Category: Inspiring Women & Men

February 1, 2015

Inimitable Churchill

Killer Quotes from Winston, sometimes witty, often solemn, always true…

-1940-

As we commemorated the funeral of Winston Churchill last week I want to follow WWII per year with his quotes.

“Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few”

cecil-beaton-london-bomb-victim-c-1940Photograph of Air raid victim by Cecil Beaton

In 1940 as Prime Minister, Churchill in a speech refers to the ongoing efforts of the Royal Air Force pilots who were at the time fighting the Battle of Britain, the pivotal air battle with the German Luftwaffe with Britain expecting a German invasion.

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January 31, 2015

My Personal Top 10 Female Singers – No 2

…in no particular order & with my favorite recordings…

Number Two: Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Fitzgerald & Count Basie 12

Ella Fitzgerald 1917-1996

The Ella Fitzgerald Song Books were a series of eight studio albums released in irregular intervals between 1956 and 1964. The eight albums covered the Songbooks of Cole Porter (1956), Rodgers & Hart (1956), Duke Ellington (1957), Irving Berlin (1958), George and Ira Gershwin (1959), Harold Arlen (1961), Jerome Kern (1963), and Johnny Mercer (1964). The full collection is available on Amazon.

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January 30, 2015

Arts & Crafts

Appliqué, Patchwork, Embroidery & other Embellishments in Fashion

I have an eclectic collection of fashion photography that I stick on my mood board and enjoy watching all the time, sometimes for the beauty of the garment or the atmosphere the photograph conjures up. I also collect “fashion stories” about women that inspire me. One woman who embodies eclectic taste in fashion is Gloria Vanderbilt, a New York socialite, who had a very successful jeans brand in the 1970’s and is an accomplished painter too.

gvb3Patchwork Queen! Photograph by Horst P. Horst 1975

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January 28, 2015

The Art of Conversation

Powerful French Women and their Famous “Salons”

“Why not start a virtual “Salon?” was my idea when I decided to write this blog. The Art of Conversation is something I want to vigorously keep up!

Watch the French film “Ridicule” to fully understand the power of women skilled in conversation in 18th century France:

ridicuActress Fanny Ardent in the 1996 French film “Ridicule” (Netflix)

“Salons” started in Italy in the 16th century and soon took hold in France. They were the artistic and literary “Think Tanks” of the 17th, 18th & 19th century, mostly held by society ladies in their beautiful homes. A lady who held a “Salon” would reign as she set the topics, the tone and “ambiance” of the gathering. There was fierce competition amongst ” Salonnières” about who would draw the most brilliant crowd. I will highlight two famous “Salonnières”: Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun and Juliette Récamier.

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January 27, 2015

Chaplin the Visionary

The Power & Courage of Charlie Chaplin’s Prophetic 1940 Film

“The Great Dictator”

Today, 70 years ago, the Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz was liberated and the first photographs emerged of the scale of the horror. In hindsight, one realizes to what extent Charlie Chaplin‘s 1940 film “The Great Dictator” was visionary and courageous. Chaplin later said that “he would not have made the film had he known about the actual horrors of the Nazi concentration camps at the time”.

This solemn day of remembrance, when the world saw the first images of Auschwitz, reminds me never to ignore the signs of oppression and often artists and intellectuals are the first who have the courage to speak out: let’s listen and act…

CampCCThe “Jewish barber” character from the film “The Great Dictator“ in a concentration camp.

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