Style Icons: Female »Anjelica Huston

anjelica huston

? Why do I mention it now?

Because I just found these great photos of her before her career in the movies began. They come from a November 1972 Vogue and just had to share them with you.

Here's what I said back on 12/11/06:

Raven haired and six feet tall, no one in Hollywood holds a candle to this strong and elegant actress. From poor little rich girl and daughter of John Huston and ballerina Ricki Soma, to longtime girlfriend of Jack Nicholson and model for Annie Leibowitz, Richard Avedon, and Helmut Lang, to reluctant star and award winning actress, Anjelica Huston's life has been a dramatic and sometimes tragic journey.

She is marvelous on screen with her huge doe eyes, her long broken nose and enchanting presence. Prizzi's Honor made her famous, but also watch her shine in The Witches, Crimes and Misdemeanors, and The Grifters.

End the Anjelica marathon with the two movies she shares with this weeks style icon and hunk, The Player and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (although I actually hated this movie and can not be responsible for recommending it).


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Posted on June 15, 2009

Style Icons: Female »Sian Phillips

sian phillipsThough Sian Phillips's roots are more working class (she's the daughter of a teacher and a cop), I think the word “regal” is the best way to describe her powerful aura. Even if you don't know her by name, she has graced many of my (and possibly your) most favorite things.

She's probably most famous for her role as Livia in the awesome I, Claudius, but she also graces the excellent George Smiley series Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Smiley's People, opens David Lynch's Dune with a commanding forehead, accepted and declines invitations in Age of Innocence, and if you're not so much the BBC miniseries or historical romance type, maybe you remember her from Clash of the Titans or Ewoks: The Battle for Endor (which featured a little girl named Cindell who became my little brother's imaginary friend).

She was also once married to Peter O Toole and currently lends her voice to Rufus Wainwright.

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Posted on June 8, 2009

Style Icons: Female »Michelle Pfeiffer

michelle pfeifferKids get into strange things and while there's nothing strange about finding Michelle Pfeiffer to be utterly lovely and amazing with her cat like eyes (she wasn't cast as Catwoman for no reason), out of the world bone structure, and eyes of blue that you could take long swims in – it's a bit odd that she was my most favorite idol because as a little kid I loved Married to the Mob.

It's a down right shame that the beautiful actress has been stuck in?straight to video schlock and bigger movies of no note. Though her star power in Hollywood has inexplicably faded lately she has not. Who can forget her glossied up pink satin role in Grease 2 (even if we can forget the movie in general) and who among us can deny our envy of her perfectly shiny long bob, disco dolly dresses, and pout as a drug dealers wife in Scarface?

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Posted on June 1, 2009

Style Icons: Female »Maxine de la Falaise

maxine de la falaiseMaxine de la Falaise's obituary reads like a dream: she grew up in a family that “were the highest of haute bohemia”, as a child in school, “her clothes – Rhoda's (her mother's) discarded Schiaparellis or bespoke oriental ensembles – were awesome”. Later, shipped off to the US to find a wealthy husband, “She hung around Vogue in New York, was introduced to Elsa Schiaparelli, whose couture house had reopened… as perfect in her lanky loucheness to wear and sell for the house in its last years, and she was also photographed as a model for Dior, whose rise finally eclipsed Schiaparelli.”

She counted Louis Malle and Max Ernst among her lovers before becoming “an influential hostess among the Manhattan creatives” and a food columnist for Vogue. She was great friends with Andy Warhol and I know her well from his camp classic Blood for Dracula. Yves Saint Laurent, who claimed her daughter Loulou as a muse, was also enamored with Maxine and she both modeled for him and acted as his licensing consultant.

She was a gorgeous and fascinating woman who left her own, unique stamp on the world.

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Posted on May 25, 2009

Style Icons: Female »Meryl Streep

meryl streepI love that Meryl Streep is a literal living legend of the big screen. I love that she peppers her nomination grabbing (15 Oscar nods already) roles with She Devil and The Devil Wears Prada. But most of all I love that her sense of humor makes her seem like the kind of woman I'd like to spend some time on a veranda with, hearing stories about Jack and sipping spiked lemonade.

I don't know how many grand dames, or even kind of/sort of actors you know, but hanging out with one is usually the last thing you want to do willfully. But, as everybody knows, Meryl's different.

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Posted on May 18, 2009

Style Icons: Female »Peggy Lipton

peggy liptonHello, Summer. I miss you and, with each raindrop, I'm counting the days until you arrive. In the meantime, I'll find solace in the sun-drenched, honey dipped, down to her waist, brushed a hundred strokes a night hair of Peggy Lipton.

Mother of Rashida, lover of Big Ed Hurley, hipster crime fighter, Lipton was even once a pop singer and a lover of Elvis Presley during her lifetime of fulfilling boyhood and girlhood dreams of intelligent California girls (even though she was born right here in NYC).

Gaze upon her beauty here.

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Posted on May 11, 2009

Style Icons: Female »Mimi Weddell

mimi weddellEvery quote attributed to (“I take a teaspoon of brandy when I feel spacey. It makes me come alive.” and?”I'd sell myself for a hat,”) or about (“Facts are not my mother's strong point”) adds to the charm of the willowy actress and style icon, Mimi Weddell.

While her old lady stylish eccentricities might call to mind the antics of the Beales, she never seems to teeter into such decrepit derangement. Instead with a motto of “Rise above it!” she's an inspirational wonder with hundreds of hats (she and her millinery obsession are the subject of a 2008 documentary Hats Off that I am excited to see and wish would come to Netflix – check out the Algonquin release party photos here).

Here are some excellent photos of her and her adorably disorganized apartment taken by Brix Picks fave Tim Walker.

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Posted on May 4, 2009

Style Icons: Female »Mariska Veres

mariska shocking blueOh, dearly beloved Mariska Veres,?how smitten I have become since first laying eyes on you. Part Liza Minelli, part Susanna Hoffs, with thick eyelashes and a bouffant of beautiful, witchy hair, I grew up grooving to the fruits of your labor. Of course, I speak of the Bananarama version of your greatest hit, Venus, but as you'll learn from this week's song pick, I now know that you and your band Shocking Blue were more than one hit wonders.

You were one tough Dutch lady who fronted a quite good looking band through the years of psychedelia, man I bet you had stories of yourself and that amazing red heart sweater…

See some photos here, and more at this fan site.

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Posted on April 27, 2009

Style Icons: Female »Julia Butterfly Hill

julia butterfly hillJulia Butterfly Hill inspired millions when she independently climbed a redwood and stayed there for over seven hundred days to stop the Pacific Lumber Company from cutting it down. Certainly the inspiration of the character of Sierra in this week's excellent book recommendation, Hill has also prompted singers to write about her.

A model example of peaceful activism, Hill continues in her efforts for conservation and environmentalism, and she writes a blog about her experiences.

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Posted on April 20, 2009

Style Icons: Female »Colleen Corby

colleen corbyYou may not be familiar with Colleen Corby's name if you weren't a teen in the '60s, but if you've ever picked up a vintage Seventeen magazine from that magical decade, you're sure to have seen her wide eyes staring back at you. She had looks, and specifically lips, that boys could dream about, but she also seemed like she could be your pretty best friend.

After years of constant work as America's then top supermodel sweetheart under the tutelage/iron grip of Eileen Ford she left the business to get married and hopefully eat as much pork chops as she wanted (she was put on a strict diet by Ford for most of her youth).

This site contains a very extensive photo gallery of her work, mostly from Seventeen Magazine, whose staff adored her as much as her fans and the young Oprah Winfrey (who referred to Corby as the model she most closely identified with as a teen).

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Posted on April 13, 2009