Fashion Inspiration for Spring – Baby Doll, Brigitte Bardot, Flowers

This is the first time I’ve done a fashion inspiration for Spring, but basically it’s the same every Spring, my thoughts wander to French Baby Doll look; Brigitte Bardot’s voluminous skirt with gingham print, masses of pettiocoats and tight black shirt in Come Dance with Me is pure perfection, then Anna Karina’s blue and red wardrobe in Une Femme est Une Femme, and her white dress and blue eyeliner in Pierrot le Fou, France Gall with her hair parted on the side and a hair clip, and her knee-high socks, Francoise Hardy wearing pigtails, and pretty bows, kitten heels, straw hats with roses, cat eyeliner… cuteness all the way!

Cleo de Merode: A Portrait of a Moon Child by Giovanni Boldini

September is nearing its end, it’s the 27th already, and it is also the birth date of Cleo de Merode, the famous French Belle Epoque dancer and beauty.

Giovanni Boldini, Cleo de Merode, 1901

La Belle Epoque dancer and a famous beauty Cleo de Merode was born in Paris on 27 September 1875, in times just after the Franco-Prussian war, when the Impressionists were chatting, quarrelling and sketching in Parisian cafes. Her full name, Cléopatra Diane de Mérode, seems to have been made for a star.

It is my opinion that Cleo was equal in beauty and fame to Brigitte Bardot, a fellow French femme fatale. Both studied ballet from an early age, both possessed beauty and charm appealing to the age they lived in, both had numerous affairs interesting to the public eye, and they share a zodiac sign – Libra, Cleo being born on the 27th and Bardot on the 28th September. Although Brigitte Bardot acted in many films, her popularity throughout Europe in the Swinging Sixties was more due to her beauty, lifestyle and sex appeal. Likewise, beautiful Cleo – with oval face framed with masses of thick endlessly long and shiny raven black hair, almond shaped dark exotic eyes – often appeared on postcards, posters and playing cards. Men lusted after her, and women were envious of her bold fashion and lifestyle choices. One of it being the choice of hairstyle, which you’ll see in the photos below. Instead of wearing her hair up like every decent woman would do at the time, Cleo wore her hair down, decorated with a jewelled hairpiece. I found a similar look in a September 1968 drawing ‘Moon Shiny’ for the Baby Doll cosmetics. Whenever I see a photo of Cleo (and I do see it a lot since it’s on my bedroom wall) I instantly think of that sixties cosmetics add and that’s why I decided to put the ‘Moon Child’ in the title. For me, Cleo is the Moon Child of La Belle Epoque.

Her face, if not beautiful by today’s standards, is striking to say the least, more so in the photos than in the painting by Giovanni Boldini. Boldini was the painter of La Belle Epoque. He painted duchesses, courtesans-turned-actresses, beauties and really everyone who could afford his portrait services. Still, out of all his portraits, this one was stuck in my mind for a year now. I like Cleo’s dynamic pose, her sensual nude shoulder, her blue ring and the face expression, so confident, so aware of its own charms. Notice the typical Boldini brushstrokes: swift, dynamic – passionate expression of the moment of creation.

And now a bit of psychedelic music I’ve been listening to a lot this month, The Zodiac by Cosmic Sounds – Libra:The Flower Child for beautiful Cleo:

“Libra listens and quietly sings,

gently peeling each yellow note.

 

Beauty lives within an eye of jade.

Venus contemplates a serene flower,

the color of an hour

of love.”

Cleo de Merode by Nadar, 1905

Baby Doll ‘Moon Shiny’, 1968

 

Fashion Icons: Brigitte Bardot

Ah, Brigitte Bardot! What can be said about this French actress, sex symbol and a 1950s and 60s fashion icon that wasn’t said already? She was simply gorgeous with her cat eyeliner, pouty lips and a messy blonde hairdo. She made St Tropez a hot spot, posed for Kess van Dongen, danced ballet, acted in many films, and had an amazing style that’s really timeless; from her elegant 1950s dresses, gingham print skirts and black shirts with the smallest waist ever, to her carefree seaside style with beach hair and barefoot-look, all the way to her classic Parisian 1960s look and her bohemian/gypset 1968 look. Brigitte Bardot is, along with Kate Moss, my ideal of a beautiful woman. She is a vegetarian and a lover of animals. This is one of her quotes:

“I gave my beauty and my youth to men. I am going to give my wisdom and experience to animals.”

Enjoy the collages!

My Inspiration for June II

Past two weeks have been very inspirational for me, I’ve discovered lots of new films, books, albums, painters…. I’m on cloud nine!

I’ve written a new reading list because I’ve read everything from the previous one, and I’ve already read four books: Three Sisters by Chekhov, The Subterraneans by Jack Kerouac, Rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis, Prozac Nation: Young and Depressed in America by Elizabeth Wurtzel. The last three books were really captivating. ‘Rules of Attraction’ was really interesting to read, it is not a romantic novel as the title suggests, but rather a critic of consumerism, materialism, shallowness and promiscuity. The characters are very self-obsessed, shallow, careless, promiscuous and bored with life. If that’s what student life looks like, I’d rather skip uni.

Films I’ve watched are The Double, Naked (1993), Godard’s Made in USA, A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), Rope (1948), Dragonwyck (1946) starring Vincent Price and Gene Tierney, Tonight or Never (1960), And God Created Woman (1956) with Brigitte Bardot, and finally Suddenly Last Summer (1959) with Elizabeth Taylor. I was really impressed with And God Created Woman. Naked is also a really good film; bleak, depressive and sadistic at parts, but striking nevertheless.

I’ve listened to four ‘new’ albums: Journal for Plague Lovers – Manic Street Preachers (2009), Muddy Waters – After the Rain (1969), Marianne Faithfull – Strange Weather (1987), Nico – Camera Obscura (1985). Don’t you just love it when characters in books make references to other cultural things. I adore that! In the book ‘The Rules of Attraction’ you can know precisely what the characters are listening to almost every moment, and the playlist includes cool stuff such as The Smiths, REM, Echo and the Bunnymen, Talking Heads…

‘Don’t you just love those long rainy afternoons in New Orleans when an hour isn’t just an hour – but a little piece of eternity dropped into your hands – and who knows what to do with it?‘ – Blanche DuBois, A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams

My Inspirations for May

My darling buds of May or the things that inspired me the most in May were Modigliani, Soutine, Shelley’s essay A defence of poetry, Elizabeth Barrett-Browning, book Jane Eyre, 1960s fashion, Manic Street Preachers; especially the songs from their upcoming album, Joy Division, Naked Lunch by Burroughs, Britt Ekland, Twiggy, Jean Shrimpton, The Repulsion and Catherine Deneuve.

Since the month of May is very dear to me, I can only say:

”Faded the flower and all its budded charms,
Faded the sight of beauty from my eyes,
Faded the shape of beauty from my arms,
Faded the voice, warmth, whiteness, paradise –
Vanished unseasonably at shut of eve…” (Keats)