The "look" for an Autumn weekend

Henrietta Tiarks, The Dowager Duchess of Bedford

Poor Little Rich Girl

Barbara Hutton wearing the 55-carat Pasha diamond and the Vladimir emeralds





"Living well is the best revenge."

Barbara Hutton (14th November 1912 – 11th May 1979)

They weren't hiring opera singers

"I had four or five years in school training as a soprano. I fell into pop singing because of economics. I got out of high school and had to go work, and they weren't hiring opera singers."

"I just learned my lyrics and tried not to bump into the trumpet player. That was my philosophy."

On being asked "How come you stopped singing?" She said: "For the same reason that Lana Turner doesn't pose in bathing suits anymore."

[Of her alter-ego Darlene Edwards] "She's a nice lady from Trenton, New Jersey, and she does her best - the only singer to get off the A train between A and B-flat."

Josephine Elizabeth (Jo) Stafford (12th November 1917 - 13th July 2008)

Read my tribute to the lady not long before she died.

This weekend I'm preparing for winter

Dolores del Rio in ermine


Cape, House of Worth, 1925


Coat, Jeanne Lanvin, 1927

I simply must go - Baby, it's cold outside
The answer is no - Ooh darling, it's cold outside
This welcome has been - I'm lucky that you dropped in
So nice and warm - Look out the window at that storm
My sister will be suspicious - Man, your lips look delicious
My brother will be there at the door - Waves upon a tropical shore
My maiden aunt's mind is vicious - Gosh your lips are delicious
Well maybe just a half a drink more - Never such a blizzard before

I've got to go home - Oh, baby, you'll freeze out there
Say, lend me your coat - It's up to your knees out there
You've really been grand - I thrill when you touch my hand
But don't you see - How can you do this thing to me?
There's bound to be talk tomorrow - Think of my life long sorrow
At least there will be plenty implied - If you caught pneumonia and died
I really can't stay - Get over that hold out
Ahh, but it's cold outside.

Can a girl be modish though modest?

[click to enlarge]

Style was a great thing

Diana Vreeland's description of Josephine Baker's exit from a theatre where she had been in the audience with her pet cheetah Chiquita:

"She was alone with the cheetah on a lead. She was so beautifully dressed. She was wearing a marvelous little short black skirt and a little Vionnet shirt – no sleeves, no back, no front, just crossed bars on the bias. Don’t forget how hot it was, and of couse the great thing was to get out of this theatre we were in. The cheetah, naturally, took the lead, and Josephine, with those long black legs, was dragged down three flights of stairs as fast as she could go, and that was fast.

Out in the street there was an enormous white-and-silver Rolls-Royce waiting for her. The driven opened the door; she let go of the lead; the cheetah whooped, took one leap into the back of the Rolls, with Josephine right behind; the door closed… and they were off!

Ah! What a gesture! I’ve never seen anything like it. It was speed at its best, and style. Style was a great thing in those days.”

Josephine Baker (3rd June 1906 – 12th April 1975)

Firework Flowers

Long exposure shots from the International Fireworks Show in Ottawa, Canada by photographer David Johnson.

Happy Bonfire Night/Guy Fawkes Night...