That Sabrina Dress

"Secondhand accounts can ruin someone's reputation as much as malicious rumors. Therefore, I feel it is time to set the record straight.
In early April of 1974, I had the following conversation with Edith Head in her bungalow on the Universal Studio lot while we looked at a rack of costumes she was going through to select garments for her Vogue fashion shows.
She pulled from the rack a crumpled and sagging black dress, and examined it.
I stared at the dress, recognizing it immediately. "That's the infamous Sabrina dress, non?"
"No! It's the muslin [first-fitting dress], although it's made in rayon taffeta. See the peplum here? I did away with it when I finalized its look."
"But, by all the accounts I have heard, didn't Givenchy make it?"
"Ha," retorted Edith, "that story has been circulating for years, thanks to Miss Hepburn."
"But why?""So she could gain his favour, I suppose, and get clothes free." She paused and fluffed up the skirt. "During preproduction for Sabrina, she was in San Francisco touring with Gigi, and had no time to come to Hollywood for a meeting. So, once more, I went to see her like I did for Roman Holiday, when she was performing in New York. She was pleasant enough, but very tenacious in her taste. Her manner remained aloof, although somewhat sad and unhappy. She smiled only when it was necessary.I was beginning to believe the rumors I had heard of how some journalists and other actors regarded her as being self-absorbed. And I realized that any confidence I had built up with her before, now carried little weight. She handed me a croquis, a rough sketch similar to the quick ones I had shown her originally for Roman Holiday, and said she had made it while viewing Givenchy's runway show in Paris. Years later, I learned she had gained access to the showing giving the name 'Miss Hepburn.' As she was hardly known at the time since Roman Holiday hadn't yet been released, Givenchy thought it was Katharine Hepburn. The sketch of this dress and several others she pulled forth were the costumes she wanted for Sabrina." - Jean-Pierre Dorléac, Emmy-winning Hollywood costume designer who was mentored by the legendary Edith Head.

He Said She Said

"I worked with very, very strong feelings. I photographed what I feared: aging, death, and the despair of living." - Richard Avedon

"A portrait photographer depends upon another person to complete his picture. The subject imagined, which in a sense is me, must be discovered in someone willing to become implicated in a fiction he cannot possibly know about. My concerns are not his. We have separate ambitions for the image. His need to plead his case probably goes as deep as my need to plead mine, but the control is with me." - Richard AvedonThe photographer with Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe. This is one of my favourite portraits from his series, In the American West.

What Becomes A Legend Most?

Unless you've been hiding under a furball for the season, you would already know that Janet Jackson is the latest 'legend' to be featured in the iconic Blackglama fur ads.Ms Jackson has joined a group of legendary fashion figures that have been photographed, wrapped in the famous furs. The list of stars to pose in the ads over the years include Bette Davis, Audrey Hepburn, Ray Charles, Sophia Loren, Marlene Dietrich, Elizabeth Taylor, Diana Ross, Lauren Bacall, Lena Horne, Liza Minelli, Judy Garland, Faye Dunaway, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell and many more. With each famous face featured in the ad, the slogan reads:"What becomes a Legend most?"Ms Jackson said: "What makes a legend, to me, is someone who has made a major mark on the world that lasts forever. Not just with their art, but for example, Elizabeth Taylor is a legendary actor, but [there is] also her humanitarian efforts, working with AIDS and AIDS research," she says. "That, to me, is what really makes someone a legend. I have too much to accomplish to consider myself a legend."Rocco (who?) Laspata (huh?) was the photographer, not a good follow up to the legends of yore, who were shot by the legendary Richard Avedon. The legends were never named in the ads; And they were paid with the Avedon portrait and one fur coat of their choice. The first in this series of ads ran in 1967.

Oh Deer!

Audrey Hepburn and her pet deer... Frida Kahlo and her pet deer...
Why don't you have... a pet deer?

Keeping and Chucking

Strangely invigorated after more than an hour of being pulled, thumped, pinched, ground, elbowed and beaten beaten to a pulp by a 23 year old Shenyang boy at my local Wan Yang (maybe he transferred all his angry energy to me?), I decided to start a spring clean exercise, one closet at a time. First, the lower left, two-shelf commode where I store my modest CD collection (yes, whoever heard of CDs anymore? I haven't played one since... six months ago?). Let's see what lurks there shall we?
1. Greasy almost full bottle of Clarins Eau Dynamisante Huile Satinee Body Oil. Missing cap. Oh, so this is where you've been hiding. And I thought BG had stolen it. What is it doing in my CD closet? (Shampoo and store in shoe closet, can mist over legs when I wear sandals.)
2. Nokia phone warranty booklet and instruction manual (Chuck. I haven't used the phone since 2006)
3. Ipod earphone sponge covers, not in a pair. One in black, one in orange. (Chuck. Both disintegrate when I tried to get it out of tiny plastic pocket.)
4. Nicholas Tse VCD (Chuck. Have not watched it ever; Lay Leng gave it to me in 2001.)
5. Two Breakfast at Tiffany's DVDs. Why do I have two? Mysteries never cease chez moi. (Keep one, give one to Blake, so he can give to horrid actress girlfriend.)
6. Audio book of Jane Austen's Persuasion (read by Geraldine McEwan). I bought this hurriedly from Borders ages ago, by mistake: I thought it said read by Ewan McGregor. (Give to Jacq)
7. 1999 verte Tiffany & Co calfskin diary, contains many gems. Sample: "Coconut Lagoon for curry lunch (what else?). Wonderful feeling of being amongst nice people. Boys playing football in a inner courtyard. Think saw Maggie Cheung in villa. Think architecture has something to do with it." I went to Kerala that year. (Can't possibly chuck this!)
8. Formula 17 VCD. (Chuck!)
9. Keeping Mum DVD: It's got my faves Maggie Smith and Kristin Scott Thomas - how can two such brilliant women end up in this slack movie? (Chuck!)
10. Tony Bennett CD The Art of Romance. (Chuck - someone must have given it to me - don't believe I've even ever played it. Do not like Tony Bennett.)
11. Can of OFF! half empty. (Chuck. Smells disgusting.)
12. Classical CD Poeme. (Can give to P)
13. Mad post-massage rubbish buy - Oriental Wisdom from the Mandarin Oriental Spa, 12 track CD. (Give to P)
14. Gwen Stefani CD Love. Angel. Music. Baby. Must have bought it in fit of trying to be hip and young. Never played. Disgusting waste of money, very unhip. (Give to B)
15. 'Lost' DVDs: Penelope and Innocence. (Watch when free, then recycle)
16. One Duchy Originals teabag (chamomile) in a CD book. (Use immediately)
There. Much better...

Audrey

Why don't you... keep a deer as a pet? Photo: Bob Willoughby