JEANLOUP SIEFF 1962

Essence of Jersey

Madame Gres, a liquid shaft. unexpectably pleated, of pale yellow, white and gray in Guillemin silk jersey, as sheer as chiffon.

Night-Brown Mist

Lanvin-Castillo's short dance dress, sashed in satin with a shifting cloud of scarf. Bianchini silk chiffon.

Palazzo Pink

Carosa, pink satin Roman ballgown. Its single strap fluttered with bows. The skirt, divided by a deep pleat forming two panels.

Invitation to a Gala

Harper's Bazaar October 1962

Photography: Jeanloup Sieff

... eyes on the sixties at devodotcom

STEPPIN' OUT

The Crystalline Blonde

Blondeness as a goddess might wear it sitting in a nightclub. The Hair - moonlit, the color pale and cool, luminous as crystal, with a fine cabochon finish. Called "Champagne Beige" by Clairol. The silk dress by Galanos. Van Cleef & Arpels diamonds.

Tapered Bangs

On Suzy Parker, planned for a young face and a beautiful evening. Bangs are curved over one brow in loose and artful wisps, almost as long as a pony's bangs. The rest of the hair is combed back and turned softly under at the nape of the neck. Hair by John Bernard Haute Coiffure. Sequined dress by Traina-Norell.

The Amber Blonde

A warmhearted kind of gold, flickering out amber rays by nightlight, as radiant as the midnight sun. Roux's "Golden Blonde." Flowering chiffon dress by Galanos. Diamonds and gold bibelots by Van Cleef & Arpels.

Head in a Cloud

A new kind of evening dress for the hair - an arrangement of large, free-form waves that form a floating cloud around the face. By Guy of Madison Avenue.

Suzy Parker in Patou

Silvery gray Hurel Satin long supple dress blousing at the back low at the waistline marked with a bow. Another bow perches at the decolletage. Earrings by Miriam Haskell.

Guy Laroche

Carmen Dell'Orefice in Pink roses brocaded on turquoise silk 

Lanvin-Castillo

Carmen wears a short bouffant evening dress in Staron's long-stemmed lilies cut in velvet on a silk satin background.

Desses

Carmen Dell-Orefice steps out in wind-swept chiffon closely fitting the waist, crushing the front of the skirt from the knee to the ankle, then set afloat at the sides and in back.

Nightlights

The Crystalline Blonde

The Amber Blonde

Paris Lights Up

Harper's Bazaar October 1957

Photography: Richard Avedon

...eyes on the fifties at devodotcom

LES CAVES MAXIM'S

Dior in palest of pinks

Manguin 

Dior in red

Lanvin-Castillo

Paris Evenings
Harper's Bazaar April 1957
Photography: Gleb Derujinsky

... eye on the fifties at devodotcom

PARIS REPORT 1958

Cardin by Night

Pouf of black Liberat Veiling - inspired by a pastry chef's hat 

Baroque Beads and Rhinestones at the throat

Twenty-two layers of Tulle

Lanvin-Castillo

Heim's Trio of Fluted Tulle

Dior's Arched Skirts

Dior

In The Romantic Tradition

Balmain

Velvet Big Sleeves

Cardin's Cartridge Pleat Coats

The Longer Bulkier Glove

Viola Weinberger

Koret Bag

Avedon Photograph

Sequined Evening Shoe by Newton Elkin

Avedon photograph

Theatre Boot

Ben Somoroff photograph

The Arm Case

Ben Somoroff photograph

Paris Report

Harper's Bazaar

Paris Report 

September 1958

... eye on the fifites at devodotcom

VERY FRENCH VERY FIFTIES

The inimitable Gabrielle Chanel poses behind Suzy Parker who wears a favourite suit from Chanel's collection. Navy blue and white Prince of Wales check lined and outlined in the black and white checks of the silk surah blouse underneath.

Eternally feminine Anouk Aimee wears the white Hurel basketweave wool Chanel that opened the spring collection. The curve of the jacket into the body is new. The rest is a reiteration of the Chanel articles of faith - ease, a play of jewels, bright buttons.

Madame Alix Gres is a designer's designer. Shy and unaffected, she has been sculpting clothes of classic beauty for almost three decades. A recent trip to India inspired this coat reminiscent of Nehru's - a width of sleeve and a flaring tunic line.

The Master - at the time Dior's 23 year-old heir, Yves Saint Laurent, with Suzy Parker in his jacket - deliberately cut so narrow it can never be buttoned, tossed on the shoulders of a sleeveless dress in Rodier gray and white shepherd's check wool.

Dior bootery and boutique

Dolores Guinness, one of the world's great beauties in Lanvin-Castillo's free translation from the Indian sari - a dress of gold embroidered white silk organdie with a brief magenta satin bodice.

Zizi Jeanmaire in the belted overcoat from Dior

Pierre Cardin widens the top of the silhouette with great bursts of sleeve extended from an open neckline on this creamy wool short jacket suit. The suit - topped with a big back-blown Breton in pale rice straw.

The Future Countess of Bedford, Henrietta Tiarks, wears Cardin. The upright collar is set like a stem in an evening coat of heavy silk shantung which bursts into leaf - the shape and color of a stylized artichoke.

Suzy Parker in Balmain. A dinner suit of white pique embroidered with silver thread, rhinestones and chalk paillettes slashed to the knee and casually jacketed.

Spotted all over Paris, China Machado in Patou's slim dotted dinner dress curved loosley to the figure with a broad black leather belt rising above the waist... at the bar, Patou combines a jet-dotted white surah bodice with a separate, full skirt of black silk Gazar, as starched and coarse as tarlatan - and bands both in black satin.

China Machado twirls in Dior's cabbage rose chiffon skirted dress in an impressionist print of winter green, beige and palest yellow. The skirt flowers out in tiered panels to just below the knees.

Bianchini chiffon printed like nasturtium blooms of yellow, orange and green from Desses. Floating panels begin at the shoulders, caught in at the waist and then stream out over the hem in back.

Dior capturing - with a single, white organdie hat - the heady essence of Paris in May. Pure white embroidered with jewelled lilies of the valley.

French Sex Kitten Brigitte Bardot

Paris Present

Eyes On Paris and America

Harper's Bazaar March 1959

Photography: Richard Avedon

...eye on the fifties at devodotcom

BELLE OF THE BALL 1952

Your Future in a Crystal Bottle

Balenciaga

A package of black lace, tied twice with pink satin ribbons. The lace shadows but shows the figure to the knees where it bursts into sprays of flounces - to the ankles in the front, to the floor and beyond in the back. More lace, a scarf to bind the hair and wind around the throat. Add an orangey, flowery southern breeze with "Le Dix" - Balenciaga's explicit perfume.

"Daily, there are many questions a woman must ask. Can I wear my red suit another year? Did father's telegram mean daylight saving or standard time? Who sits next to whom tonight at dinner? But to perfume, you can put the questions asked of a daisy or a first star.

This perfume and I...what might not happen to the two of us together?"

Schiaparelli

A bandage of black wool jersey strapping every curve from chin to knees - there it is wound with thick swags, then below, set free into full circles, the front one shorter than those behind. The only decoration needed - Sciaparelli's "Shocking" perfume all sweetness and light.

After the rose gatherers and blenders have done, what lies stoppered tight waiting to step into your future?

Bright With Black

Patou

Patou's filmy black lace flickering with brandy-flame blue. The bodice has a scalloped rim of blueness, great rows of ruffle flounces are set in crescents from hip to hem - with the ups and downs of the skirt, there is a blinding blueness at the bottom. Patou's rose-packed perfume is "Joy."

For the right perfume can conjure up a future worth remembering. 

White Straw Lace

Balmain

One of the new sensational laces of Paris, shiny and here shined more with sequins. From the fur-edged bodice, the peacock skirt, hung with chains of mink, sways, sweeps, trails off.

Pale With White

Gres

Gres has poured gallons of chiffon into a narrow dress of jersey sliced into a million supple pleats the colour of poetry. Over mauve pink is twisted and tied a great length of white jersey that winds the breast and streams free, like a banner in the wind, to the hem.

White and Gold

Lanvin-Castillo

Great white peacock coat that seems to be one long train, wool inset with embroidered leaves of gold braid and sequins. To trail with it, Lanvin's "Arpege" - the perfume that smells like parties.

Ernst Beadle

Harper's Bazaar 1952

Your Future in a Crystal Bottle

Photography: Ernst Beadle

The Peacocks of Paris

Paris - Explicit Evening Line

Paris - Evening Alliances

Photography: Richard Avedon

... eyes on the fifties at devodotcom