French Tarts

The above event happened this past weekend in Paris.

 I read about it in
this fab free weekly on the metro.

I started to think about the history of Montmartre and the French music-halls

From the photo above It seems apparent that the American born burlesque artist  Dita Von Teese has had  a big impact on the burlesque scene here in Paris. Her shows at the Crazy Horse have her signature vintage style. 

She is now full-fledged member of the fashion world with with her own lucrative licenses. 

  Paris still has its  Oh La La-ness

from the absinthe-crazed 19th century right up to the present day.

David Lachapelle Art + Commerce

Image from Grazia 28.10.2011

Made in France.

From Jenny Carre L'age d'or du music-hall et de l'operette

1937 le Casino de Paris

 Tarts by  Marcel Vertes.
"Vertes was described as more recklessly, casually spontaneous than ever Christian Berard would dare to be. He gleefully fixes foibles and vanities of the beau monde with his deliciously spiteful brush."  Quoted from Fashion Drawings in Vogue

 Assorted  French Tarts

Jenny Carre L'age d'or du music-hall et de l'operette

This is a wonderful book

Pigalle is the home of the Moulin-Rouge

Music hall society in the late 19th century.

Adelaide Hall who was American born and British by marriage.
 immortalized by Paul Colin in 1928

Poster for the Moulin Rouge by Rene Gruau



Pigalle is still living up to its lascivious reputation.  Last week I had the occasion to go up there.  My son and I  went to  a music shop. He explained (and he is just a teenager) that it depends which side of the street you are on, as to the exact nature of your business.
They must discuss these things in French high school.

  By Ranson

I have always been fascinated by  the remarkable degree of creativity involved in staging of the reviews at the famous  Parisian music halls.  in 2001 we started collecting original gouache costume designs from the Follies Berger, and Casino de Paris etc. Circa 1925-1929.
They are colorful, exotic, and whimsical, full of fantasy, humor, and frivolity.   

 Another place where you can look for lovely French tarts,

Any good patisserie.

It's Really Goude

From the catalog Jean-Paul Goude a Retropspective, Thames and Hudson

On the streets, 

From the catalog Jean-Paul Goude a Retropspective, Thames and Hudson

In the Metro

In Paris we are surrounded by the iconic images of Jean Paul Goude. His sensibility has infused the world for the past 40 years. He worked for a time in New York for Esquire Magazine.

From the catalog Jean-Paul Goude a Retropspective, Thames and Hudson

His extraordinary work with ravishing Grace Jones has left an indelible mark on us all.

From the catalog Jean-Paul Goude a Retropspective, Thames and Hudson

A fearless and evocative exploration of  androgyny.

Perhaps he was inspired by the original exotic, Josephine Baker.

Josephine Baker 1926 Photo  from my collection

His work in print,  films,  television commercials, and 

 spectacles  is luminary.

 From the catalog Jean-Paul Goude a Retropspective, Thames and Hudson

His drawings are marvelous. They are the first impulse of creation. 

He even produced the Bicentenary of the French revolution. 

He draws on everything with passion from ethnology, film, art, recombining these impressions in  distinctive unique and very surprising ways

 The catalog Jean-Paul Goude a Retropspective, Thames and Hudson

His cut and stretched Ektachromes, and his work for Gallery Lafayette are memorable. 

The exhibition is well designed, it imbues one with a complete sense of the man, and his genius. 

He is a person who  truly has been making a difference in our collective consciousness, in the way we see things.

 Musees Des Arts Decoratifs

The first piece one sees at the entry of the exhibition  has a very personal significance.
I too have been inspired  by the deformed craniums, magnificent coiffures, and exotic profiles
of the Mangbetu women.  I collect  original ethnographic documents.

 

I painted this in 1998.

100 cm. X 75 cm.  oil on silver foil over wood with  traditional gesso, like a giant Icon.

Photograph from my collection.

I suspect we were both inspired by the same original photo circa 1925.

Goude's version is three dimesional, larger,  way sexier,  spinning, and pumping out dance music.
It is  over-the-top and totally fabulous!

By the way, her name was Nebozodru from the Mangbetu tribe, present day Zaire. she was very young, and the 15th wife of Koli,  the chief.

Exhibition announcement 1927

Unbeknownst to Nebozodru she was an icon in France for many years after her photograph was taken during the Citroen sponsored African expedition .

Paris Windows

 

 NOW

The New Christian Louboutin boutique

Rue du Faubourg Saint Honore

THEN

Jacques Fath 1951

cinch-waisted tafetta late day dress

I love the window

Théâtre de la Mode

 Image from Berard by Boris Kochno

This Sunday November 20^th 2011 in Paris, Piasa will auction off the original photographs from the marvelous exhibition Théâtre de la Mode originally held in Paris in 1945 at Musee des Arts Decoratifs in the Pavillion de Marsan. This collection of 27 silver prints on paper was photographed by the world renowned photographers Robert Doisneau, Roger Schall and Jacques Ronny. These images were featured in the original exhibition catalog Théâtre de la Mode published in 1945 by the Chambre Syndicale de  Haute Couture de Paris.

Images above courtesy of Piasa and Chombert-Sternback

 Christain Berard (1902-1949) detailing his design for the Théâtre de la Mode in London

Photograph by Roger Schall decorated by Christian Berard

  Image from Berard by Boris Kochno

After the ravages of the Nazi occupation of Paris, Lucien Lelong initiated the concept for a fashion extravaganza in miniature. Minaiature because supplied where in such short supply; things like fabric, needles, and thread, but talent, ingenuity, and creative energy where in abundance. The finest theatrical designers, set decorators, and couturiers produced magical illusions in miniature featuring the fashions of post-World War II France. The mannequins were one-third human size.  They were dressed in fashions created by the country’s finest designers, and were where displayed in 13 fabulous scenes. For example Jean Cocteau’s Ma Femme est une Sorcière (My Wife is a Witch), A Tribute to Renè Clair and Jean Saint-Martin’s Croquis de Paris (Paris Sketch), both originally created in 1945. Also Georges Wakhevitch’s set The Port of Nowhere. 

London exhibition announcement

After the premiere in Paris the exhibition toured toured Europe then America. 

The last stop of the original 1946 international tour of Théâtre de la Mode was San Francisco where the mannequins remained until the early 1950s. When Alma de Bretteville Spreckels, wife of a San Francisco sugar magnate suggested that they be acquired by Maryhill Museum of Art. 

the original mannequins at the Maryhill Museum

The museum is a  castle-like chateau on a stunning 6,000-acre site overlooking the scenic Columbia River Gorge, Maryhill Museum is located 100 miles east of Portland, Oregon. (here)

The photos are stamped on the back.
This collection is extremely rare. This is a unique opportunity to own documents of great originality
and historical importance.

Reptiles in Paris

 

Prada 1800 €

 

And carrying at Bottega Veneta

Reptile skins fulfilling fashionable impulses in Paris.

Prada 1070€

Vintage Crocadile

More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly. –Woody Allen

Menagerie

 Getty-up

 Louis Vuitton, Wolford, and  leather head dress by  Mise en Cage

Cock-a'doodle-doo

Valentino haute couture

chapeau Mich Dulce

Waiting

Musee des Arts et Metiers

Paris