them from cracking.

- Freshen cut flowers. Add 2 tablespoons vinegar and 1 teaspoon sugar for each quart of water.

- Prolong the life of flowers in a vase. Add two tablespoons of vinegar plus three
tablespoons of sugar per quart of warm water. Stems should be in three to four inches of water.

- Kill grass on walks and driveways. Pour full strength on unwanted grass.

- Kill weeds. Spray full strength on growth until plants have starved.

-Keep cats away. Sprinkle vinegar on an area to discourage cats from walking,sleeping, or scratching on it.

-Keep dogs from scratching ears. Clean the inside of the ears with a soft cloth dipped in diluted vinegar.

- Soothe a bee or jellyfish sting. Dot or douce the irritated area with vinegar and relieve itching.

- Relieve itching by using a cotton ball to dab mosquito and other bug bites with Vinegar straight from the bottle.

- Relieve sunburn by lightly rubbing it with vinegar. You may have to reapply.

- Clean and disinfect wood cutting boards by wiping with full strength vinegar.

Source: http://www.angelfire.com/cantina/homemaking/vinegar.html

Beauty Inspiration: Renée Perle by Jacques Henri Lartigue

These are a few of my favourite photographs of Renée Perle.
I found it some time ago among other Jacques Henri Lartigue shots.

The first picture was taken in 1931, and yet the first thing that impacted me were the goth punk elements, circa late 70s early 80s. The bangle, the t-shirt, the nail polish, the veil. Was Siouxsie Sioux influenced by Perle’s style?

This photo could have easily been taken decades after it actually was.




“Half past five at the Embassy. I wait for my “parasol” from last night. I need a whiskey. I’m very shy deep down, and ready to be furious if she doesn’t show up. It’s my curiosity that would be most disappointed…Five thirty-five. There she is! Can it really be her? Ravishing, tall, slim, with a small mouth and full lips, and dark porcelain eyes. She casts aside her fur coat in a gust of warm perfume. We’re going to dance. Mexican? Cuban? Her very small head sits on a very long neck. She is tall; her mouth is at the level of my chin. When we dance my mouth is not far from her mouth. Her hair brushes against both.Romanian. My name is Renée P… I was a model at Doeuillet…” Delicious. She takes off her gloves. Long, little girl’s hands. Something in my mind starts dancing at the thought that one day perhaps she would agree to paint the nails of those hands…”
- Jacques Henri Lartigue (1894-1986) Diary, Paris, March 7, 1930.














More Info from http://www.romanianculture.org/:

Renee Perle
(Unknown-1977) Artist

Born in Romania, date and place unknown; died in the South of France in 1977.

Renee Perle, a Romanian Jewish girl who moved to Paris, is famous as the first muse of the famous French photographer Jacques Henri Lartigue (1894-1986), who is considered one of the leading photographers of the 20th century. Renee lived with Lartigue as his girl friend, having met her in 1929 or 1930. Her spectacular beauty inspired some of his best photographs. Renee also painted, and a large number of her quaint and naive self-portraits are seen in some Lartigue photos. They do not show much mastery of artistic technique, but they have a strange fascination, perhaps because they show something approaching a manic-compulsion by Renee to paint her own face on canvas over and over, almost without end. The Foundation has made many efforts to find one of these for its collection, as a specimen, but so far with no success. We have been in touch with Renee's step-daughter, who has an oil portrait of her step-mother, but everything else which had been carefully preserved by Renee was dispersed in 2000 and 2001 in two famous Paris sales by Tajan. Renee also worked as a fashion model.

An interesting article here:
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/summer-madness-1268030.html