THE DUCHESS OF WINDSOR, NEVER A QUEEN

REIGN OF CELEBRITY
The grand seductress, Wallis, Duchess of Windsor may never have succeeded to the British throne but her reign of celebrity can best be attributed to the period in which she was a conniving American socialite who married, as her third husband, Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor, formerly King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom. The king's desire to marry a twice-divorced American with two living ex-husbands caused a sensation throughout the world, and particularly a crisis in the United Kingdom and the Dominions. This decision led to the King's abdication in December 1936 and all ears were pinned to the radio to hear the King decision to marry "the woman I love." After the abdication, the former king was created Duke of Windsor by his brother George VI. Edward married Wallis six months later after which she was formally known as the Duchess of Windsor, but never "Her Royal Highness." One wonders what was so special about this amazing Deco decadent woman to be able to capture the king's heart? Albeit she was a good style setter, she wasn't exactly a beauty. Perhaps it was her sexuality that pinned him down to her allegiance?
An Advantages Alliance
As a prominent figure in the privileged social set in Britain in the 1930s the reigning celebrity couple was Edward, Prince of Wales and his then-mistress Lady Thelma Furness. It is no doubt that the Prince met Wallis at various house parties when she was married to her second husband, Ernest Aldrich Simpson, a shipping executive and former captain in the Coldstream Guards. Wallis was ripe for a new assignation. For one thing, Ernest was beginning to encounter financial difficulties and providence played its opportunistic hand when Lady Furness was away in New York. Abetting Wallis' access to the Prince, before she left Lady Furness unwisely asked Wallis to look after Edward and indeed she did. While Furness was traveling Wallis wove her web of attraction and became the Prince's mistress ousting Lady Furness and alienating him from his former lover.
The Fatal Attraction
You've heard of the term 'fatal attraction.' Well, the Prince was so totally besotted with Wallis that he found her domineering and abrasive irreverence toward his position appealing. In the words of one biographer, he became 'slavishly dependent' on her. If one could look into Edward's upbringing, nannies at birth, shunted to private schools and absence of close motherly love one can perhaps understand the alienation from his family that developed in one so sensitive that he was willing to accept partnership with such a controlling woman. His courtiers became increasingly alarmed as the affair began to interfere with his official duties. Off they went with no concern for his official Princely duties to holiday in Europe. As was the custom of wealthy men, he showered Wallis with money and jewels but when Edward presented Wallis to his mother, at a party in Buckingham Palace, his father was was outraged, primarily on account of her marital history. What's more divorced people were excluded from court.
Romantic Crisis
By the time that Edward had ascended to the throne as Edward VIII after George V died, it became apparent to all concerned, the Court and Government, that Edward was determined to marry Wallis. One major setback was the Church of England that did not permit the re-marriage of divorced people with living ex-spouses, and Wallis already had two ex-spouses. Her marriage Edward would be her third alliance. They could get married in a civil ceremony, but the constitutional position was that the king could not marry a divorcee and remain as King. The marriage idea between the King and an American divorcee was extremely unpopular not only in the British Empire but also because Wallis was perceived as a conniving woman who was pursuing the King because of hsi wealth and position. Although Wallis under pressure by the king's Lord-in-Waiting, Peregrin Cust, 6th Baron Brownlow, was urged to renounce the King, and she did so in a press statement. The King, on the other hand realized that in order to remain the King, Wallis could not be Queen. Furthermore if the King were to marry Wallis, the government would be required to resign, causing a constitutional crisis. Under these conditions if the King wished to marry Wallis he had no option but to abdicate.
The Bitter End
No member of the British Royal family attend the wedding on Wallis and Edward and they were childless. Rumor has it that Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother) remained bitter towards the Duchess of Windsor for her role in bringing George VI to the throne and for prematurely behaving as Edward's consort when she was his mistress. This attitude was mere speculation because Queen Elizabeth never voiced it publically.
So the celebrity couple reigned over friends and acquaintances throughout the world traveling with their gang of pug dogs and great amounts of travel luggage. One never knows whether Edward, the Duke of Windsor ever regretted his choice or how truly happy he was in the end.
There's is much more about Edward and Wallis' life together but I have touched on here only the segment of their amazing romance and his abdication. For more information contact www.theduke&duchessofwindsorsociety.org.

CARMEN MIRANDA FABULOUS LATIN DIVA

CARMEN MIRANDA: The Brazilian Bombshell

Dear Reader: Those of us who remember that dynamic "tutti frutti " dancing diva, Carmen Miranda, will never forget her bombastic style and sensuous singing. Carmen Miranda who died on August 5, 1955 at the far too young age of 46 set the standard for Latin performers. She broke through racial barriers to make a dramatic mark on the silver screen in Hollywood and by some accounts she was one of the highest-paid artists and reported to be the highest-earning woman in the United States during the 1940s and 1950's, the heyday of her oeuvre.

Promoting Brazil

Although Portuguese-born, Miranda was famous for promoting Brazil in her role as an entertainer. It is no wonder, therefore, that Brazilians called her their own. When she died, according to her wishes her body was flown back to Brazil where the Brazilian government declared a period of national mourning. In tribute to her colossal memory more than a million people stood on the funeral possession's route to mourn her untimely death.

A Good Will Ambassador

This was no ordinary diva. Carmen Miranda was a good will ambassador for Brazil as part of President Roosevelt's Good Neighbor Policy, designed to strengthen links with Latin America and Europe. The premise of President Roosevelt's policy was that in delivering entertainment like hers, the policy would be better received by the American public. And, indeed it did just that. The public wanted more but her career was short lived.

A Samba Singer

The phrase "Tropicalismo" and CARMEN MIRANDA click together like the rhythm of a samba. The Brazilian Bombshell began her career as a samba singer in 1928 the height of the Jazz Age in American movies, but she was already a genuine superstar in Brazil. I recall seeing many of her iconic stylized and outlandishly flamboyant performances and reveled at her amazing dexterity and vitality that lit up the silver screen with jiggling musical numbers. All the while her antics were original entertainment exuding sexy shimmy and shakes all the time dancing to the beat of a Brazilian band and singing one of her trademark songs, "Chick-A-Boom, Chick-A-Boom." When you repeat these words, "Chick-A-Boom, Chick-A-Boom," you can just feel the beat that makes you want to move to the Latin rhythm. Carmen Miranda became known as "the lady in the "tutti-frutti hat," appearing in Hollywood movies wearing high platform shoes and towering turban-like headdresses made of fruit or other exotic decorations. The platform shoes gave the petite entertainer height as did the towering headdresses and the sensuous evening wear she wore slithered to the curves of her curvaceous body.

Tutti Fruity Inspiration

Carmen Miranda's hat fetish may harken back to the early days when she was employed in a hat shop in Rio, which incidentally was called Olinda, the name of her oldest sister. Carmen Miranda was primarily a super star, a modern woman who multi-tasked her talents in several directions. Her fruit laden hats and sensuous costumes inspired a collection of fruity Bakelite jewelry--pins, brooches, bracelets, necklaces, which today are highly collectible mementos of her iconography. Any woman on a budget could find commercial versions of fruity jewelry, which were sold in fashionable department stores. I remember my aunt Doris, who was quite a flamboyant character herself, wearing a matching tutti-fruity necklace and bracelet, plus an outfit that reminded me of Carmen Miranda's style. Doris was a party woman and paid tribute to Miranda by dancing to the tune of Latin bands in the late 1950s.

Entertainer Extraordinaire

A trouper to the end, Carmen Miranda unknowingly suffered a mild heart attack during a live segment of the Jimmy Durante Show. Miranda quickly pulled herself together to finish the show, but the strain was too much for her and she died later that night after suffering a second heart attack at her home. In retrospect accounts in the newspapers of her passing revealed that her untimely death was caused in part by the fact that in the later years of her life Miranda, like so many other stars, began taking amphetamines and barbiturates which took a toll on her body.

Further abetting her unhappiness she had an extremely difficult and abusive marriage. Her sister Aurora stated in the documentary, "Bananas is My Business, that the marriage was a burden in her life; he only married her for her money." Amazing, is it not, that despite it all she smiled and beguiled us with her ebullient silver screen personality.

The Art Deco World Congress

Members of the Art Deco Society of New York will be attending the 11th World Congress on Art Deco in Rio de Janeiro in 2011 and among the places they will probably visit is the museum dedicated to Carmen Miranda in the Flamengo neighborhood on Avenida Rui Barbosa. Marcio Alves Roiter, Founder-President of the Instituto Art Deco Brasil, is spearheading the Art Deco congress in Rio, which is destined to be an outstanding occasion to visit Art Deco architecture, museums, galleries and all things that are Latin Art Deco. To learn more about the Art Deco Congress visit: (http://www.artdecobrasil.com/). The Carmen Miranda museum in Rio houses a treasure trove of original costumes, her amazing "tutti frutti" hats and clips of her filmography. Why not take a vicarious trip to Brazil now by visiting the museum. For more information about the exhibits click the Rio link at http://www.artdeco.org/. Doni Sacramento has also created one of the best Internet sources on Carmen, http://www.carmen.miranda.nom.br/.

Legendary Landmarks

If you're in California nostalgic inquirers may wish to visit Carmen Miranda Square, which is only one of a number of Los Angeles city intersections named for the legendary performer. Interested? Go to the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Orange Drive across from Grauman's Chinese Theater where Carmen Miranda's footprints are preserved in concrete. Imagine if you will how it might feel to put your feet into Carmen's imprints and recall the pulsating rhythm that must have emanated from such animated feet.

Get Into Carmen Miranda Groove

Why not take a vicarious trip back in time, put on some samba music and remember Carmen Miranda's incredible energy, "joie de vivre" joy for life and her captivating smile. If she were with us today she might say, "Dance like you've never danced before, stay up all night, get carried away and dance like nobodies watching but do it Carmen Miranda style!!!"

JOSEPHINE BAKER CHEZ MAGNIFIQUE (c)

by Polly Guerin














Dear Josephine: Your legendary performance in Paris conquering racial prejudice, your Rainbow tribe of adopted children , and your amazing espionage work during WWII all add up to words: Stupendous, Amazing Diva, Formidable!!! The world may remember your beautiful dancing body, costumed for the Danse des Bananes (Banana Dance), but by the 1930s recognized as a sensation, chanteuse extraordinaire and a movie star, you were Europe's highest-paid entertainer. Your elegant fashion style was the height of chic and imitators of your celebrity followed.
CHEZ JOSPEHINE
My vicarious thrill of visiting the restaurant, Chez Josephine, named after the club Chez Josephine, which you opened in Paris in 1926, brought back remembrances of an extraordinary individual, a woman of steel but with a sensuous body that one reviewer said, "She is in constant motion, her body writhing like a snake." The Chez Josephine restaurant that honors your name and your memory, owned and run by your adopted sons Jean-Claude and Jarry (Jari) in Theatre Row, 42nd Street, New York, is as beguiling and enticing as the memory of "La Baker," the first Black superstar given the nicknames the "Bronze Venus" or the "Black Pearl."
Le Revue Negre
Rising from humble birth, Josephine's early years were desolate to say the least. Living as a street child in the black slums of St. Louis, her street corner dancing attracted attention and she was recruited for the St. Louis Chorus vaudeville show. From there Josephine made her name as a vaudeville cutup and dancer during the Harlem Renaissance, performing in "Tan Town Topics" revue in 1925 in the Plantation Club, above the Winter Garden Theater (Broadway and 50th Street). Later Josephine landed in the chorus of the popular Broadway revues Shuffle Along (1922) and The Chocolate Dandies (1924). Perhaps it was as the last dancer in the chorus line that Baker honed her skills as a comedian for in this position the dancer was expected to perform in a comic manner, as if she was unable to remember the dance, until the encore, when she recovered and performed with additional complexity. But it was her performances in Paris at the age of 19, when she appeared in La Revue Negre as an exotic "savage," topless and barefoot, dressed only in a skirt of feathers (the bananas came later) that transformed her into a Paris sensation. Baker's success coincided with the Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes (Paris, 1925), which later gave us the term "Art Deco." The event included exhibitions of ethnicity including African art and Baker represented the Black Goddess--a sensual, creative force and fashionable icon of the era.
Chiquita Her Pet Cheetah
In later shows in Paris, 1930, she was often accompanied on stage by her famous pet cheetah, Chiquita, who was adorned with a diamond collar. "One night the cheetah escaped from Josephine's compound of animals and made his way to a house in an adjoining village and tried to climb into bed with an elderly lady. When the officials demanded that Chiquita be put in a zoo, Josephine lowered her head mourned its absence saying, "He died." As far as Josephine was concerned, her jungle cat behind bars at the Jardin D'Acclimatation might as well have been dead." (Wm Wiser, The Great Good Place/W.W.Norton & Co.)
PEPITO, HER MANAGER
Under the management of Giuseppe Abatino, or Pepito, a self-appointed royal who sometimes assumed the title Count of Albertini, Josephine's reputation changed dramatically and her stage and singing voice went from being a 'petite danseuse sauvage' with a decent voice to 'la grande diva magnifique.' Pepito had a quick study of manners and mores, and passed on these refinements to Josephine, transforming her into a woman of fashionable chic. Josephine could be seen crossing the Pont Royal with Chiquita, her jewel-collared pet to coordinate with her matching outfit.
Honors & The Rainbow Tribe
Josephine most successful song, "J'ai Deux Amours" (Two Loves Have I), 1931 reflected her affection for France and when World War II broke out, she volunteered to spy for her adopted country. She devoted herself towards raising funds for De Gaulle's Free French forces and operated as a spy during her travels. However, none of the honors received---the Legion of d'Honneur, the Medaille de la Resistance and the Croix de Guerre for her military service---nor the celebrity attached to the name 'Josephine Baker' could pevent the foreclosure and loss of her chateau, Les Milandes, in 1969. Long before Modanna and Angelina, Josephine Baker was the ultimate celebrity adopter. The chateau, a home for her adopted family, housed twelve orphaned children, of various hues and personalities, collected in the countries throughout the world where she had performed, an international family of outcast infants she called the Rainbow Tribe. In the spirit of the United Nations and "the Family of Man," Baker wanted to show that people from anywhere could live together in what she called, the "Village du Monde." (World Village) She was the first entertainer to create a virtual theme park with a simulated African village, J-shaped swimming pool and even a nightclub with herself as the main attraction. However, Josephine's extravagances and mounting debts forced the chateau's closure and the court evicted her and the children in 1969.
Homage to Baker
It is comforting to know that Baker's extraordinary story, objet d'art, posters, costumes and film clips are preserved in the Chateau des Milandes Museum in southwestern France. One can tour the chateau and even see one of the children's bedrooms as well as Baker's unprecedented taste for personal luxury. Long Live "La Baker"style. http://www.milandes.com/.

FLEUR COWLES 'FLEUR ON FLAIR' MAGAZINE

Thursday, October 22, 2009

FLEUR COWLES INTERVIEWED By Polly Guerin, Fashion Historian

Dear Fleur: When I first met you at the Lowell hotel in New York City in 2003 you were ever more the embodiment of a remarkable woman, the vibrant author, painter, ambassador, hostess, philanthropist, raconteur and most famously the creator and editor of FlAIR Magazine. The magazine's legendary keyhole covers with distinctive peekaboo cut outs, fold outs and pop-ups intrigued and mesmerized readers who coveted each issue for its artistic pleasures.The reproductions of artworks and a variety of paper stocks created an a magazine of amazing novelty. Famed artists including Rene Gruau, who enlivened such magazines as Marie-Claire and Femina in the 30s,, contributed to its pages. At the time I interviewed Fleur she said, "The magazine has never been repeated copied or equaled, and its name and fame are still alive today. I gave my 12 FLAIR issues to the archives of the Fashion Institute of Technology, so that students may reference these remarkable journals, but I miss Flair and I miss you.
FLEUR COWLES (pronounced 'coals') took great pride in her short-lived magazine, FLAIR. It was published in the 1950s during her marriage to Gardner Cowles Jr., known as Mike, the publisher of Look Magazine. Fleur said, "I wanted each issue of Flair to be different, to be a sense of surprise. No issued followed a formula. I insisted that each issue be unexpected in its coverage and diverse topics. I intended FLAIR to be a new dimension in magazine publishing and the most beautiful publication anywhere to provide a priceless source of artistic innovation."Turning the pages of FLAIR with its die-cuts that revealed one sensational novelty after another was a graphic surprise that enhanced the reading experience. Fleur reminisces about how she created the Paris edition's double page spread with its window views of the Place Vendome. "Amusing as it may have seemed to a passerby, I simply sat in a doorway of a building, in the Place Vendome with my drawing pad and sketched out the various places of interest and these became the vignettes in the double page spread. In the magazine one couldlift the little windows and view inside the Ritz Hotel's tea garden, the boutiques of Elizabeth Arden, Coty, Elsa Schiaparelli and Lucien Lelong."Fleur Cowles, who rose from modest beginnings in New York became a social icon and friend of the powerful and famous of her era, was born, according to census records, on January 20, 1908 and died at the age of 101 in 2009. She was the daughter of Morris and Lena Friedman and her name at birth was Florence. It is alleged that around the time that she married Mike Cowles that she changed her name to Fleur.Her career began, she said, at age 15, when she became an advertising copywriter for Gimbels department store. After several marriages and a divorce from Cowles, who she divorced in 1955, Fleur married Tom Montague Meyer. Fleur gave up editing after marrying Mr. Meyer, but continued to write books and chronicled her life in her book, "She Made Friends and Kept Them" (Harper Collins). She also illustrated a number of her books, including "People As Animals," "the Flower Game" and "The Life and Times of the Rose.""I have an idea a minute," Ms. Cowles once said, "I'm a born idea myself." Fleur recommends taking life with 'no regrets' saying, "Avoid the big 'What If?' That's a terrible regret. Life is a continuous circle, it's not just about money, but about pride, advice, giving happiness, and creating one's dream."Thank You Fleur for with you as my muse I am following my dream to it's fullest potential. In 1994 the harry Ransom Humanities Center at the University of Texas, Austin, opened the Fleur Cowles Room, a replica of her study in London.
Posted by Polly Guerin at 7:43 AM 0 comments
Labels: FLAIR Magazine Caused a Sensation

THE LEGEND OF THE MINAUDIERE

Everybody knows that accessories make an outfit, and it seems you can never have too many evening bags, especially a Minaudiere. The French word describes an elegant but small, highly jeweled hard metal case that one can nestle in their hand. These charming little handfuls are more an art form than anything else and placed on the dinner table or worn at a gala event these minaudieres look like portable art. "Bubbles," the late Beverly Sills, had hundreds of them and mostly as gifts or bought from Judith Leiber the famed handbag designer, pictured here, who produced animal, avant-garde and whimsical shapes all jeweled and emblazoned with eye popping colorful rhinestones. Among Bubbles' collection, recently auctioned at Doyle, were a Doctor's Bag Minaudiere, A Shell Minaudiere, an Elephant Deity Minaudiere, and a wide assortment of Faberge Egg Minaudieres. Minaudiere in its original sense was a charming way to describe a coquette, a person with affected manners.
Contemporary minaudieres are just that coquettish but their incarnation is ascribed by Deborah Chase, (a new RWA/NYC member) in her book, TERMS OF ADORNMENT: The Ultimate Guide to Accessories (HarperCollins), as having been created by Van Cleef and Arpels in 1930, when Charles Arpels noticed that one of his clients was using a metal Lucky Strike box as a purse. He adapted the look and named it after the wife of his partner, Estelle Van Cleef, who was "minaudiere" (charming). At first minaudieres were made of gold plated or silver metal and encrusted with genuine gems, but the look was too delicious to remain exclusive. Within a decade you could find the dainty purse on female arms throughout America. Deborah recommends that, "You look for vintage mother-of-pearl, petit point, or beaded minaudieres in flea markets and antique stores and to modernize the minaudiere change the short wrist strap for a long chain so that you can hang the small bag from your shoulder."
Mad about a certain book cover? Your own, of course! Have it immortalized on a square-shaped minaudiere. That's the concept behind a magical new line of limited edition minaudieres by Paris-based, Olympia Le-Tan, evoking first-edition covers of 21 classics. The collection is handmade in France, using canvas, embroidered flet applique and silk thread, with a brass strictire. Each minaudiere book retails for $l,500 and the boutique Colette is the exclusive Paris distributor for the collection. (213 Rue Saint-Honore, 7500l; +33-1-55-35-33-90.) Now that's a great new way to promote your romantic book. Not only is a book minaudiere a good marketing tool, it will certainly draw attention to your novel and You. Perhaps you can find a handbag manufacturer who can personalize a book minaudiere for your best selling novel.
Terry Mayer, jewelry designer, takes it one step further and creates book miniatures in silver or another alloy, and imprints the title of a book on the cover so you can wear the little jewelry book on a chain, front and center. Visit her at www.terrymayerbells@aol.com. ♥
BIO: Polly Guerin's first job in journalism was as Accessories Editor at the fashion bible, the trade newspaper Women's Wear Daily where she honed her skills on writing about accessories and later as professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology she lectured on Product Knowledge explained how accessories were made and manufactured. Polly is also a vice-president of Romance Writers of America/New York Chapter. Visit her at www.pollytalk.com with links to her Internet PollyTalk column and www.amazingartdecodivas.blogspot.com.

NANCY CUNARD: REBELLIOUS HEIRESS

NANCY CUNARD: BORN TO BRITISH UPPER CLASS, THE BEAUTIFUL HEIRESS OF THE CUNARD SHIPPING FORTUNE, NANCY CLARA CUNARD (1896-1965) WAS A WOMAN WHOSE REMARKABLE JOURNEY TOOK HER FROM A PAMPERED LIFESTYLE TO DEVOTING MUCH OF HER TIME TO FIGHTING RACISM AND FASCISM.

ONCE A FASHION ICON, MUSE OR LOVER TO SCORES OF DISTINGUISHED WRITERS AND ARTISTS SHE REJECTED A LIFE OF PRIVILEGE AND FORTUNE CHAMPIONING INSTEAD THE OPPRESSED.

IN HER EARLY INCARNATION SHE WAS A FASHION TREND SETTER, A POET AND WRITER OF ACCLAIMED MERIT. AN ATTRACTIVE SHIPPING HEIRESS, SHE SET STYLE AND HAD A FASHION SENSIBILITY THAT CAPTURED THE ATTENTION OF THE WORLD'S PRESS. PHOTOGRAPHED BY MAN RAY SHE WAS KNOWN FOR WEARING DOZENS OF AFRICAN BRACELETS ON BOTH ARMS AND THIS STYLE IN PART REFLECTED HER INTEREST IN AFRICA AND BLACK CULTURE. SHE WAS AN ASTONISHING BEAUTY BUT HER BRAIN AND COMPASSION RULED HER HEART.

Her name was linked with Aldous Huxley, Ezra Pound, James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway, Langston Hughes, Man Ray and Constantine Brancusi to name a few. Perhaps the most profound relationship she shared was with Henry Crowder, an African-American jazz musician who was working in Paris and became her black lover. At this time she became an activist concerning racial politics and dedicated her life to civil rights but it cost her both her family and her fortune. Negro; An Anthology, edited by Nancy, came about because of her affair with Crowder and they both shared in its creation. The 850 page collection of articles, gathered by Cunard and Crowder was inspired by the excitement of the Harlem Renaissance, the negrophilia craze that swept Europe in the 1920s, and Cunard's desire to create a book that would help Blacks understand their African ancestry.

However, her mother, the aristocratic Lady Cunard, born Maud Alice Burke, an American Heiress in her own right, did not approve of such an Inter-racial relationship and Nancy became alienated from her family, and at one point she was cut off financially. Her pursuit of the Black cause created a great deal of negative publicity but she bulldozed her way ahead reflecting in her work her rage against her family and the London and American societies that rejected her. In that era of widespread prejudice it enraged the general public that a woman of such impeccable breeding could choose to 'get down' with Blacks. In May 1932, two years before the book was published, Cunard received anonymous threats and hate mail which included phrases like "you are a disgrace to the white race," and " either give up sleeping with your nigger lover or face the consequence." Any other woman with less fortitude of purpose would have fainted. Not Cunard, she put some of the hate mail in the book and rallied on as a champion of the Black race.

Such is the legend of Nancy Cunard but who would have ever guessed that the beautiful heiress of the Cunard shipping fortune would spurn a life of privilege and fortune to become a pivotal player in many historical events of her era. Fight for the oppressed was her mantra. In the mid-1930s her attention focused on the anti-fascist fight and the Spanish Civil War. Lois Gordon in her book, "Nancy Cunard: Rebellious Heiress, Inspired Life," recounts that as the only eye witness reporter for the Manchester Guardian she trudged to battlefronts in the midst of artillery fire. Her stories about the suffering of Spanish refugees became the basis for a fundraising appeal in the newspaper. Cunard herself helped deliver supplies and organize relief effort. Plagued by poor heal and the dreadful conditions she was forced to return to Paris, where she stood in the streets collection funds for refugees. She predicted accurately , that the "events in Spain were a prelude of another world war."

It is sad to know that in later years Nancy Cunard had on one to rally to her side and help her in her to fight to battle of mental illness. Her health deteriorated and she weighed only sixty pounds when she was found on the street in Paris and brought to the Hopital Cochin, where she died at 69. Her ashes rest in an urn number 0916 in the Cimetiere du Pere-Lachaise in Paris. Adieu, Nancy Cunard, an amazing Art Deco woman. Let's pay homage to the memory of this rebel crusader who spurned a life of celebrity to champion just causes.

ELSA SCHIAPARELLI !!! "GENIUS" QUEEN OF SURREALSIM

Dear Elsa: What could be more witty than wearing the Shoe Hat, a hat shaped like a woman's high heeled shoe. Only Madame Schiaparelli, the friend of Salvadore Dali, Jacques Cocteau and other artists of the Surrealic and Dada movements could have created such a witty bit of fashion froth. Yet, even Daisy Fellowes, Franco-American editor of French Harper's Bazaar wore it and others followed your sensational advant-garde approach to fashion. You were the epitome of the art of "genius," which aptly describes your creative and innovative oeuvre. You brought a sense of playfulness to fashion, reacting as it did against the rational and formal real world and substituting instead fantasy and "je n'est ce pas." I am your admirer.

The Lobster Dress

What would the fashionistas in Maine say about the 1937 Lobster Dress? Well Schiaparelli, the most outlandish of the Parisian haute couture designers might have said, "If you can't eat your lobster you can wear it." Quite simply she created a white silk evening dress with a crimson waistband onto which the Salvador Dali painted a large red lobster on the skirt. And, dear readers of this blog, did anyone catch Wallis Simpson wearing the same dress at the Chateau de Cande, where photographer, Cecil Beaton took a series of photos of the temptress who caught the heart of a Edward VIII. Isn't this lobster dress quite symbolic as Wallis got her claws on the king apparent with a lobster grip?

The 1936 "Desk Suit"

Going to the office would never be the same wearing the "Desk Suit." Tailored and fit for even modern executive princesses, Schiaparelli designed the jacket with a series of pockets, real and false, fashioned and embroidered by the famous House of Lesage to look like desk drawers with buttons for knobs. Alas this may have been one way to carry your office to extremes, but it beats anything the "Devil Wears Prada" wore. The suit was based on two Surrealist drawings by Salvador Dali entitled, 'City of Drawers' and 'Venus de Milo of Drawers.' Surrealism in fashion thrived in the l930s, and

Scap's smart, sophisticated and witty clothes took the fashion world by storm. I predict that it's about time that fun was brought back into fashion. It was Scap who created sweaters with surrealist trompe l'oeil images. When Lili de Alvarez wore Scap's divided skirt

at the Wimbledon Championships in 1931 she shocked the tennis world but this paved the way for shorts which were soon to follow. Her sport collection were a sensation and Scap's business percipitated a moved from the Rue de La Paix to the Schiap Shop in the prestigious Place Vendome.

A Rival of Chanel

The Chanel empire may have been the most successful financially, Schiaparelli's legacy was that of an originator, she did not follow the rules, but was more originator in a class by herself, an artist who made fashion. Along with Coco Chanel, Schiaparelli is regarded as one of the most prominent designers in fashion between the two World Wars. Women coveted her crafty designs and trompe l'oeil sweaters. The rag business on 7th Avenue in New York City copied her original surreal ideas and coast to coast every little shop girl, secretary and model, who probably never even heard of Scap were wearing her fashions from coast to coast. Let's give credit where credit is due. Schiaparelli created wraparound dresses way before Diane von Furstenberg. Remember those l930s flicks with soignee ladies wear evening dresses with a chic little jacket? That was a first by Scap as well as fastenings on jackets with novelty buttons like vegetables or flowers. Details like this made fashion fun and exciting to wear. Even her perfume "Shocking" packaged in the brilliant hue of hot pink was notable for its torso bottle. It was inspired by Mae West's figure for Scap had created costumes for Mae West using a mannequin based on West's measurements.

Born into Royalty

Elsa Schiaparelli (1890-1973), the Italian fashion designer, headquarters Paris, was born under of star of privilege at the Palazzo Corsini in Rome. Her famous lineage included Giovanni Schiaparelli, who discovered the canali of Mars, and she spent many hours with him studying the heavens and forming her own dreams of

fantasy. After a short stint at a convent, not doubt arranged by her family after the publication of a book of her sensuous poems, which shocked their conservative sensibilities. At 22 after a hunger strike Scap escaped the confines of the convent and went off to London to work as a Nanny, but you can be sure that was not on her mind. While attending alecture she met and later married on of her lecturers, Count William de Wendt de Kerlor a Franco-Swiss. theosophist. The no account Count took off as soon as the arrived in New York and left Scap with their child, Maria Luisa Yvonne Radha de Wendt de Kerlor, known as Gogo Schiaparelli, who in her day became a celebrated socialite. While in New York Scap met artist Marcel Duchamp, famed for his painting "Nude descending a Staircase" which was a sensation at the Armory Show in 1923. When another friend, Gaby Picabia, owner of a boutique selling French fashion in New York and DuChamp and Man Ray left for Paris, Schiaparelli joined them. The famed designer who freed women from corsets with his chemise dress encouraged Scap to start her own business which initially failed but by l927 her knitwear launch with the trompe l'oeil images took off and her success jumpstarted. During WWII she left Paris and unfortunately Schiaparelli never adapted to the changes in fashion and Dior's 'New Look' was all the rage. She closed her business in l954 and enjoyed her retirement years in comfort between her apartment in Paris and house in Tunisia. Adieu, Schiaparelli!! I can only think how much fun fashion would be if only your great surrealistic passion permeated fashion today.