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Days ago, French fashion flaunter Jean Paul Gaultier presented a runway look inspired by MAE WEST.
• • Describing the Oscar-worthy Gaultier creations for readers of The New York Times, columnist Cathy Horyn wrote: "As the models came out in wafting mousseline gowns and velvet columns, headshots of screen legends — — Mae West, Louise Brooks, Audrey Hepburn, Rita Hayworth — — swam across the celestial blue backdrop."
• • Covering the show in Paris, front row couture-critic Godfrey Deeny also seemed to be enjoying the melodramatic, improbable spectacle.
• • Godfrey Deeny writes: Lights, camera, Gaultier! French fashion's enfant terrible Jean Paul Gaultier found it, at the movies with a fall 2009 haute couture collection on Wednesday, July 8, inspired throughout by cinema.
• • Gaultier telegraphed his punch to guests as soon as they walked in the door of his Paris headquarters by naming each area of the show space after a major studio.
• • Each look was named after a famous movie, opening with curvaceous Dutch model Lara Stone as Le Mepris of "Contempt," Jean Luc Godard's classic starring Jack Palance and Brigitte Bardot about the cynicism of film making. Lara Stone strutted out in leather trench-coat and seamed tights, her blonde hair piled up in a beehive just like Bardot in the movie. . . .
• • At times, the more outlandish looks seemed almost like living organisms, such as the crocodile scale ensemble that represented "Night of the Iguana." And few couturiers can draw out such fine craftsmanship from their ateliers as Gaultier — — whose satin Mae West look seemed made out of Wurlitzer organ pipes.
• • Gaultier took his concept even further with several outfits literally made of film strips, including one called "Rushes." The whole thing garnered great applause from an audience that included Kylie Minogue and Mickey Rourke.
— — Excerpt: — —
• • Article: Jean Paul Gaultier's Celluloid Couture
• • Published in: Fashion Wire Daily
• • Byline: Godfrey Deeny | reporting from Paris
• • Published on: Thursday, 9 July 2009
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
• • Feed — — http://feeds2.feedburner.com/MaeWestNYC
Mae West.
Edith Head is one of several fashion costumers who whipped up wicked fashions for screen queen MAE WEST.
• • Soon to be opening in London's West End (and how appropriate) is the one-woman show "A Conversation With Edith Head" written by and starring Susan Claassen, who received her inspiration from a TV bio-pic about Edith Head. 
• • The Oscar-winning designing woman Edith Head [28 October 1897 — 24 October 1981] once told an interviewer that "Mae West taught me everything I know about sex, clothes-wise." Claassen, as her alter-ego Head, will be dishing her Hollywood dirt at the West End’s Arts Theatre this month. Previews begin 29 July. The run is scheduled from 31 July to 30 August 2008.
• • Certainly Edith Head would have a lot to talk about since she spent six decades in Tinseltown. Over 40 years were at Paramount Pictures, where Edith Head dressed Mae West, Clara Bow, Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, Bette Davis, and others.
• • Arts Theatre: 6-7 Great Newport Street, West End, Greater London WC2H 7JB.
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • Edith Head's design for Mae • •
NYC
Mae West.
The Scotsman printed an interesting article about the designer who dressed MAE WEST for the screen — — Edith Head.
• • Reporter Jackie McGlone wrote that "Edith Head believed modesty was unbecoming and that you could have anything you wanted in life, so long as you dressed for it. And, boy, did she know about dressing. The legendary designer saw all the Hollywood greats stripped down to their knickers (or even less), from Mae West and Audrey Hepburn to Robert Redford and Paul Newman."
• • Prolific Head had her finger in most movies, it would seem. During a 60-year career, Edith Head designed clothes for 1,131 films — — about 35 a year — — and dressed virtually every star who shimmered on screen in the golden age of film. She won more Oscars than the actresses she clothed.
• • According to Jackie McGlone:
. . . Always discreet about the size and shape of the stars' backsides, she knew about all the skeletons in their closets but she was never one to gossip, although she did reveal that full-figured Clara Bow was known as "a sausage," that Claudette Colbert was "mean-spirited," and that Barbara Stanwyck was "frumpy" until she took over her designs.
. . . Of course, Head knew what she was talking about — — she was, after all, the woman who knew the intimate secrets around Mae West's vast bosom, Gloria Swanson's wide waist and small feet (size two-and-a-half), and swan-necked Audrey Hepburn's broad shoulders. Which is presumably why she often boasted that she was a magician, who "accentuated the positive and camouflaged the rest". . . .
• • Read the rest for yourself: - http://living.scotsman.com/
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West dressed by Edith Head • • 1932 • •
NYC
Mae West.
Help get MAE WEST commemorated on a U.S. postage stamp.
• • Here's a sample letter and here is where you should write:
• • To: Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee
• • c/o Stamp Development; U S Postal Service
• • 1735 North Lynn St [Rm 5013]; Arlington VA 22209-6432.
• • • • SAMPLE • • • •
• • Dear Chairman - Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee:
• • Please issue a US postal stamp commemorating MAE WEST, the former Broadway star and Hollywood icon who died in 1980.
• • Comedy and entertainment are hallmarks of the popular culture of the United States of America. The U.S. Postal Department has befittingly honored screen legends Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Audrey Hepburn, Cary Grant, Lucille Ball, James Cagney, Alfred Hitchcock, and Humphrey Bogart by issuing commemorative stamps depicting these adults.
• • However, none of these individuals wrote their own plays. MAE WEST wrote "Diamond Lil" and many other plays that were staged on Broadway.
• • None of these individuals wrote their own movie dialogue. MAE WEST wrote all of her own dialogue for most of the nine films she appeared in.
• • None of these individuals can match MAE WEST when it comes to numerous original quotes. Her witty sayings are often quoted in books and newspaper articles to this day.
• • Please approve the issuance of a US postal stamp commemorating a legendary American talent MAE WEST (1893 - 1980).
• • Source of this letter: The Mae West Blog http://MaeWest.blogspot.com
• • • • The Stamp Selection Process • • • •
• • Ideas for stamp subjects that meet CSAC criteria may be addressed to the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee; Stamp Development; US Postal Service; 1735 North Lynn St Rm 5013; Arlington VA 22209-6432.
• • The Committee only reads hard-copy letters. No faxes or emails.
• • Subjects should be submitted at least three years in advance of the proposed date of issue to allow sufficient time for consideration and for design and production, if the subject is approved.
• • Submit stamp proposals in writing to the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee. This allows everyone the same opportunity to suggest a new stamp subject. All proposals are reviewed by the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee regardless of how they are submitted, i.e., stamped cards, letters or petitions.
• • After a proposal is determined not to violate criteria set by CSAC, research is done on the proposed stamp subject. Each new proposed subject is listed on the CSAC's agenda for its next meeting. The CSAC considers all new proposals and takes one of two actions: it may reject the new proposal or it may set it aside for consideration for future issuance. If set aside for consideration, the subject remains "under consideration" in a file maintained for the Committee.
• • An "I Love Lucy" stamp appeared in the Postal Service's "Celebrate the Century" series. A new Lucille Ball stamp [released in 2001] is the seventh in a "Legends of Hollywood" series. Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Audrey Hepburn, Cary Grant, James Cagney, Alfred Hitchcock, and Humphrey Bogart are among other Hollywood icons who have been featured.
• • Actor Karl Malden is a long-time member of the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee, which helps choose stamp subjects and designs.
• • who • • why • • what • •
• • As of March 2001, these are the Committee's Stamp Subject Selection Criteria:
• • It is a general policy that U.S. postage stamps and stationery primarily will feature American or American-related subjects.
• • No living person shall be honored by portrayal on U.S. postage.
• • Commemorative stamps or postal stationery items honoring individuals usually will be issued on or in conjunction with significant anniversaries of their birth, but no postal item will be issued sooner than ten years after the individual's death. The only exception to the ten-year rule is the issuance of stamps honoring deceased U.S. presidents. They may be honored with a memorial stamp on the first birth anniversary following death.
• • Events of historical significance shall be considered for commemoration only on anniversaries in multiples of 50 years.
• • No stamp shall be considered for issuance if one treating the same subject has been issued in the past 50 years. The only exceptions to this rule are traditional themes such as national symbols and holidays.• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xmlMae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •NYC
Mae West.
Yesterday The Scotsman offered interesting news about MAE WEST.
• • Columnist Alison Kerr led off with her view that, though the old formula was that sex sells, nowadays it is celebrity that makes the wallets come out. According to Alison Kerr: There were even a couple of early cross-pollinations between Hollywood and the world of fine fragrance, in the shapely shape of couturier Elsa Schiaparelli's legendary (and about to be relaunched) perfume "Shocking", the bottle of which was modelled on voluptuous wisecracker Mae West's figure - - and L' Interdit, which Hubert Givenchy created for his muse, Audrey Hepburn.
• • If "Shocking" is going to be re-launched, which fragrant face will the ad men use for the promotional campaign? Hmmm. . . .
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/________
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xmlMae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • 1933NYC
Mae West.
