Seeing Things

I went to see Ghost on Sunday with Heather. Yes, dead Patrick Swayze, teary Demi Moore, psychic Whoopi Goldberg Ghost from 1990. It may surprise you to know that it was nominated for an Oscar for, wait for it...BEST PICTURE. I know, crazy right? It still holds up almost twenty years later. Swayze and Demi look gorgeous, Tony Goldwyn is the perfect evil best friend and the story is engaging. The special effects are dated, but overall, not a bad flick for a Sunday morning. The mimosas probably helped.

In preparation for Oscar Sunday (aka My Superbowl) I've seen Ghost, Roman Holiday, Pat & Mike, Say Anything, the Age of Innocence, Gigi, and most of Funny Face. Heaven bless Robert Osbourne, TCM and their 31 Days of Oscar. I might have a crush on Osbourne. He's such a gentleman, with his white hair and classic clothes. It also helps that he has an encyclopedic knowledge of film. The man loves his job and I love him for it.

So, I'm watching Funny Face last night and I am struggling to believe that Audrey Hepburn would fall in love with Fred Astaire. Richard Avedon, sure (Astaire's character, Dick Avery, is loosely based on Avedon), but Astaire? Not buying it. I can buy her falling for Bogart and Holden in Sabrina, Peck in Roman Holiday, Gary Cooper in Love in the Afternoon and especially Cary Grant in Charade (who DIDN'T fall for Cary Grant in Charade?). I'm just not feeling Fred. It's not that he's too old, most of Audrey's leading men were considerably older. Maybe he's too smooth, aloof. I know, I'm biased. I'm a Gene Kelly person. Always have been, always will be. I can't help it. Astaire, is absolutely an icon in his white tie and tails, but give me Gene in a polo shirt, khakis and some loafers any day. Oh, what do I know? Judge for yourself and watch Fred and Gene rock it out in The Babbit and the Bromide.

Thirty Seven Twenty One

Little black dress with beading on the bodice and at the hem: Thirty-two dollars at Fashionista Vintage & Variety





















Isaac Mizrahi black beaded peep toe pumps: Marked down to five dollars and twenty-one cents at Target. Did I mention this was only pair left and happened to be in my size?






















Looking (and feeling) like the last fifteen minutes of an Audrey Hepburn movie: PRICELESS


Where's Cary Grant when you need someone to take you out for cocktails?

Audrey Moment

Ok. So, forget that I totally alluded to this Audrey/Natalie comparison in a previous post. And try not to think about the fact that she gets to wear THE dress...one of the three Givenchy created for Audrey to wear in the film Breakfast at Tiffany's (the remaining two are in Madrid's Museum of Costume and in Givenchy's archive). This dress is going to be auctioned off at Christies South Kensington, London on December 5 with proceeds going to charity. It is valued at, oh, somewhere between, oh I don't know....50,000 to 70,000 pounds, but it will probably go for more than that easily. Sadly, I have no where near that money and I don't think Christies does the lay-away thing.


My point, and I do have one, is simple. Been there, done that.

This is me in the spring of 1997. Black column dress with interesting back view? Check. Pearl choker and earrings? Check. Coy over the shoulder look? Check. I was roughly the same age in this photo as Miss Portman is above, give or take a month and I was on my way to the Yale School of Drama's prom. No, I was not chaperoning.

I wonder where the hell that dress is. Damn.

My Huckleberry Friend

Yeah, I know. Gorgeous. Seriously, look at her!

So, you've seen the GAP ad, right? Audrey's dancing scene from Funny Face remixed to AC/DC's Back in Black? Right. I don't know how I feel about it. First, I was dumbfounded. Like, "Did I just see that?" And then I was all, "My worlds have officially collided." But now I'm just happy to see her. In a world where this seems to be the standard, I'm glad that someone so beautiful, so graceful, so...Audrey, is still relevant. Granted, the imagery is being used in an ad for pants, but that's not the point. The point is...simplicity and modesty are still lovely. Right on!

Exhibit A: Natalie Portman rocking classic Audrey at the Golden Globes. 

Little Black Dress? Check (vintage Chanel Haute Couture. NICE.) Pixie cut? Check. Elegant makeup and super simple jewelry? Double check. When someone invokes the phrase, "that's so Audrey," make no mistake, this is what they mean. God knows I've tried to do it. There was a time in my life when I owned, oh, I don't know, SEVEN black dresses. I'm down to three (one vintage, one fancy, one super-fancy) but the message is the same: Keep it simple and nobody gets hurt.

When did I first love Audrey? New Years' Eve, 1988. My parents were going to their social club and I had no plans, so I decided to stay in and rent a movie I'd never seen. Something black and white, an old school romantic comedy. My pick? Roman Holiday, 1953. 

Here's the breakdown as provided by IMDB: "A young princess, tired of the constraints her position brings, runs away. She doesn't know the man who befriends her is a reporter out for a story." Sounds good, right? I also credit this movie with giving me a very serious case of "I heart Gregory Peck (damn, he's beautiful)." PS: pre-Green Acres Eddie Albert costars as the crafty sidekick. Who knew? I LOVED IT. It's still my favorite Audrey movie. Maybe because it was her first, maybe because it was my first. She's just good in it. Oscar winning good. From then on, I could not get enough. Wait Until Dark still scares the bejeebus out of me (Alan Arkin=scary), Love in the Afternoon still breaks my heart (Gary Cooper=dreamy) and Charade, well, I don't think it gets better than that (Cary Grant=no equal). Yes, yes, I know, Breakfast at Tiffany's. I love it, you know I do. I shouldn't even have to mention it. Pre-A-Team George Peppard is swoon-inducing, Patricia Neal kills it (do you think they dressed her to look like the Wicked Queen from Snow White on purpose?) and Givenchy whips up some timeless dresses (the pink one? When she gets the telegram? If you're going to receive a telegram and trash your apartment, why not be in a dress like that?)

Yes, the woman was beautiful and talented and an icon, probably a reluctant one. But more than that, she stood for something, something that probably made me love her from the moment I saw her, but I didn't realize at the time. Acceptance of self. She conveyed a certain confidence without being smug. What people forget is that when Audrey came on the scene in the1950s, her look was not the standard of beauty. She came along when Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, Jane Russell and all those super shapely women were IT. One of her many strengths, I think, was that she knew she was different, but she wasn't going to change herself. She was beautiful on her terms, not the studio or magazine terms. 

When I'm feeling crappy--perhaps suffering from the mean reds--and I can't hop the train and go to Tiffany's (although, seriously? That works. "Calms me down right away. The quietness and the proud look of it; nothing very bad could happen to you there."), I rock out a little Audrey singing Moon River on the ipod. It's the next best thing. Try it sometime. Here. Watch this and tell me you don't feel better. Told you.