Growing up in Franco's grim early 1970s Madrid, the Nancy Doll to a great degree acted as a palliative to a creepy psychologically sadistic nanny, a religious school where I had only one friend besides my sister, and the overall climate of repression that as I child I perceived as "quiet" and "grey." Nancy is way better than Barbie, as I learned to my regret when we emigrated to Florida in the late 1970s, because she is bigger, and has a better wardrobe. I treasure my little Nancy clothing catalogue from 1973 and died and went to heaven when I saw that a fellow fan posted them on You Tube. You can see the outfits we had to choose from, in true 1970s meets repressive, gender discriminatory and isolated dictatorship (women could not wear bikinis until the late 1960s) style. Don't miss the cloistered nun's outfit.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
A Grim Exception
I have been feeling very anxious as the election nears, but maybe that's for the best, we don't want to get over-confident. It doesn't help that the cable channels seem to talk about nothing else. Except of course, for the tragic murders of the darling Jennifer Hudson's relatives in the South Side of Chicago. Sadly, her little nephew was found dead yesterday. But in the couple of days after they found her mom and brother, national calls were put out to try to find the boy. And then it struck me: this was the first Amber Alert I recall ever seeing on national cable seeking a black child. Is that what it takes to seek a child of color, a relationship to a celebrity?
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Sarah Palin is not the Only Pageantry Schanda Out There
A priceless news item shared by a loyal reader & fellow follower of pageantry. First of all, I apologize for not having the money shot - ie. the mug shot, perp walk or any other police-generated imagery. Trust me, I looked. As a Mr. Blackwell aside, this look does not scream pageantry as much as it does table dancer in a truck stop bar. But I digress. Below is the story of Miss Louisiana's fall from grace.
Miss Teen Louisiana Arrested, Loses Crown
stumble digg reddit del.ico.us news trust mixx.com
October 22, 2008 05:01 PM EST |
OSSIER CITY, La. — Miss Teen Louisiana lost her crown 11 days early after being arrested on charges of leaving a restaurant without paying and carrying marijuana. RPM Productions Inc., the sponsor, took back the title on Tuesday after learning that Lindsey Evans, 18, of Blanchard, had been arrested, president Paula M. Miles said Wednesday.
Evans will have to return her sash and crown, but won't have to return any other prizes or cash equivalents, Miles said.
"She's done a good job this year," Miles said.
A call to Evans' parents' house was not answered Wednesday.
Miles said she had been told that the three women with Evans told police that Evans, alone in the group, had paid her bill. But Bossier City spokesman Mark Natale said Evans admitted not paying.
Bossier City police booked all four on theft charges, three on drug charges and two on drug paraphernalia charges, he said.
Natale said Bossier City police were called to a Posados Cafe restaurant Saturday evening because a group had left without paying $46.07. The manager had found a pocketbook at the table, and police found Evans' driver's license and about 2 grams of suspected marijuana in it, Natale said.
He said officers recognized Evans from the photo when the group returned for the pocketbook.
Miles said she talked with Evans on Monday.
The next Miss Teen Louisiana will be chosen Nov. 1 at a pageant in Lafayette. Michelle Berthelot, Miss Louisiana USA 2008, will crown the winner.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Breaking News: Another Reason to Mourn Mr. Blackwell's Loss
Today it was revealed that GOP operatives went on shopping sprees to give Mrs. Hockey Mom, the Pitbull with (very expensive designer) Lipstick on a make over in the hundred K realm. This is one occasion where Mr. Blackwell would be in his bitchy element. It is just devastating that during this national crisis - no, not the Second Depression, I mean the fashion Armageddon, we cannot rely on his guidance.
Here is the URL to a great article about this from The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/23/us/politics/23palin.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
I guess even though Palin ushered in the Wal-Martization of the Crystal meth capital of the USA, Wassila, their clothes is no longer good enough. She can spend 150K on a make-over, and spend tens of thousands to take her kids on luxurious junkets using tax payer money, but she wanted to charge rape victims for their rape kits that take evidence of the assault, and reduced funding for kids with disabilities (like her son!). Clearly, she's got her priorities in the right place.
Ironically, the allegedly East Coast Liberal Elite personified by what the GOP believes are the "uppity" Obama family cannot compete with Palin's swish wardrobe, purchased at shops like: Neiman Marcus, Sak's, Barney's and the like. She also bought clothes for her kids. McCain claims the clothes will be given away to charity. How can they give away used makeup and Palin's own hairstyles to the Salvation Army? Apparently, one news report revealed that Mrs. McCain (or, as I like to call her, Crack Head Stepford Wife Barbie, or Grown Up Joan Benet Ramsey) spent up to 350K on one outfit alone. It's staggering to me to know how much money one has to spend to look so very cheap.
I must confess, with the deepest shame, that my lady friends and I had been marveling at the fact that we actually LIKED some of her clothes, particularly the blazers she wore in her embarassing interviews with Katie Couric, or the black suit she wore to the also embarassing VP debate. And the shoes were also very good. Now we know why. The hundreds of dollars spent on that Pageantry Hair, however, should be cause for a refund demand. I can only imagine that Mrs. McCain recommended her own technician from the Joan Benet Ramsey Memorial School of Hairdressing.
Here is the URL to a great article about this from The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/23/us/politics/23palin.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
Monday, October 20, 2008
Farewell, Mr. Blackwell
'Mr. Blackwell' dies at 86; compiled 'worst dressed' celebrity lists for nearly 50 years
I have looked forward to his 10 Worst-Dressed Lists for my entire life. It was a landmark that caused me to ponder two of my favorite things: fashion and celebrities. My life will suffer from a terrible void. Although I try my best (Fashion Citation) to follow in his bitchery and fabulousness, I can never equal or surpass his catty phrases and incisive descriptions of celebrity fashion schandisimos. And as I said earlier, during this NATIONAL EMERGENCY OF BAD TASTE that is personified in Caribou Barbie (Palin) and Crack Head Stepford Wife Barbie AKA Grown up Joan Benet Ramsey on VIcodin (Mrs. McCain), it's doubly tragic to be without Mr. Blackwell's viper's tongue.
Born Richard Selzer, the caustic self-proclaimed arbiter of taste wagged his finger at the likes of Marilyn Monroe, Madonna, Britney Spears and even Queen Elizabeth.
By Mary Rourke, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
October 20, 2008
" Mr. Blackwell," whose annual "worst dressed" list dinged movie stars, music icons and European royalty and helped turn him into a household name from the 1960s through the '80s, has died. He was 86.
Blackwell had been in failing health and died Sunday afternoon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles of complications from an intestinal infection, according to publicist Harlan Boll.
A onetime actor and model who turned to fashion design with limited success, Blackwell -- in his rankings of what he considered the most dreadful in design -- helped popularize the sort of dishy commentary that takes notable figures down a notch by poking fun at their personal style.
Actresses Marilyn Monroe, Sophia Loren and Elizabeth Taylor made his list in the early 1960s. Taylor's "plump" figure and revealing clothes reminded him of "the rebirth of the zeppelin," he wrote in 1963. Loren, he wrote, dressed like "the Italian shop girls she portrays in movies."
More recently, Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, whom he called the "Screamgirls" and compared to "two peas in an overexposed pod," made the list. So did Camilla Parker-Bowles, "The Duchess of Dowdy," in Blackwell's opinion.
This year Victoria "Posh Spice" Beckham topped his survey. It was his 48th annual list.
Brigitte Bardot, Barbra Streisand, Bette Midler, Dolly Parton and Madonna took heat from Blackwell more than once. So did Queen Elizabeth. "From her majesty to her travesty," he wrote of her.
Blackwell gave his first annual assessment of celebrities and their tastes in 1960, placing Italian actress Anna Magnani, star of "The Rose Tattoo" and "Wild Is the Wind," at the top of his worst-dressed list. He credited her for being "one of the most distinguished actresses of our generation" but said she dressed in "tramp clothes."
His comments were published in the American Weekly, a syndicated Sunday supplement magazine, after a reporter there called and asked him to name his 10 worst-dressed picks and to comment on them. Every year from then on he teased the famous, using "Mr. Blackwell" as a calling card.
He had launched his clothing business, House of Blackwell, in 1958, teaching himself how to drape fabric on a model. His day and evening outfits recalled the era of the contract movie stars who were dressed top to bottom by staff designers for the major Hollywood studios.
"The clothes were slightly overdone," recalled Sylvia Sheppard, a fashion editor for Women's Wear Daily during Blackwell's heyday. "He wasn't a creative designer."
But to be a fashion designer was never his top priority. As Blackwell recounted in his autobiography, "From Rags to Bitches" (1995), he aimed "to become my most unforgettable creation: king of the caustic quote, arbiter of good taste and bad, the ultimate mix of madness, marketing and media attention."
His finger-wagging fashion reports were a twist on the annual best-dressed lists that were popular in the 1940s and '50s. Fashion expert and author Patty Fox said recently that Blackwell was the first she knew of to take an irreverent approach. Dozens of variations followed.
While Blackwell claimed he was "not unkind," his critiques ranged from merely catty -- "Words fail me!" he wrote in 1963 of screen ingenue Sandra Dee -- to cutting: -- "Do-it-yourself kit with the wrong instructions!" he pronounced about the fashion taste of Hollywood sex kitten Elke Sommer in his 1973 list.
"The list has whimsy," he insisted. "It's camp."
At times he published his choices for the best-dressed women of the year. Joan Crawford and Audrey Hepburn ranked in the 1960s, Nicole Kidman later on.
He announced his verdicts at an annual news conference in his Hancock Park home. Several times in the early 1970s, he was invited to expand on his choices as a guest on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson." In the 1980s and '90s, he commented on Oscar fashions during televised coverage of the Academy Awards.
He included men, particularly if they dressed in drag on screen or stage. Comedian Milton Berle got dinged in 1996 for his "padded brassiere and corseted rear." Boy George, the pop singer who wore lipstick and eye shadow, and Elton John with his feathered capes got caught in Blackwell's radar in the 1980s.
Some of Blackwell's targets fired back. When he took aim at country singer Barbara Mandrell in 1981 ("Yukon Sally playing the Alamo"), she sent him a jeweled lapel pin that spelled out "Big Mouth." He wore it proudly.
Others, including Jayne Mansfield, turned to him for advice. In 1961, after criticizing the actress with the hourglass figure for her "plunging neckline [that] has become a bare midriff problem," he supplied her with a wardrobe for her role in "Promises! Promises!" a 1963 movie best known for Mansfield's nude scenes.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-me-blackwell20-2008oct20,0,6367465.story
I have looked forward to his 10 Worst-Dressed Lists for my entire life. It was a landmark that caused me to ponder two of my favorite things: fashion and celebrities. My life will suffer from a terrible void. Although I try my best (Fashion Citation) to follow in his bitchery and fabulousness, I can never equal or surpass his catty phrases and incisive descriptions of celebrity fashion schandisimos. And as I said earlier, during this NATIONAL EMERGENCY OF BAD TASTE that is personified in Caribou Barbie (Palin) and Crack Head Stepford Wife Barbie AKA Grown up Joan Benet Ramsey on VIcodin (Mrs. McCain), it's doubly tragic to be without Mr. Blackwell's viper's tongue.
Born Richard Selzer, the caustic self-proclaimed arbiter of taste wagged his finger at the likes of Marilyn Monroe, Madonna, Britney Spears and even Queen Elizabeth.
By Mary Rourke, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
October 20, 2008
" Mr. Blackwell," whose annual "worst dressed" list dinged movie stars, music icons and European royalty and helped turn him into a household name from the 1960s through the '80s, has died. He was 86.
Blackwell had been in failing health and died Sunday afternoon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles of complications from an intestinal infection, according to publicist Harlan Boll.
A onetime actor and model who turned to fashion design with limited success, Blackwell -- in his rankings of what he considered the most dreadful in design -- helped popularize the sort of dishy commentary that takes notable figures down a notch by poking fun at their personal style.
Actresses Marilyn Monroe, Sophia Loren and Elizabeth Taylor made his list in the early 1960s. Taylor's "plump" figure and revealing clothes reminded him of "the rebirth of the zeppelin," he wrote in 1963. Loren, he wrote, dressed like "the Italian shop girls she portrays in movies."
More recently, Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, whom he called the "Screamgirls" and compared to "two peas in an overexposed pod," made the list. So did Camilla Parker-Bowles, "The Duchess of Dowdy," in Blackwell's opinion.
This year Victoria "Posh Spice" Beckham topped his survey. It was his 48th annual list.
Brigitte Bardot, Barbra Streisand, Bette Midler, Dolly Parton and Madonna took heat from Blackwell more than once. So did Queen Elizabeth. "From her majesty to her travesty," he wrote of her.
Blackwell gave his first annual assessment of celebrities and their tastes in 1960, placing Italian actress Anna Magnani, star of "The Rose Tattoo" and "Wild Is the Wind," at the top of his worst-dressed list. He credited her for being "one of the most distinguished actresses of our generation" but said she dressed in "tramp clothes."
His comments were published in the American Weekly, a syndicated Sunday supplement magazine, after a reporter there called and asked him to name his 10 worst-dressed picks and to comment on them. Every year from then on he teased the famous, using "Mr. Blackwell" as a calling card.
He had launched his clothing business, House of Blackwell, in 1958, teaching himself how to drape fabric on a model. His day and evening outfits recalled the era of the contract movie stars who were dressed top to bottom by staff designers for the major Hollywood studios.
"The clothes were slightly overdone," recalled Sylvia Sheppard, a fashion editor for Women's Wear Daily during Blackwell's heyday. "He wasn't a creative designer."
But to be a fashion designer was never his top priority. As Blackwell recounted in his autobiography, "From Rags to Bitches" (1995), he aimed "to become my most unforgettable creation: king of the caustic quote, arbiter of good taste and bad, the ultimate mix of madness, marketing and media attention."
His finger-wagging fashion reports were a twist on the annual best-dressed lists that were popular in the 1940s and '50s. Fashion expert and author Patty Fox said recently that Blackwell was the first she knew of to take an irreverent approach. Dozens of variations followed.
While Blackwell claimed he was "not unkind," his critiques ranged from merely catty -- "Words fail me!" he wrote in 1963 of screen ingenue Sandra Dee -- to cutting: -- "Do-it-yourself kit with the wrong instructions!" he pronounced about the fashion taste of Hollywood sex kitten Elke Sommer in his 1973 list.
"The list has whimsy," he insisted. "It's camp."
At times he published his choices for the best-dressed women of the year. Joan Crawford and Audrey Hepburn ranked in the 1960s, Nicole Kidman later on.
He announced his verdicts at an annual news conference in his Hancock Park home. Several times in the early 1970s, he was invited to expand on his choices as a guest on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson." In the 1980s and '90s, he commented on Oscar fashions during televised coverage of the Academy Awards.
He included men, particularly if they dressed in drag on screen or stage. Comedian Milton Berle got dinged in 1996 for his "padded brassiere and corseted rear." Boy George, the pop singer who wore lipstick and eye shadow, and Elton John with his feathered capes got caught in Blackwell's radar in the 1980s.
Some of Blackwell's targets fired back. When he took aim at country singer Barbara Mandrell in 1981 ("Yukon Sally playing the Alamo"), she sent him a jeweled lapel pin that spelled out "Big Mouth." He wore it proudly.
Others, including Jayne Mansfield, turned to him for advice. In 1961, after criticizing the actress with the hourglass figure for her "plunging neckline [that] has become a bare midriff problem," he supplied her with a wardrobe for her role in "Promises! Promises!" a 1963 movie best known for Mansfield's nude scenes.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-me-blackwell20-2008oct20,0,6367465.story
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
