Dedicated readers will know too well that I am not really into feminism, not into girls nights out and in general prefer the company and skills of the opposite sex (for example, you will not catch my hair in the hands of a female hairdresser again).
But, I have recently found a women who I wish to aspire to.
Diana Vreeland was quite a remarkable woman. She was introduced to His Majesty King George V and Queen Mary, made knickers for Wallis Simpson, supposedly invented the word pizazz, was a dancing girl in a London club, “discovered” Lauren Bacall and was an occasional style advisor to Jackie Kennedy.
Born in Paris and later lived in London and New York (Sigh, lucky bitch), she threw fabulous parties attended by fabulous people. A columnist for Harpers Bazzar, she later became editor-in-chief at Vogue.
This is my sort of woman. She hated casual dress, “loathed narcissim but approved of vanity” and thought that blue jeans were “the most beautiful things since the Gondola”. She rarely made it to her office before noon and was responsible for brining animal prints in style. To top it off, she wore wore Chanel No. 5.
Her “Why Don’t You” column that ran in Harper’s Bazzar is full of whimsy, whit and words that make me sigh -
Why Don’t You… paint a map of the world on all four walls of your boys’ nursery so they won’t grow up with a provincial point of view?
Why Don’t You… have an elk-hide trunk for the back of your car? Hermès of Paris will make this.
Why Don’t You… wash your blond child’s hair with dead champagne as they do in France?
She inspires me. She left a mark on the world. I hope, that in 80 years, some starry eyed twenty something year old sits down and writes about me, like I write about her.
Best yet.
ReplyDeleteWho inspired this topic? ;-) x