after party

Did you watch the Oscars last night? 

If you did, are you in it for the red carpet? The teary acceptance speeches? The old-fashioned tinsletown celebration or the cynical how-long-can-this-go-on spectacle of it?

I, myself, am partial to the gowns and the glamor. I get drawn in to the sweeping musical numbers and get a little weepy with all of the emotional thank-yous. And it's worth the hours of settling in for all of that when you catch a quick glimpse of (my favorite) Doris Kearns Goodwin walking the post-show red carpet arm in arm with a victorious Daniel Day-Lewis and Rebecca Miller, off to celebrate, the chumiest of chums. 

Ah, Hollywood.

Faye Dunaway's breakfast with Oscar at the Beverly Hills Hotel, 1977.

Daring (grande) dames

How old (or young) must a woman be to say, "This is me." with her personal style choices? There are plenty of fashionable ladies out there, but the ones with real gumption so often seem to be under seven or over seventy. A couple on the upper end of that spectrum happen to be the subject of recent films. It's a great chance to look in awe at and be inspired by their approach to personal style and, so much more invigorating, their approach to life.

"There's only one really good life: 
there's the life that you know you want and you make it yourself."

Diana Vreeland had a long career at Harper's Bazaar where she set all sorts of fashion trends and spotted all sorts of 'big' personalities. She also managed to fit in being the inspiration for Kay Thompson's character in Funny Face.

Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel - Official Trailer (HD) from Sawyer Studios on Vimeo.

 And then there is the so-playful and oh-so-inspiring Iris Apfel.

Ms. Apfel is the subject of a recent documentary by Albert Maysles, a guy who knows a thing or two about unconventional ladies.

Are you inspired yet? Sure, there are things that can be more easily pulled off by a real 'dame', but I am still convinced that what these trailblazers are saying is: 'Don't wait too long... begin now!'.

Amelia at 115

Fierce & fearless. Cool & courageous.

That Girl

Just in time to wrap up Women's History Month, Joanna Goddard has posted some doozie examples of advertisements from not so long ago over on her superblog. As much as I love the graphics of the Volkswagon campaign, the text is just so 'Gah... lady drivers! Amiright, fellas!?'. Pretty amazing how quickly times can change... or not.

Fascinating, but...
Why don't we end this annual endeavor on a slightly more inspiring note. Just take a minute to take a look at all of the stories of ground-breaking, history-making American women documented on the PBS-initiated series Makers.

'I never knew what I wanted to do, but I knew the kind of woman that I wanted to be... and I became that woman.'
- Diane Von Furstenberg

'I kind of consider it part of the job... doing a little bit of groundbreaking.'
- Miranda July

Beginnings

Artist and graphic novelist, Marjane Satrapi speaks about her beginnings and the need to create in a short but sweet film by Chiara (daughter of the fabulous Francesco) Clemente.

'Everybody has something to say, of course. But the art is not about having something to say, the art is about how you say this thing.'

Beginnings: Marjane Satrapi on Nowness.com.

See more of Chiara Clemente's lovely Beginnings series on the Sundance Channel.

Bande à part

Garance Doré lives out my Band of Outsiders fantasy by getting a chance to dance the Madison in a Paris café. And just to add a glossy finish to this fantasy, it was all done as an advertisement for the classically hip brand Petite Bateau and filmed by cinematic royalty Zoé Cassavetes. Some girls have all the luck.

Dame Liz

Goodbye to one of the last grande dames. Her appeal, beyond the obvious beauty & glamor? A tenacity like you just don't see anymore and a tendency to dive head first into the messy passion of it all... "You might as well live" was one of her favorite sayings. And live she did: a life of big loves, big roles & big rocks.

Happy New Year

Joanne Woodward & Paul Newman share a New Year's eve kiss.

Swing Time...

'I get so sentimental when I see how perfect perfection can be.'
Fred Astaire in Top Hat

Inge Morath

Arthur Miller & Inge Morath at their home in Connecticut, 1962

Inge Morath is one of those artists that I just keep coming back to and she never fails to inspire. Not just for her photography, which is fascinating to me, but by her ability to be a life-long-learner, consistently adapting to and embedding herself in the many countries and cultures that she inhabited in her life.

Inge, incognito

Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller on the set of The Misfits, photographed by Morath. Miller wrote the part for one-time-wife Monroe in his screenplay. He and Morath met on the set, where she and other photographers (including Henri Cartier-Bresson) were documenting the production.

'Photography is a strange phenomenon...
You trust your eye and cannot help but bare your soul.'
Inge Morath

Read more about Morath here