Great Beauty

While recently going through my old Italian Vogues, I found a great photo retrospective about life time model and elegant beauty, Benedetta Barzini. Frustrated at not being able to read the accompanying article, I decided to find out what I cold about this sharp featured woman and found that she’s the kind of strong willed individual that blows the stereotype of a ditsy, shallow supermodel out of the water.

You might most recognize her today as one of the few models working with deep, well earned wrinkles but her career began back in the sixties. When starting out, after being discovered by the indomitable Diana Vreeland, she was once told (as she recalls in this 1977 People interview):

“Look—come to the parties, be nice to everyone, marry a rich American and you can stay in the U.S. That’s the way it works.”

Instead, she fell in with Warhol and had a highly publicized love affair with Gerard Malanga and she skipped out on her skyrocketing modeling career to act in Italy to became a feminist communist. This is probably why she is not a household name as she seemed destined to become and can be found no where near America’s Next Top Model’s judging table.

She can be found, however in the archives of the Sartorialist, making commenter’s wish for the genetics to look this good at her age.

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Posted on January 26, 2009

Icon

While it’s no surprise that The Village Voice is hard up these days, and even though it’s been viewed as less and less relevant daily, some of their staff is extremely awesome and in particular Lynn Yaeger is a city icon who gave thirty years of her wit to the paper. So, of course, in a clear last breath of desperation, they laid the wonderful woman off!
Her distinctive, bright orangey-red short bang crop, her Betty Boop lips, and her dots of glowing blush makes her instantly recognizable on the streets, more that once my day’s been made just seeing her. She is obsessed with clothes and as a woman after my own heart who believes in individual style (of which she had plenty). In a recent interview she said:

quot;I think people should wear whatever they like!”,?”There are no no-nos!” and “Be yourself! Ignore the rules.”

As everyone else has also predicted, I am sure Yaeger will find a home and happiness with a career like hers under her belt, and it truly will probably hurt the Village Voice more than her, but maybe she can pick up on the career she once told Refinery 29 she would take on if she ever lost her job: “helping ripped-off people take on the system” and demand justice for her fellow pink slip legend Nat Hentoff.

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Posted on January 12, 2009

Fiber Artist

I’m not necessarily a follower of fiber artists, I think few are, but ever since coming face to face with a huge off white piece by renowned artist Sheila Hicks at the Cooper Hewitt, I’ve becoming more and more intrigued by her work every day. So much inspiration can be taken from her use of color to her international influences (she studied and traveled to Venezuela, Bolivia, Peru and Chile, and back north to Mexico when she began her foray into textiles).

From her tiny and precious miniatures to the monumental installations, her work is as fresh and innovative today as it was when she began decades ago. I could easily see her oeuvre inspiring fashion today. Her work is almost primitive, whimsical and very handmade while still seeming very sophisticated and enlightened.

As a woman, Hicks has always been respected and admired. She is known as an encouraging and helpful mentor and really made her own way in a medium not yet fully recognized in the art world during a time where it was hard enough just to be a female artist in a male dominated field.

As I discovered in this 2006 article she is still working at the age of 72 and is still finding inspiration from the wide world- this time the island Ouessant. While her life has been spent traveling and she continues to split her time between Paris, New York and Tokyo, she began as a nice Midwestern girl who has since counted consultant, teacher, publisher, and artist among her professions.

While unfortunately the publication she edited for a short time: American Fabrics and Fashion is pretty difficult to find, a lot of her work is online for your viewing pleasure. Be prepared to want to find thick, makeshift, patch worked and beautifully colored scarves or jackets. Also be prepared to sadly not find anything quite like it to add to your wardrobe.

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Posted on December 28, 2008

Pin Up Queen

Bettie Page became a star decades after the photos were taken that made her famous. Generations recognized her charm, effervescence and beauty once the times caught up to her racy career. She and her signature cute bangs were certainly an influence on me as a teen around the time that she was becoming a pop style icon dug up from the past.

She was 85 when she passed away this last Thursday.

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Posted on December 15, 2008

Illustrator

Discovering the world of Tove Jansson and her Moomintrolls has been delightful. Ever since glancing through one of her books I have found lots of inspiration from her amazing career that only a few weeks ago I knew nothing about. She is beloved in her home country of Finland where?the universe of her original creations, a family of tubby adorable trolls called Moomins, began as her response to the second world war.

While I’ve yet to dig deep into the books, I have been reeling with the beauty of her illustrations online. The site Moomin Trove has a great gallery of her book covers. Her use of color with black and white amazes me and, in fact, has inspired some sketches for a redesign of this site.

Jansson illustrated classics too like Alice in Wonderland and The Hobbit and was commissioned to do many murals and public works in Finland. Her creations also inspired a surreal children’s theme park called Moomin World that I would love to see myself.

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Posted on December 1, 2008