In 1937, Elsa Schiaparelli launched the fragrance Shocking de Schiaparelli, packaged in bottles which resembled a female figure. The curves were supposedly based on those of the provocative actress Mae West, who also served as a muse to surrealist artist Salvator Dali in the creation of a mouth-shaped sofa modeled
Viennese Secessionist artist Gustav Klimt’s gold-leafed, kaleidoscopic paintings have been referenced, reinterpreted and looked to for inspiration by countless artists and designers. In Judith and the Head of Holofernes, Klimt presents us with his version of the biblical tale featuring his muse and reported lover, the Austrian socialite Adele Bloch-Bauer. In describing her F/W 2013 collection to Vogue, designer L’Wren Scott
Aesthete artist and dandy, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, painted Arrangement in Grey and Black No.1, better known as Whistler’s Mother, in 1871. The portrait or arrangement as Whistler preferred, was not recieved with praise in London at the Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Art in 1872 and only gained its success years later in Paris when it was
To commemorate her transition out of silent films and into motion pictures with sound or talkies, Edward Steichen photographed American actress Gloria Swanson in 1924. A pioneer in the field of fashion photography, Steichen would build a prolific body of work capturing the glamour of Hollywood’s Golden Age. In Swanson’s portrait, Steichen
The Robe à la Française, a gown popular throughout much of the 18th century, consists of an open front robe exposing a highly decorative underskirt, double box pleats at the back showcasing expansive ornate Rococo textiles, a square neckline and a conical shaped bodice achieved by a stomacher. The stomacher, or the triangular panel
A Surrealist sixty years before the movement, the The Countess de Castiglione was considered the most beautiful woman of the Second Empire, mistress to Napoleon III and a constant fixture of society portrait photographer Pierre-Louis Pierson’s work. The Countess was enraptured by her own beauty, taking great delight in being photographed by
Tina Turner’s long lasting career, her energetic, vivacious stage presence, along with her signature legs often exposed in revealing, body-conscious costumes, helped her to earn the title, “The Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll.” In 1979, Turner performed at the Carré theater in Amsterdam, dressed in a leather leotard with lace
Richard Avedon helped to define the post WWII woman with his imagery of impossibly elegant women, theatrically posed within Avedon’s signature theatric narrative style. Dovima with Elephants is one of Avedon’s most well-known photographs featuring the model Dovima dressed in Dior at the Cirque d’Hiver of 1955 in Paris. To celebrate
At a time when photography was considered more mechanical than artistic, photographer and artist Edward Steichen strove to elevate fashion photography to the level of a fine art. Steichen began his career shooting images in a pictorialist manner in 1902, and eventually evolved his style to a heightened realism; however,
A profile on George Clooney in Vanity Fair’s November, 2006 issue likened the actor to those of Hollywood’s past, portraying Clooney as a modern day Gregory Peck, James Stewart or Cary Grant. To accompany this comparison, photographer Norman Jean Roy, who often looks to Old Hollywood for inspiration, photographed George Clooney along side