Sunday 30 September 2012

Spots before the eyes

Over at The Redundant Variety Hour, Dolores Delargo Towers favourites the Kessler Twins are in a leopardskin sort of mood.

Here in the Museum of Camp we also adore leopard, some of it actually alive...


Bebe Daniels


Wallis Simpson's leopard bracelet


Cyd Charisse


Rudolph Valentino


Kathy Kirby


Gene Tierney


Evelyn Brent

Saturday 29 September 2012

I am "THE" Eunice Burns





















"I can’t even really tell a joke. I find being funny very hard work. I am always asked about it and I feel guilty saying that, but it’s the truth. I love my work but it ain’t easy."

"It`s acceptable for men to act the fool. When women try, they`re considered aggressive and opinionated."

"Mel Brooks is sensual with me. He treats me like an uncle. A dirty uncle."

"I am not "A" Eunice Burns, I am "THE" Eunice Burns!"


Madeline Kahn, 29th September 1942 - 3rd December 1999.

My previous blog about Miss Kahn here

Friday 28 September 2012

Wearing your heart on your sleeve, or...


Baltimore girl wears her boyfriend’s photograph on her stockings

Wednesday 26 September 2012

Sunday 23 September 2012

Everything Stops For Tea...



...with Jean Harlow and William Powell!

Saturday 22 September 2012

Purple haze?



"Purple? What kind of a homosexual are you, anyway?

That's not purple, Mary, that color out there is mauve."

Thursday 20 September 2012

A tribute to Spaghetti













"There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of the people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age."

"Beauty is how you feel inside, and it reflects in your eyes. It is not something physical."

"Sex appeal is fifty percent what you've got and fifty percent what people think you've got."

"Everything you see I owe to spaghetti."


Sophia Loren (born 20th September 1934)

Wednesday 19 September 2012

Look who just dropped in



From The Guardian:

"This picture came about by accident. Libbert had been sent by the Guardian to photograph the annual Trades Union Congress at the Imperial hotel, Blackpool [in 1959]. Jayne Mansfield had flown in a day or two before to switch on the Blackpool illuminations and stayed on for a weekend break.

Just as Libbert had persuaded Ted Hill of the Boilermakers’ Society (left), Bill Carron of the Amalgamated Engineering Union (right) and Morgan Phillips, general secretary of the Labour party to line up for a photograph, Mansfield arrived with her chihuahua."


The photography of Neil Libbert is the subject of a new exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery until 21 April 2013.

Monday 17 September 2012

Treacy





'Nuff said!

More of Philip Treacy's outrageous campery at London Fashion Week.

Sunday 16 September 2012

I am a will be















"I think your whole life shows in your face and you should be proud of that."

"I am not a has-been. I am a will be."

"Generally women are better than men - they have more character."

"Stardom isn't a profession; it's an accident."

“A legend involves the past... The word great stands for something.


The great Lauren Bacall, born 16th September 1924.

Saturday 15 September 2012

Master of the House



As London welcomed the world's fashionistas to town yesterday for London Fashion Week (14th-18th September), so we also look forward to a more long-lasting exhibition of sumptuous frocks...





In November 2012, a 60-metre catwalk will be installed in [Fashion Week's main venue] Somerset House as part of a retrospective spanning 50 years of the work of the fashion designer Valentino Garavani.

Valentino: Master of Couture will feature over 130 hand-crafted gowns, worn by the likes of Grace Kelly, Jacqueline de Ribes, Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, Sophia Loren, the Begum Aga Khan, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Princess Margaret.





These will include the wedding dress Jackie Kennedy wore to marry Aristotle Onassis in 1968, alongside Princess Marie-Chantal of Greece's pearl-encrusted ivory silk wedding gown from 1995 and Julia Roberts' 2001 Oscars frock.





The outfits, painstakingly made by the finest dressmakers and fashion specialists, have never been showcased in the UK before.



Valentino: Master of Couture will run from 29th November 2012 until 3rd March 2013.