Monday, January 28, 2013

BEAUTY IN DAHOMEY



Sisters from the Pilapila tribe in tribal maquilllage at the great marketplace of Djougou.

  "Rarely in Africa is the body left in its natural condition. Modifications such as the cicatricial patterns on the torsos of the girls from Ganvie' are not purely ornamental; they indicate that the person belongs to a certain tribe, to a certain clan, or has undergone rites of initiation."





Believers In Magic
Girls of Ganvie, cheeks tatooed and bodies delicately marked  by village seers with the symbols of their tribe.


Young Girls of Tofinu
Their white powdered necks looped in chains, waists and heads wrapped in cotton.


Girls of the Aizo Tribe

"The floating-market vendors along Dahomean lagoons which line the Atlantic shores of Dahomey powder their throats white."


"Differences in the clothes, maquillage, jewellery, scarifications and hairdressing reflect the different values and patterns of life of their peoples but, under this variety, is a common aesthetic orientation: We are in the world of art."


A Girl Vowed To Her God
"Chosen at birth, initiated in the mysteries of a vodun at a convent; a bride of ancestral spirits, her body embossed with the cicatrices of her cult."



Arms abound with bracelets, hair dressed with butter and charcoal - a Fulani, one of the proud pastoral nomads of unknown origin who wander throughout the savannahs from Senegal in the west to Cameroon in the east.



"Tatas" Of The Somba, each a private fortress for a patriarch and his family, near the hills of Atakora, where these animist tribesmen live.


The Quest For Beauty In Dahomey
Vogue December 1967
Photography: Irving Penn

Friday, January 25, 2013

SMASH


Anjelica Huston


Giorgio di Sant'Angelo


Tom Brigance for Fornarotto


Anne Klein
John Moore


Adri
Boots - David Evins


Geoffrey Beene
Giorgio di Sant'Angelo


Pierre Cardin-New York
Giorgio di Sant'Angelo


Boutique Ben Kahn



Angelica Huston
Vogue September 15, 1969
Photography: Avedon

Monday, January 21, 2013

Yves Klein Blues - L'Wren Scott

Jet Beaded G-string by Jorgen Timonsen





Oh How Naughty!
Dior Joaillerie

Gaultier Paris
Umbrella-Odile Gilbert

Christian Lacroix Haute Couture

Yves Saint Laurent Haute Couture

Atelier Versace

Givenchy Haute Couture
Philip Treacy Hat

Valentino Haute Couture

Chanel Haute Couture

Emanuel Ungaro Haute Couture
Odile Gilbert Headpiece

The Last Word...
Van Cleef & Arpels


Untamed Fire
Photographs by Karl Lagerfeld
Styling by L'Wren Scott

"Untitled Anthropometry (ANT89),"
Yves Klein

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

YVES OF EDEN


Yves Saint Laurent at Home in Marrakech


"Young, handsome, intense, with his own marvelous way of looking and dressing, Yves Saint Laurent is probably the activist of the French Couture - he understands how young people feel, knows how they want to look."

- Yves Saint Laurent in his laced, collarless pullover of tobacco glove leather with corduroy jeans from his first ready-to-wear collection.

Vogue July 1969


I was sixteen in '69 and not in a position to wear Saint Laurent. However - as a young fashionista during the mod era, and one fortunate enough to have been born into a successful ladies retail business, I was well aware of his importance to all things wonderful in the realm of the (fashion) senses.

He maintained his 'Boy Wonder' title, while others of equal import fell to the wayside, and remained the most applauded creative designer to hold court on the fashion scene, as well as the mise-en-scene, and well beyond the revolutionary fashion era of the sixties.

We Salute Him


Yves is shown in Marrakech, on a balcony overhanging the inner courtyard of his house - called El Haunch, "the serpent" - which he had owned since 1967 in the ancient medina, the native quarter. There he spent three months of every year preparing his collections, and the month of August relaxing.

- Pale pink gaberdine suit with flap pockets, flowered cotton shirt and brown leather belt from his first ready-to-wear collection for men.

Vogue July 1969



Yves wears a white gaberdine version of the pink suit, above, The shirt is black cotton voile and the printed scarf in Abraham crepe de chine.


Yves Other Eden 
Saint Laurent In Marrakech
Vogue July 1969
Photography: Patrick Lichfield


Yves Saint Laurent
1936-2008
Once A Great Beauty



Saturday, January 12, 2013

SUMMER PREVIEW 1948


STRICT LINES ... STRICTLY BECOMING

Balenciaga's distinctly peaked plateau of grass-green faille. Wide side, short back, broad crown, and a swift flight of black wings.


Balenciaga

Balenciaga's late-in-the-day, tiered black taffeta. The tippet accordian-pleated.


DIOR

Dior's pale pink chiffon shirtwaist complete with chiffon cartwheel and a new fall of pearls


DIOR

In Paris, where the big season is May through July, ball dresses, such as this one (photographed at the Paris Opera), willl float like pale bells over parquet floors, terraced flags, in garden marquees.



Vogue April 1948
Summer Preview 
Paris and America
Photography: Clifford Coffin