A MAGIC SHOW IN FOUR SCENES BY SAUL LEITER

"Acting, is the art of becoming somebody else."

Moss Hart

SCENE 1

First show of sorcery: A sighingly romantic flaxen-blonde. The means - Ivory chiffon by Clairol, coiffure by Maison Antoine. Complexion, ivory; eyes misted in lavender; lips light coral. to enhance the shimmering illusion, an incandescent jewelled pin, shaped like a Burmese pagoda. By Vendome. With it, draped at the throat, a scarf of myriad shrimp-colored beads, each one embedded in crystal, like roe en gelee. By Hattie Carnegie.

Kelly Osbourne Greype

SCENE 2

The magic,here, is distinctly disingenuous, full of witchery and worldliness. The tint of hair, pale beige touched with lilac - Mist of Mauve, a couturier colour by L'Oreal. This coiffure, draped like a strip of satin from side to side, coils sinuously at the top of the head. By Monsieur Marcel. Skin tone, rose beige; eye make-up, lavender;lip colour, clear rich rose. Draped like a collar of cloth at the throat, endless yards of round little roe beads creating a moving, vibrant pattern of colour - violet, green and pink - which delicately reiterates the lilac in the hair. Hattie Carnegie necklace.

SCENE 3

A look composed of equal parts sheer fantasy and high sophistication. The colour of the hair is burnished peach a Fanci-fullRinse for bleached hair by Roux called - disarmingly - Just Peachy. The smooth, gleaming hair is drawn from one side across the top of the head, whirled in back, swirled on the other side. The style - by Coiffures Americana. The complexion, peach tone; eye allure, bronzy-green; lips, bright coral. Starry swollen pin of extraordinary depth and dimensionality: a burst of coral stalks against leaves paved with emerald green, peridot stones. By Miriam Haskell.

SCENE 4

A serene and notable coiffure in the classic repertoire, paradoxically demure and saucy as a Jane Austin heroine. The colourig: Grecian Blonde, a light soft, natural brown by Tintair. The hair is shaped forward from a centre part, then drawn up into a smooth, crowning coil. Coiffure by Andre Amelio of the Salon Debbian. Make-up - sheer classicism - consists of beige complexion, hyacinth blue eye shadow and light, bright red lipstick. The jeweling: fresh green leaves rimmed with gilt, nestling on long pretend pearl strands of almost blue-white perfection. All by Trifari.

HAIR MAKE-UP:

A MAGIC SHOW IN 4 SCENES

Harper's Bazaar April 1960

Photography: Saul Leiter

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SOME ENCHANTED EVENING

"Ten O'clock in the corner of the drawing room and, seated, a listener in Jean Lanvin's heavy, rich pink brocaded taffeta with a decolletage quilted in silver lame. The other dress is Lelong's Grecian "Tita," its sweep of pure white crepe gathered into a drawstring belt." John Wanamaker - New York, Philadelphia.

In the foreground, Robert Piguet's serene pale pik crepe with a Greek girdle of silver metal. Beside the accompanist, Jeanne Lanvin's white crepe,with intricrate, shimmering silver embroidery on the sleeves. Salon de Couture, Bonwit Teller.

Scene: a cabaret 

A couple whirling together, she in Mainbocher. Behind her, dancing in Mainbocher's printed crepe. Semi-seated, Heim's pale flowered taffeta. Seated, Heim's black chiffon.

Comtesse Henri de Castellane, gone Spanish in Patou's "Conchita," black stiffened chiffon with the skirt and cape covered entirely with flowered medallions edged with stiff black frills. Jay Thorpe

Princess Poniatowski in Lucien Lelong's "Lac-Aux-Dames" - Gray taffeta like a twilight lake, with gray lace like a mist over it, a red velvet bow at the deep curved bodice. Salon de Couture, Bonwit Teller. Bagues chandelier.

Victor Steibel dinner costume. Molten black satin for a flowing dress, fitted jacket caught with black satin frogs; a toque to hold a veil romantically across the face, two pink camellias above it. Altman

Victor Steibel's white satin-striped chiffon, shirred at the hips above a full, misty skirt. Two strands of white peau d'ange twine around it from the decolletage to end in a girdle. Two white camellias in her hair. Bendel.

Wedding gown and veil made entirely of tulle, yards of it, pleated, the color of old family lace. Hattie Carnegie Ready to Wear.  


Harper's Bazaar May 1935
Photography: Hoyningen-Huene