Everybody should have at least one, they help mold us and shape the way we present our selves in the physical world.
When I was very young my first was Glinda the Good Witch, played by the gorgeous Billy Burke, so beautiful, sparkly, and travels in an iridescent bubble, who wouldn't want that for them selves? Sadly I could only glimpse her once a year during the annual TV airing of The Wizard of Oz but lucky for me PBS played classic old movies on the weekends. I was hooked at a young age, on all those stylish films featuring some of the swankiest sets, costumes, dashing gentlemen and some of the most sophisticated ladies of all time!
Jean Harlow was the coolest of them all for me! She really wasn't the prettiest, but man could she make an entrance, wearing the most lux of clothes and always with that "shit eating grin" saying it like it was! Funny, when I read her biography Platinum Girl, The Life and Legends of Jean Harlow by Eve Golden, I discovered Harlean Carpenter (her real name) was the complete opposite of who she played. In real life she was a hard-working, humble and tremendously likable woman who molded herself into a remarkable actress.
Which was the exact opposite of Grace Kelly, another icon of mine, she always played the demure, sophisticated cool blond in her movies especially in Alfred Hitchcock films. The first Hitchcock film I saw was "To Catch a Thief" which is my number 1 favorite movie, so sexy and stylish and mysterious all at the same time! Naturally I had to read the biography that came out about her a few years after her tragic death. Grace, The Secret Lives of a Princess, An Intimate Biography of Grace Kelly by James Spada. I was a kind of shocked to read about one of my favorite icons as a codependent floozy of the biggest sort, till she married her prince, who never let her work again :( A personal let down for me, I still have a hard time believing most of it, but damn she was aways styled right!
Some time during Jr High school, I discovered David Bowie!
David Bowie is and will always be my favorite icon on all fronts! I could fill this blog with more inspiring photos of his styling genius than I have words. I grew up without listening to popular music, I got all my info on that from friends, other peoples homes and the little bit of TV I was aloud to watch. On the weekends my home was filled with the sounds of classical, opera, jazz and some musicals, there were art books a plenty to look at, Vogue magazine (thank you mommy) the PBS channel and the New York Times always lingered for every word to be digested or till my dad finished the crossword puzzle. And, no I'm not from NYC I grew up in the small city of Elmira,NY very far from the culture of the big apple.
One day while baby-sitting at the neighbors house and listening to the local pop radio station WENY, I heard the most unusual song, it was David Bowie's, Fame. Wow! my senses were going crazy, what was this? who is this? and why doesn't it sound like all the other pop music? The dj of course commented on its strangeness and talked about the fact that John Lennon co-wrote it, which is the only reason it was played. But it was enough for me, I was now on a quest, for more Bowie! I bought the album that song was on Young Americans and Diamond Dogs as cassettes, from the Columbia Record Co scam that advertised in all the magazines back then, along with 6 other artists for a dime, lol! I couldn't stop listening to Bowie, I checked out those LP's and other Bowie albums from the library and studied all his different looks. My friends thought he was weird and creepy, so I kept my love for all things Bowie on the down-low, even to this day I have friends who think that. But that's ok, I like what I like and I wont apologise for it ever! I think I was attracted to his unapologetic creativity as well. The ultimate rebel or Shakespeare player, maybe, or a live wire that needed to be plugged in, who knows? Either way, when I need a stylish boost, I get my Bowie on.
When I was about 16, Punk Rock was just hitting the scene here in the US and I hadn't had a style awakening since my Bowie discovery! It was another creative outlet for me to want to be part of, but while I got the reason for Punk and loved the sound, most of it looked kind of ugly. Que the band Blondie, the album Parallel Lines and their lead singer Debbie Harry! She was part of that whole scene but pretty and sexy and still defiantly Punk Rock, a girl I could and did and do channel. She was a style combination of all my icons Ginda, Jean Harlow, Grace Kelly and David Bowie all rolled into one. And lucky for me just like Bowie, Debbie is still singing and still styling!
As we get older I think we need to be reminded of first discovery and what propels us to keep from becoming complacent or giving up on our looks and surroundings. I was, after watching a new documentary on the making of Parallel Lines on TV, Blondie's New York, The Making of a Legendary Punk-Pop Album. It was my inspiration for this post, made me think about what influenced me while developing my own style. There are so many incredibly stylish people in the world but there are some that just stay with you forever. Today my daughter Sarah said that she thinks my style is a mix of Vivienne Westwood & Jackie O, not my icons of choice but they definitely go hand-in-hand with my influences. A big Thank You to my icons for brightening my soul and leading me down the yellow brick road of Style!
