Best in Shoe

“Before you criticize someone, you should walk 
a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize 
them, you are a mile away from them and you 
have their shoes.”—Jack Handy

What’s it like to be in the shoes of the famous? LIFE.com provides a glimpse into celebrity soles, with photographer Craig Cutler’s gallery of footwear worn by the noteworthy and notorious, ranging from 18th-century popes to present-day pop stars.

Left, Robert Frank: Red-and-Yellow Brogues, circa 1974–1975
Visionary genius Robert Frank changed the lexicon of photography and captured all levels of society with The Americans, published in 1958. Nearly 20 years later, Frank accidentally left these two-tone lace-ups behind at the Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester, N.Y.

Right, Madonna: Concert Shoes, circa 1992–1994
Beaded appliqué stars and a constellation of rhinestones add sparkle to Madonna’s satiny platforms from the Girlie Show World Tour. Notice the subtle contrast detail on the ankle strap that helps to reduce buckle-wear and stretching. Shimmer, shine and safety!

See more Shoes of the Very Famous.

Princess Lace

“I hate this nightgown. I hate all my nightgowns, and I hate all my underwear too.”—Audrey Hepburn as Princess Ann, Roman Holiday

The ivory lace dress Audrey Hepburn wore when she collected her Oscar for "Roman Holiday" will be auctioned on November 29 by Kerry Taylor Auctions in London. Some sources cite Givenchy as the designer; others credit Edith Head with the design Givenchy with alterations. According to Vogue UK, the iconic, full-skirted dress was adapted from a version designed by Edith Head that the actress wore in the last scene of Roman Holiday in 1952, and it has been valued at £40,000—£60,000. Hepburn, who called it her “lucky dress,” had given it to her mother, Ella van Heemstra; her mother, in turn, gave it to a friend who lived in America. The dress had been stored away in a box until the family put it up for sale. Before auctioneer Taylor could display the dress, she had to shave the mannequin to fit a 34-inch bust and a 24-inch waist.

Read more in the Daily Mail and the Telegraph.
See Roman Holiday.

Update 12.01.2011: A private collector purchased Ms. Hepburn’s “lucky” Oscar dress for £84,000.

I Love You, Man!

In the 1980s, Denis Piel photographed nearly every model who became a supermodel, a series campaigns for Donna Karan and a near-iconic photo of a distinctively pregnant Isabella Rossellini. 
Back then it seemed to me that for every naturalistic, sensuous image the Austrailia-raised, France-based photographer created, there was a heavily contrived nip-slip or cheeky posterior revelation weighing down his oeuvre. But now, all is forgiven in light of this image: an inimitably dapper Man Ray standing on a doorstep, an über-Mr. Rogers in a red cardi, who’d be welcome in my neighorbood any time. See more of Denis Piel’s work at everyday I show.

Another Diet Coke Warning

... or Why Branding Can Be Dangerous to Your Mental Health
The new limited edition packaging design for Diet Coke presents an unprecedented risk for consumers of the product, potentially transforming even the most laid-back addict into Patrick Burney, Julia Roberts’ terrifying OCD husband in the 1991 thriller Sleeping with the Enemy. Keep those cans in order—or else!

Goodbye, Summer!

It’s over, people! Labor Day made it official. The disappearance of scuffed white pumps (wishful thinking) provides additional proof. Need more evidence? The Hollywood Pool on Cole Avenue has been drained and it’s as dry as the proverbial bone. Never mind the 10-day forecast for mid-70s temperatures or the man relieving himself against the chainlink fence (out of frame, stage left). The kids and their water wings are gone. The loopy slide’s sole remaining power is to chafe. Long live Fall.

Deborah Turbeville: Tainted Beauty

“Turbeville is of a generation of fashion photographers, alongside Richard Avedon and Guy Bourdin, who focused on the subject in their photographs as opposed to the clothes they are wearing, and who followed their own distinct conceptual agenda, rather than that of the stylist.”–Jules Wright, Tainted Beauty, Nowness.com





Concurrent with the launch of Fashion Week and Fashion’s Night Out: Tainted Beauty, an exhibition of photography by Deborah Turbeville, will open at the Donna Karen flagship boutique in London on September 8. Turbeville is reknowned for collaborations with Karen, Karl Lagerfeld and Comme des Garcons; assignments for Harper’s Bazaar, W Magazine, and Italian, French, Russian, British, and American Vogue, (including the 1975 Bathhouse series); and a commission by Jackie Onassis to photograph the unseen Versailles.


In an age in which every artist is a brand, DNA terms defining Turbeville’s work might include: tainted otherworldly haunted visionary individualistic avant-garde extreme enigmatic sensuous sexual storied subdued softly focused composed elegant melancholy distinctive fine art boundary-blurring narrative broken tableaux lost characters.


Turbeville’s latest book, The Fashion Pictures, will be released in October. Until then:

Visit Fashion’s Tainted Beauty at Nowness.com.

Read about in her work Bazaar and the Haute 100 Update. 

Pre-order The Fashion Pictures on Amazon.

The Black and White World of Lillian Bassman

“I know that there’s color around, but it doesn’t give me the same kind of excitement that pure black and white does. I find it thrilling.”—Lillian Bassman, the Weekly Spade

Richard Avedon, Robert Frank... Lillian Bassman. In an era of stunning black-and-white photographers, Bassman was one of the best. She photographed her first couture collection in 1949, and the majority of her work appeared in Harper’s Bazaar from 1950 to 1955. Her work from this era is suffused with a passion for femininity, beauty, mystery and sensuality. The women in her world are grown-ups who are confident, cool and in charge of their private lives and public personas, idealized in a moment of perpetual elegance. 

Then the 1960s came along with waif-like models and childlike clothing, projecting an immaturity combined with a blatant sexuality that offended her. In the  1970s, she destroyed negatives that spanned decades of work decades and stashed others in a trash bag. 

In the early 1990s, she retrieved the remaining images and began to experimenting with bleaches and blurring techniques. She’s now 94 years old and continues to explore digital photography, abstract color and Photoshop. 


Kate Spade recently introduced a capsule collection, including a tote bag, a small gia bag and a scarf, featuring Bassman’s manipulation of her 1961 photo Touch of Dew.

The Lillian Bassman Capsule Collection from Kate Spade

Lillian Bassman Harmony: printed cowhide, 12.5" h x 14.8" w x 7.0" d, 9.75" drop
Lilliam Bassman Little Gia: lizard-embossed leather, 8.2" h x 5.9" w
Lillian Bassman Scarf: silk twill, 28" square
“Femininity, Salvaged,” by Ginia Bellafante, The New York Times, July 16, 2009
Lillian Bassman: Women, by Deborah Solomon
Lillian Bassman & Paul Himmel, by Ingo Taubhorn

The Nastiest Place in California, Part Three

More Vernon images. Same question: Does Vernon deserve to die?

The Nastiest Place in California, Part Two

One of Vernon’s bright spots is the flamboyant 1960s signage for La Villa Basque, which at one time was the city’s only restaurant. 

It was built in 1960 by now-disgraced former Vernon Mayor Leonis Marlburg, who's the grandson of rancher and one of Vernon’s founders, John B. Leonis. 
For a city so steeped in corruption that nepotism appears to be the least of its sins, La Villa Basque originated as an astonishingly democratic hybrid. Featuring a coffee shop, a lounge, a dining room and a banquet hall, it was uniquely qualified to serve a wide public, including hungry truckers, businessmen, bridal parties and, ultimately, film crews—an episode of Mad Men, “The Suitcase,” was filmed in the Rat Pack-era bar.   

The Los Angeles Conservancy has attempted to preserve its historic character. According to the Los Angeles Times, a decorating company took over La Villa Basque’s operations and refurbishing. Discordant elements, including a faded red carpet and large banners with images of food now mar the exterior. The new name, Vivere, seems a little high falutin’ given that the nearest food alternative is probably the ampm up the street. Of course, the name “La Villa Basque,” might also be over the top, but it has has the honor of referring to a family heritage, and it sounds nothing like a fragrance marketed to tweenage girls.

For now, the cool signage is intact. It’s worth a drive-by, just to see it. 


La Villa Basque, 2801 Leonis Boulevard, Vernon, CA 90058
Los Angeles Times, “Years Catch Up with the Restaurant that Time Forgot’
LA is My Beat: “La Villa Basque”
Los Angeles Conservancy, Preservation Alerts & Issues: La Villa Basque

The Nastiest Place in California, Part One

“…Vernon may be the nastiest place in California.

The industrial city a few miles southeast of 
downtown Los Angeles is home to the region’s 
last remaining slaughterhouse, a handful of rendering plants, chemical manufacturers 
and a gas-fired power plant.” 

— Gene Maddaus, LA Weekly, May 26, 2011

The LA Weekly recently painted a vivid picture of Vernon, a five-mile city with 112 residents, and posed the question: does Vernon deserve to die?
Disclosure: I work there. Lots of people do. The city has posted outdoor signage on bus shelters all over town that feature individuals who work in Vernon to prove it. The city itself is not pretty, but the bus shelters represent some of its finest architecture. 




If you were to meet me for lunch at my workplace, you could follow an astonishingly long chain of semi-trucks down Soto until you see the guys who won’t let you into the parking lot. 
Or you could follow your nose. When general smog collides with the imaginary cloud of salami tinged with pig fat that seems to emanate from Farmer John’s mural-covered exterior, and then knocks you silly with the overwhelming aroma of coffee beans, you’ve arrived. 

As you drive, you might think:
If I breathe, will I die?
I will never eat bacon again!
I’m shaking from caffeine inhalation.
Why is that unmanned police car always parked on a dead end street next to a chain link fence facing Soto?
Do the people in the bus shelter ads ride the bus?

Does Vernon deserve to die?
You be the judge.


If you can’t get enough Vernongeddon, read “City of Vernon in Fight to Death With Assembly Speaker John Perez.”

If you have a hankering for a Beer-Broiled Brat, Breakfast Pizza or Bruschetta Dog, check out Farmer John’s recipes.

Eight Claude Chabrol Films Screening at LACMA

Each element that makes a film directed by Claude Chabrol all the more compelling is also the one that renders it unseemly.

Thank you for not smoking. Jean-Pierre Cassel, Jacqueline Bisset, and Valentin Merlet in La cérémonie, 1995.

The astonishingly prolific French director Chabrol died last September at the age of 80, leaving behind more than 70 films marked by a predilection for passion, poison, and perversity. His filmmaking descended from the generation of Cahiers du cinema and the Nouvelle Vague, and it observed greed, adultery and murder with a narrow psychological intensity that made notions of sin or crime seem to be beside the point. 
He melded a lyric, semi-formal sensibility reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock and Fritz Lang with tense, cynicism-infused narratives, some derived from satirical suspense queens Patricia Highsmith and Ruth Rendell. In his cinematic world, it’s an act of pitiable optimism to suppose there are only seven deadly sins. An insurance broker, bourgeosie chateau dwellers, or a country cousin are no match for the machinations of a debauched student, an illiterate maid, or a scheming Swiss chocolate heiress. 
The effect: equally pure and corrupt. 
From January 28 through February 5, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art will be screening eight Chabrol films, starting with his first feature, Le beau Serge, and rounding out the set with recent work, including one of my favorites, Merci pour le chocolat.

Can’t miss: a guest appearance on Saturday night by Jacqueline Bisset, who appeared in La cérémonie as an industrialist’s wife undone by the machinations of the local postmistress.

January 28 7:30 pm, La femme infidèle, 1969
January 28 9:20 pm, The Bridesmaid, 2004
January 29 5:00 pm, Le beau Serge, 1958
January 29 7:30 pm, La cérémonie, 1995 (with a guest appearance by Jacqueline Bisset)
February 4 7:30 pm, Les cousins, 1959
February 4 9:35 pm, Les bonnes femmes, 1960
February 5 5:00 pm, Merci pour le chocolat, 2000
February 5 7:30 pm, This Man Must Die, 1969

LACMA’s 18th Century DIY Costumes

If you’ve ever wanted to spend a quiet evening at home watching NetFlix and licking the frosting off cupcakes in unparalled elegance, then the Los Angeles County Museum of Art is providing a grand opportunity to flounce around in stunning 18th century menswear rather than an ex-boyfriend’s faded, pizza-stained tee shirt. 
The curators and conservators of the LACMA’s Costume and Textiles Department have created patterns based on the designs of garments in their collection, including a man’s at-home robe (banyan), from China, 1700-50. And should you care to leave the manse, they’ve also provided annotated pdf patterns of styles that would suit even Mr. Darcy's legendary pride, including two waistcoats — with sleeves or without — from China for the Western market, c. 1740, and a man’s coat, France, 1790–95. It’s time to buy some silk jacquard or voided velvet and start sewing.

Pretty Is As Pretty Does

“My face has been my misfortune.” 

— Hedy Lamarr, from her 1966 autobiography, Ecstasy and Me

Ebony hair. Alabaster skin. Vermillion lips. 
Born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler. Transformed into Hollywood screen goddess Hedy Lamarr. 
From the beginning, she was acknowledged for her beauty. Not so much for her acting. And finally, decades later, for her brains.
Her first foray into cinema was a 1933 Czech film, Ekstase (Ecstasy), in which she appeared nude and simulated fufillment of the movie’s title; other well-known roles include Algiers with Charles Boyer, 1938; White Cargo with Walter Pidgeon, 1942; and the technicolor Biblical potboiler, Samson and Delilah with Victor Mature, 1949.
In 1942, she and composer George Antheil shared a patent for inventing a technological system they called “frequency hopping”, an idea that she and the avant-garde American composer hatched at a dinner party. Their invention opened the doors to the spread-spectrum technology and cell phone usage. Talk about networking!
Unfortunately their idea languished until 1957, when it was adopted by engineers at Sylvania Electronis Systems. In 1962, it was installed in United States military ships, three years after the Lamarr-Antheil patent had expired. So Lamarr is credited with a portion of the credit but enjoyed none of the proceeds.  
In 1997, she and co-inventor Antheil won the Electronic Frontier Foundation Pioneer Award. “It’s about time,” she reportedly said.
To learn more about Hedy Lamarr, tune into the Stuff You Missed in History Class podcast about the Hollywood starlet who invested cellular technology.