Anjelica

Long before she was Wes Anderson's leading lady Anjelica Huston was quite a face in the fashion world. She was a shop girl at Biba (dream job!) in the 60's, and also a distinguished model in the early 70's. Whilst browsing a vintage copy of Vogue the other day I found the most stunning pictorial featuring her in Yves Saint Laurent, Chloe, Bill Gibb and more. It's from the 1973 September issue which is packed full of very loverly couture. How stunning does she look in these images, she has such striking features, and I think she is still very beautiful today almost 40 years later.

I am so inspired by these looks and the nostalgic 30's & 40's styles of the early 70's, so glamourous and feminine. I am craving printed crepe de chine, sequins, boas, berets and furs, and also those pencil thin eyebrows which seemed to be quite the thing at the time. I have tried to replicate this, it didn't work out too well...

Hard Hearted Harlot

Whilst mourning the loss of www.terrydehavilland.com, particularly the amazing sale section, I decided to have a little shoe browse and discovered a new label to me called Hard Hearted Harlot, and oooh they have some very lovely shoes and boots, they remind me a bit of Chie Mihara although a little cheaper in price.

They are very vintage influenced with nice slim toes, stacked heels and platforms. I'm always on the look out for this type of brand as I adore footwear from the 60s and 70s but I just can't deal with them breaking, it is too sad.

Here are a few of my favourites available to buy online, and most in the sale too! I am seriously tempted by both pairs of boots both less than £80...

Available from www.javari.co.uk, www.myarosa.co.uk, I also spotted a few pairs on amazon & ebay.

Grey Gardens

After a long and lovely christmas day with the family I settled down in the evening to watch Grey Gardens (2009) the adaptation of the 1976 Maysles brother documentary of the infamous two Edie Bouvier Beales. I had wanted to see this for ages and hadn't seen the original film, but had seen some galleries and read a few articles on the internets about them. When I watched it I was blown away.

Brief Synopsis: It is the story of a mother and daughter both raised as wealthy debutantes and are aunt and cousin to Jackie Onassis. Big Edie is a talented singer and married to Phelan Beale, she spends her days at their Hamptons estate Grey Gardens, Little Edie dreams of being a famous dancer and in her twenties is living in Manhattan, although she had many suitors and some very high profile proposals she falls in love with a married man. Big Edie and Phelan divorce and becoming increasingly paranoid about being left alone, Big Edie convinces Little Edie to return to Grey Gardens making her miss a big audition which she will forever be convinced would have seen her break into the big time. Living on a small allowance compared to what they are used to, Grey Gardens slowly falls into disrepair and with no staff the two gradually begin living in squalor with their many cats. In the early 70's the authorities are called in and with the threat of eviction Jackie Onassis and Lee Radziwill pay to have the house put back into a liveable state. Unfortunately the estate soon falls back into a sorry state and the two Edie's are once again alone, with Little Edie particularly feeling the strain of confinement looking after her demanding mother for the foreseeable future.

Whilst looking through the TV listings a couple of days later I noticed the original film was on a few days later, so I managed to catch that too. I'm actually quite glad that I saw the HBO film first as I found the documentary pretty hard to watch and follow. But comparing the two it showed that Drew & Jessica gave such amazing performances as Little and Big Edie respectively, particularly Drew she was fantastic at capturing Little Edie's quirky glamour and exuberant playful nature.

If you haven't seen either film, really try and catch them soon. You will fall in love with Little Edie, I felt so inspired by her style watching these, from the stunning 30's and 40's satin gowns to the chic 50's numbers, and of course the look she was more famous for later in the 70's taking items from the loft and creating the most fabulous and creative outfits, the numerous head scarves fashioned from jumpers, skirts and many more all finished with the famous brooch.

Below are some famous and fabulous quotes from Little Edie taken from Grey Gardens Online & IMDB

"This is the best thing to wear for today, you understand. Because I don't like women in skirts and the best thing is to wear pantyhose or some pants under a short skirt, I think. Then you have the pants under the skirt and then you can pull the stockings up over the pants underneath the skirt. And you can always take off the skirt and use it as a cape. So I think this is the best costume for today."

"My costumes? That's a protest against having worked as a model for the Establishment, believe it or not. A lot of models feel that way. Sometimes their lives are protests against having worked as models. Besides, I didn't have time taking care of mother to get out and buy any clothes. So I used what was left of mine and mother's in the attic."

"Course, I'm mad about animals, but raccoons and cats become a little bit boring. I mean, for too long a time."

"The family never cared for me and they hated my mother. She was a dancer and a singer with a terrific voice she'd inherited from her mother, and the relatives hated her because she was magnificent."

What is your favorite department store? "May's, although I haven't been there yet."

For more info check out the official site for the 1976 documentary here and the 2009 film here.

Do take a few minutes to look through this Life gallery too.

All Pics from Grey Gardens Online & HBO Official Site