10 5 / 2012
In honor of Mother’s Day I wanted to post some pictures of my beautiful mom Baiba Lenss when she was a teenager in the 1950’s. I remember looking at these pictures when I was little and asking my mom if she was a movie star! She looks so composed and glamorous. Women were so much more put together and stylish during that time. When I was a teenager in the ‘90’s all I could do was throw on some rayon floral dress or Beatles t-shirt and try to stand up straight ( no I won’t be posting pictures of this!)
But even at my most awkward and self conscious, my mom always told me that I was beautiful. She always told me that I could be anything I wanted, encouraged my dreams, and taught me that it was always better to respond to people with love and kindness. She was and still is an inspiration to me.
I love you mom!
Happy Mother’s Day!!!
30 4 / 2012
A Woman’s Right to Fantasy!
The current exhibit at the Met called “Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations” has re inspired me to revisit my love of surrealist fashion and the great Elsa Schiaparelli
As Yves Saint Laurent said, “She was a bouquet of spells. She was a conspiration of start, a fireworks display. Watch out! Or be hypnotized!”
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03 4 / 2012
I recently watched one of my favorite movies “The Barefoot Contessa” with Ava Gardner and have been thinking about the Fontana Sisters. Here are some of my favorite designs that they created for Elizabeth Taylor and Ava Gardner in the 1950’s. So beautiful!
11 1 / 2012
In the late 1970’s the great Diana Vreeland curated a retrospective of Hollywood Costume design at the Met. The exhibition drew over 800,000 visitors. Our local library in Saratoga, CA had a copy of the catalogue that accompanied the exhibition called “Hollywood Costume: Glamour, Glitter, Romance.” This book cast a spell on me. I would check this book out of the library repeatedly and scrutinize every page. I even had the temptation to make the book “disappear” permanently from the library but like a good girl I always returned it. I recently bought a copy from Amazon. I haven’t seen these images in over 20 years…it’s still amazing! I wanted to share some of my favorite images:
