I always think of my mother as the one who, by her own sophisticated sense of style, influenced me to persue a path in fashion, but lately I’ve been reviewing old photographs of my father, and realized that he had his own distinct personal flair. I thought it was timely as the days and nights of Indian Summer fade away here in New York, to post this polaroid of my father, taken by my mom on their honeymoon in the Fall of ‘59. To me, the photo is an endorsement in a way, of the more structured dress code that existed in prior eras, when a sense of decorum influenced even the most casual attire. When I peruse some of the wonderful style blogs out there, it occurs to me how some Continue Reading…
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Very simply, a gorgeous woman with deceptively easy, unpretentious style. This is someone who embraces who she is. A inspiring example for women of any age, but particularly for me as my fiftieth birthday approaches.
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I thought posting this old photograph of my mother would be appropriate on this hot July weekend. I spoke to her today about the story behind it, and although the facts are a little sketchy, she told me that it was taken when she was twenty-one, while on a beach trip with her youngest sister, Mary. She doesn’t remember who snapped the photo (she hadn’t met my father yet) but it created quite a scandal when it was published in The Moore News, the company paper of Moore Business Forms, where she was employed as a secretary. Ironically, she tells me that it was a young female editor who decided to publish it, though its not clear now how it came into her possession. I thought about the repercussions of such a scenario today, where a similar situation would rightly constitute an egregious breach of proprietary conduct and most certainly result in a lawsuit. Maybe the human race has made some progress. I think its really interesting how things are perceived and understood within different contexts, and how viewed nearly sixty years later, and outside the corporate environment, all I see in this photograph is a beautiful young Italian-American woman enjoying a day at the beach.
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The French actress Anouk Aimee has epitomized classic beauty for me ever since I first saw her in Federico Fellini’s classic, 8 1/2. I strongly relate to the French and Italian actresses of the fifties and sixties, and their sophisticated, feminine style. It only makes sense that television shows like Mad Men have become popular lately. There is something about the fashions of that time which, with all of their formal restraint, only seemed to draw even more attention to the wearer’s sexual allure.
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Here is a photograph of my mother Lucy, dated from what is probably the late nineteen fifties or early sixties. My father, a research chemist and inventor, was a talented amateur photographer, and snapped this photograph of her during their engagement. I don’t know what camera or film he used, but he developed the prints himself in his basement darkroom, with an enlarger that in my memory, lay sadly dormant after the advent of the Polaroid. I have many more vintage photographs of my mother, which reflect her iconic style, and which will appear from time to time in this blog. She was the first person who exemplified feminine allure for me, and she has had a tremendous impact on my life. It only makes sense to feature her in my very first post.
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