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Grace Kelly
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Pakistan Times
Beauty Standards
By Steven Malik Shelton
IT is revealing that the prestigious CBS news program "60 Minutes" recently published an article highlighting actress Aishwarya Rai as, perhaps, the "World’s Most Beautiful Woman." Not surprising, Miss Rai is a very light-skinned woman from India with sharp Caucasian-like features. The article also makes reference to White women of the past who were (and are) projected as the epitome of beauty and refinement. Women like Grace Kelly, Ingrid Bergman and Elizabeth Taylor.
The problem with this perspective is that it reeks with racism in that it assumes that White women (or those that look White) are the standard bearers for beauty and attractiveness and it makes these assumptions at the expense, neglect and denigration of the multitudes of Black women (in particular) and women of color(in general) through out the world. It is also disturbing because it is done without even a hint of the offensiveness and utter absurdity of it all.
It is as if the White media has become so enamored with the truth of its propaganda and so confident of its effectiveness on the psyches of other races and ethnic groups that it does not hesitate to make these ridiculous and arrogant declarations. And it does so over and over again.
Periodically, magazines and periodicals will announce in bold headlines that some White woman is the "World’s Most Beautiful" or that some White man is "The Sexiest Man Alive" thereby insinuating that Whites alone occupy the precipice of unrivaled beauty and desirability.
There is an old cliche’ which cuts to the heart of the matter. It is said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, or perhaps more accurately, it could be said that beauty is in the mind of the beholder for it is within the mind that all perception, whether the sense of sight, taste, touch, smell or hearing are registered and conceived. Thus while Aishwarya Rai or Grace Kelly or Britney Spears, etc. may be quite beautiful to some, they may also be quite homely, ugly or repulsive to others who possess different standards of beauty and physical attractiveness.
Moreover beauty standards are perceived according to the cultural norms that people are accustomed to and this has a great influence on how the attractiveness of a person is perceived. For example the cultural norms and beauty standards of the Masai in Africa are different from that of the Eskimos in Alaska. And a woman or man ( regardless of how comely their outward appearance) would be considered repulsive if they exhibited inappropriate behavior in the morally straight-laced culture of the Middle East or even within some devout religious communities within America itself.
Black Americans, perhaps more than anyone else, carry a heavier psychological burden. The mental damage of centuries of bombardment with Euro-American standards of beauty has had tremendous impact on how we view ourselves within what is essentially an alien White culture.
During chattel slavery (and afterwards) we were brainwashed into thinking of anything naturally Black or African as ugly, repulsive or inferior while considering everything White, European or Caucasion as appealing, attractive and desirable. This is probably most noticeable when it pertains to Black women and their hair. Author Earl Ofari Hutchinson writes:
"...few things generate more anger and passion among Black women than their hair. Some Black critics say that women are in a frenzied search to shed the ancient racist shame and stigma of "nappy hair=bad hair" by aping White beauty standards. Others say that, like many non-Black women, Black women are helpless captives of America’s fashion and beauty industry, which is geared to making them more attractive and pleasing to men. Many Black women counter this by saying that they merely seeking their own identity or trying to "look better."[1]
Yet this desire to "look better" frequently manifests itself in strange ways. One of the more noticeable is the artificial straightening of the God-given texture of their hair so that it will resemble that of Whites, or any group or grade other than their own lamb-like quality of hair. A hair which ( contrary to most grades) is not weak and flaccid but beautifully spirals upwards toward the sun.
The desire of Black women (and to a lesser extent Black men) to straighten their hair was prompted by a mental bombardment that caused a change in the most sacred and fundamental regions of the Black psyche. This warping of the Black perspective was successful only after the most terrible and tortuous process of brainwashing over a duration of centuries.
Black people were whitewashed into believing that everything African or Black was inferior, backward and ugly, while everything White or Caucasion was superior, beautiful and desirable. Yet this perceptual distortion could not be effective without a kind of mental slight-of-hand regarding the historical and cultural validity of Africa and African "Black" beauty standards. Black people were ingrained with a sense of inferiority. They were persuaded in hundreds of ways, by beatings, whippings and by the most vicious verbal, and physical castigations that they were ugly.
Thus those African traits and characteristics which had been naturally beautiful and adorable among them for hundreds of thousands of years began to perceived as ugly, be it the color and curl of the hair, the shape of the nose, the fullness of the lips, the darkness of the skin or the fullness of the posterity. They all (instead of manifestations of strength, vigor and beauty) became transformed into badges of shame, rejection, ridicule and hatred. Brother Olomenji explains in the essay, Mentacide, Genocide, and National Vision:
"The Black slave in America views the world through his master’s eyes, which is why our belief system is not ‘ours’ but rather that of the slave master. How a race perceives the world will determine what that race will think and believe about the world, which will determine what the race will do about the world. One of major problems with this slave mentality is that it is made up of learned perceptions, learned belief systems, and learned behavior taught to us over 400 years of slavery." [2]
The recipient of an insidious forced/ learned behavior, our minds were methodically crippled into a state of insanity. This insanity was activated when we merged our perceptions with the perceptions of our White oppressors and exploiters at the expense of our own Black empowerment, liberation and salvation. We were force-fed the poison of White racism into our minds and we began to look at the world (and ourselves) through strange, inverted glasses. And our world, the marvelous world of Blackness, the African world of strength and beauty; was effectively turned upside down and we began to believe the lies and to accept them as facts and (even more devastating) we began to assault the minds and the spirits of our children with the bitterness of our self-hatred. We threatened in our fits of anger, to "beat all the Black" off of them.
We told our daughters and our sons to do something with their "ugly nappy head" or we threatened to "slap all the naps off" their heads. And in doing this to our children to our men and to our women, we adopted the mind-set of our enslavers and our enemies and we passed this sickness down from one generation to the next and it is still with us now. It weighs down our steps, divides us and blinds us to the immeasurable power that is still inherent (even after centuries of chattel slavery, genocide and mentacide) within us. Power which manifest itself in people like Nat Turner, Denmark Vessey, Frederick Douglas, Marcus Garvey, Elijah Muhammad, George Jackson, Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Dr. Ben Carson, Louis Farrakhan, Dr. Claude Anderson, and Harriet Tubman, Cynthia McKinney, Maxine Waters, JoAnn Watson, and countless others.
The antidote for the venom of delusional self-hatred is knowledge of self which will inculcate within us a vision of who we were, who we are, and where we need to go. This vision is jump-started with a understanding of our history. For our history is not something that is to be discarded as usleless, worthless or obsolete, but is vital to our very survival as a people. Amos N Wilson writes in his book, The Falsification of Afrikan Consciousness:
"When we get into social amnesia - into forgetting our history - we also forget or misinterpret the history and motives of others as well as our motives. The way to learn of our own creation, how we came to be what we are, is getting to know ourselves. It is through getting to know the self intimately that we get to know the forces that shaped us as a self. Therefore knowing the self becomes a knowledge of the world. A deep study of Black History is the most profound way to learn about the psychology of Europeans and to understand the psychology that flows from their history.
If we don’t know ourselves, not only are we a puzzle to ourselves; other people are also a puzzle to us as well. We assume the wrong identity and identify ourselves with our enemies. If we don’t know who we are then we are whomever somebody tells us we are."[3]
Thus a process of love and appreciation for self (especially our women) and group identity must be rejuvenated and maintained in every aspect of our lives. We must once again see the world through African eyes and rejoice in our Blackness and be in harmony with the Creator that fashioned us with our unique physical, mental and spiritual abilities and perceptions. Brother Akil writes:
"So my dear sisters, please be your Black self and keep your natural Black beauty ...... your strong, bold, and beautiful naps as opposed to weak, limp, and lifeless strands of hair. Your Creator made your beauty naturally unique! Your Creator wanted your Black natural beauty to stand out amongst the peoples of the world." [4]
Beauty Standards
By Steven Malik Shelton
IT is revealing that the prestigious CBS news program "60 Minutes" recently published an article highlighting actress Aishwarya Rai as, perhaps, the "World’s Most Beautiful Woman." Not surprising, Miss Rai is a very light-skinned woman from India with sharp Caucasian-like features. The article also makes reference to White women of the past who were (and are) projected as the epitome of beauty and refinement. Women like Grace Kelly, Ingrid Bergman and Elizabeth Taylor.
The problem with this perspective is that it reeks with racism in that it assumes that White women (or those that look White) are the standard bearers for beauty and attractiveness and it makes these assumptions at the expense, neglect and denigration of the multitudes of Black women (in particular) and women of color(in general) through out the world. It is also disturbing because it is done without even a hint of the offensiveness and utter absurdity of it all.
It is as if the White media has become so enamored with the truth of its propaganda and so confident of its effectiveness on the psyches of other races and ethnic groups that it does not hesitate to make these ridiculous and arrogant declarations. And it does so over and over again.
Periodically, magazines and periodicals will announce in bold headlines that some White woman is the "World’s Most Beautiful" or that some White man is "The Sexiest Man Alive" thereby insinuating that Whites alone occupy the precipice of unrivaled beauty and desirability.
There is an old cliche’ which cuts to the heart of the matter. It is said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, or perhaps more accurately, it could be said that beauty is in the mind of the beholder for it is within the mind that all perception, whether the sense of sight, taste, touch, smell or hearing are registered and conceived. Thus while Aishwarya Rai or Grace Kelly or Britney Spears, etc. may be quite beautiful to some, they may also be quite homely, ugly or repulsive to others who possess different standards of beauty and physical attractiveness.
Moreover beauty standards are perceived according to the cultural norms that people are accustomed to and this has a great influence on how the attractiveness of a person is perceived. For example the cultural norms and beauty standards of the Masai in Africa are different from that of the Eskimos in Alaska. And a woman or man ( regardless of how comely their outward appearance) would be considered repulsive if they exhibited inappropriate behavior in the morally straight-laced culture of the Middle East or even within some devout religious communities within America itself.
Black Americans, perhaps more than anyone else, carry a heavier psychological burden. The mental damage of centuries of bombardment with Euro-American standards of beauty has had tremendous impact on how we view ourselves within what is essentially an alien White culture.
During chattel slavery (and afterwards) we were brainwashed into thinking of anything naturally Black or African as ugly, repulsive or inferior while considering everything White, European or Caucasion as appealing, attractive and desirable. This is probably most noticeable when it pertains to Black women and their hair. Author Earl Ofari Hutchinson writes:
"...few things generate more anger and passion among Black women than their hair. Some Black critics say that women are in a frenzied search to shed the ancient racist shame and stigma of "nappy hair=bad hair" by aping White beauty standards. Others say that, like many non-Black women, Black women are helpless captives of America’s fashion and beauty industry, which is geared to making them more attractive and pleasing to men. Many Black women counter this by saying that they merely seeking their own identity or trying to "look better."[1]
Yet this desire to "look better" frequently manifests itself in strange ways. One of the more noticeable is the artificial straightening of the God-given texture of their hair so that it will resemble that of Whites, or any group or grade other than their own lamb-like quality of hair. A hair which ( contrary to most grades) is not weak and flaccid but beautifully spirals upwards toward the sun.
The desire of Black women (and to a lesser extent Black men) to straighten their hair was prompted by a mental bombardment that caused a change in the most sacred and fundamental regions of the Black psyche. This warping of the Black perspective was successful only after the most terrible and tortuous process of brainwashing over a duration of centuries.
Black people were whitewashed into believing that everything African or Black was inferior, backward and ugly, while everything White or Caucasion was superior, beautiful and desirable. Yet this perceptual distortion could not be effective without a kind of mental slight-of-hand regarding the historical and cultural validity of Africa and African "Black" beauty standards. Black people were ingrained with a sense of inferiority. They were persuaded in hundreds of ways, by beatings, whippings and by the most vicious verbal, and physical castigations that they were ugly.
Thus those African traits and characteristics which had been naturally beautiful and adorable among them for hundreds of thousands of years began to perceived as ugly, be it the color and curl of the hair, the shape of the nose, the fullness of the lips, the darkness of the skin or the fullness of the posterity. They all (instead of manifestations of strength, vigor and beauty) became transformed into badges of shame, rejection, ridicule and hatred. Brother Olomenji explains in the essay, Mentacide, Genocide, and National Vision:
"The Black slave in America views the world through his master’s eyes, which is why our belief system is not ‘ours’ but rather that of the slave master. How a race perceives the world will determine what that race will think and believe about the world, which will determine what the race will do about the world. One of major problems with this slave mentality is that it is made up of learned perceptions, learned belief systems, and learned behavior taught to us over 400 years of slavery." [2]
The recipient of an insidious forced/ learned behavior, our minds were methodically crippled into a state of insanity. This insanity was activated when we merged our perceptions with the perceptions of our White oppressors and exploiters at the expense of our own Black empowerment, liberation and salvation. We were force-fed the poison of White racism into our minds and we began to look at the world (and ourselves) through strange, inverted glasses. And our world, the marvelous world of Blackness, the African world of strength and beauty; was effectively turned upside down and we began to believe the lies and to accept them as facts and (even more devastating) we began to assault the minds and the spirits of our children with the bitterness of our self-hatred. We threatened in our fits of anger, to "beat all the Black" off of them.
We told our daughters and our sons to do something with their "ugly nappy head" or we threatened to "slap all the naps off" their heads. And in doing this to our children to our men and to our women, we adopted the mind-set of our enslavers and our enemies and we passed this sickness down from one generation to the next and it is still with us now. It weighs down our steps, divides us and blinds us to the immeasurable power that is still inherent (even after centuries of chattel slavery, genocide and mentacide) within us. Power which manifest itself in people like Nat Turner, Denmark Vessey, Frederick Douglas, Marcus Garvey, Elijah Muhammad, George Jackson, Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Dr. Ben Carson, Louis Farrakhan, Dr. Claude Anderson, and Harriet Tubman, Cynthia McKinney, Maxine Waters, JoAnn Watson, and countless others.
The antidote for the venom of delusional self-hatred is knowledge of self which will inculcate within us a vision of who we were, who we are, and where we need to go. This vision is jump-started with a understanding of our history. For our history is not something that is to be discarded as usleless, worthless or obsolete, but is vital to our very survival as a people. Amos N Wilson writes in his book, The Falsification of Afrikan Consciousness:
"When we get into social amnesia - into forgetting our history - we also forget or misinterpret the history and motives of others as well as our motives. The way to learn of our own creation, how we came to be what we are, is getting to know ourselves. It is through getting to know the self intimately that we get to know the forces that shaped us as a self. Therefore knowing the self becomes a knowledge of the world. A deep study of Black History is the most profound way to learn about the psychology of Europeans and to understand the psychology that flows from their history.
If we don’t know ourselves, not only are we a puzzle to ourselves; other people are also a puzzle to us as well. We assume the wrong identity and identify ourselves with our enemies. If we don’t know who we are then we are whomever somebody tells us we are."[3]
Thus a process of love and appreciation for self (especially our women) and group identity must be rejuvenated and maintained in every aspect of our lives. We must once again see the world through African eyes and rejoice in our Blackness and be in harmony with the Creator that fashioned us with our unique physical, mental and spiritual abilities and perceptions. Brother Akil writes:
"So my dear sisters, please be your Black self and keep your natural Black beauty ...... your strong, bold, and beautiful naps as opposed to weak, limp, and lifeless strands of hair. Your Creator made your beauty naturally unique! Your Creator wanted your Black natural beauty to stand out amongst the peoples of the world." [4]
scriptgirl
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easier.com
City high-flyer Helen Barklam has given up her career in London to fulfil what must be every girl’s dream… designing and selling handbags. Her new handbag company - launched last weekend - carries classic leather handbags and vintage designs inspired by mid-20th Century glamour and beautiful women like Ava Gardner and Grace Kelly.
Appropriately the business – which is online and via mail order - is called ava and grace.
Budding entrepreneur Helen has taken her inspiration from one of our most glamorous eras and designed a classic and stylish handbag collection for decadent 21st century women.
Helen says: “I couldn’t find a simple, gorgeous, classic bag on the high street – so I decided to do something about it! All women want a little style and glamour in their lives and who better to be inspired by than style icons like Ava Gardner, Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe?
“ava and grace bags are simply designed to be classic and stylish. But, that can be hard to find these days. On behalf of all handbag-loving women out there, I wanted to take us back to a good old fashioned and understated look – classic, elegant and stylish.”
“I have a huge passion for design – and of course bags! I’d say to any budding female entrepreneurs – go for it!”
There are five products in Helen’s first collection, made of leather and genuine, hard-to-find vintage fabric from the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s, which has been sourced from across the world.
City high-flyer Helen Barklam has given up her career in London to fulfil what must be every girl’s dream… designing and selling handbags. Her new handbag company - launched last weekend - carries classic leather handbags and vintage designs inspired by mid-20th Century glamour and beautiful women like Ava Gardner and Grace Kelly.
Appropriately the business – which is online and via mail order - is called ava and grace.
Budding entrepreneur Helen has taken her inspiration from one of our most glamorous eras and designed a classic and stylish handbag collection for decadent 21st century women.
Helen says: “I couldn’t find a simple, gorgeous, classic bag on the high street – so I decided to do something about it! All women want a little style and glamour in their lives and who better to be inspired by than style icons like Ava Gardner, Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe?
“ava and grace bags are simply designed to be classic and stylish. But, that can be hard to find these days. On behalf of all handbag-loving women out there, I wanted to take us back to a good old fashioned and understated look – classic, elegant and stylish.”
“I have a huge passion for design – and of course bags! I’d say to any budding female entrepreneurs – go for it!”
There are five products in Helen’s first collection, made of leather and genuine, hard-to-find vintage fabric from the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s, which has been sourced from across the world.
scriptgirl
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USA Today
he Country Girl
* * * 1/2
1954, Paramount, unrated, no extras, $15
Bing Crosby is an alcoholic has-been actor, Grace Kelly is his long-suffering wife and William Holden is a brash, woman-burned stage director who first sympathizes with Bing, then switches allegiances. Two Oscars, five more nominations.
Back story: Critically undervalued today, this star-powered adaptation of Clifford Odets' play got Kelly an Oscar and an amazing Crosby a nomination just as both were enjoying more prototypical popularity (she in Rear Window, he in White Christmas). Academy Award voters are now pummeled for picking Kelly over A Star Is Born's Judy Garland, but it's worth noting that the National Board of Review and the New York Film Critics also honored Kelly. Writer/director George Seaton won an Oscar for his script. He was no visualist, but the final shot of Holden (equally terrific) is a personal favorite.
he Country Girl
* * * 1/2
1954, Paramount, unrated, no extras, $15
Bing Crosby is an alcoholic has-been actor, Grace Kelly is his long-suffering wife and William Holden is a brash, woman-burned stage director who first sympathizes with Bing, then switches allegiances. Two Oscars, five more nominations.
Back story: Critically undervalued today, this star-powered adaptation of Clifford Odets' play got Kelly an Oscar and an amazing Crosby a nomination just as both were enjoying more prototypical popularity (she in Rear Window, he in White Christmas). Academy Award voters are now pummeled for picking Kelly over A Star Is Born's Judy Garland, but it's worth noting that the National Board of Review and the New York Film Critics also honored Kelly. Writer/director George Seaton won an Oscar for his script. He was no visualist, but the final shot of Holden (equally terrific) is a personal favorite.
scriptgirl
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Washington Post
Hermes v. Hermes
By Annie Groer
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 28, 2006; 1:49 PM
Paper or plastic? Somehow we manage that decision quickly, almost reflexively. But Kelly or Birkin? That is a far more serious matter, and not just because it involves three or four zeroes. Choosing between these two iconic bags is far more complicated.
While both styles exude money (old, new, discreet, flashy), each signals to the world, or at least to an international pack of fashion hounds, a very different aesthetic and vibe.
The classic Hermes handbag, known as the "Kelly" since 1956, was joined in the early 1980s by the "Birkin."
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"The Kelly is a touch more formal, a little more appropriate for an evening out, a business dinner, as a more refined look. The Birkin is more sporty, more casual. Often people use it as a briefcase, throw in a change of shoes," says Trina Sams-Manning, manager of the Hermes shop in Fairfax Square, which recently reopened after a major facelift.
Inga Guen, who sells gently used Kellys and Birkins at Inga's Once Is Not Enough, a high-end consignment shop in Northwest Washington, is even more emphatic about the difference. "A woman who is going to wear the Kelly is of very erect stature, she comes from money, very good background, is extraordinarily educated, and life to her is one where she will be very inconspicuous," says Guen, an avid Kelly carrier. She cuts a bit of slack for the Birkin femme, who "wears Manolo mules, a pair of jeans, a little Chanel jacket. She is the younger woman."
Both bags have made their marks on the cultural landscape. In "Le Divorce," a red crocodile Kelly was a sure sign that young Isabel was having having an affair with someone rich enough to buy her this five-figure confection.
The Birkin became an intense object of desire on "Sex and the City," when Kim Cattrall's Samantha told Hermes she needed one instantly for a client. Yes, it was a big fat lie, but morally defensible in social circles where owning a bag that can cost as much as a car is, like, truly, seriously important.
Conversely, a Birkin may have worked against Martha Stewart, who schlepped her well-worn Hermes to court during her 2004 insider trading trial, to the derision of critics who thought the super-expensive bag might not play well with a middle-class jury.
For the uninitiated, these bags, which start at about $7,000 and can top $25,000 depending on hide and hue, are named for a duo of beautiful actresses.
Philadelphia-born Grace Kelly -- so blonde, so patrician -- had been wed less than a year to Prince Rainier of Monaco when she deftly obscured her royal pregnancy with a structured, crocodile Hermes purse on a 1956 Life magazine cover. Created in 1892 as a large saddle carrier -- the French fashion house started out as a saddlemaker -- the bag was downsized for daywear in the 1930s. But after its moment in Life, it was dedicated to Her Serene Highness, and, as legends often do, lives on after her.
By contrast, it was during a 1981 airplane flight that the effluvia in British-born actress-singer Jane Birkin's overstuffed purse spilled in the vicinity of Jean-Louis Dumas-Hermes. Three years later, the venerable firm introduced a bag for Birkin's more bohemian lifestyle based on an 1892 design. In a splendid bit of irony, Birkin recently confessed she barely used hers because it had proved hazardous to her health.
"I told Hermes they were mad to make it. My one was always full, and it ended up giving me tendinitis," she told the Scotland on Sunday newspaper in March.
Like the Kelly, the Birkin is crafted entirely by hand by a single artisan from start to finish, and embellished with a petite padlock, keys and gleaming hardware made of white or yellow gold.
Why, exactly, are they so expensive, so obsessively coveted?
Hermes v. Hermes
By Annie Groer
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 28, 2006; 1:49 PM
Paper or plastic? Somehow we manage that decision quickly, almost reflexively. But Kelly or Birkin? That is a far more serious matter, and not just because it involves three or four zeroes. Choosing between these two iconic bags is far more complicated.
While both styles exude money (old, new, discreet, flashy), each signals to the world, or at least to an international pack of fashion hounds, a very different aesthetic and vibe.
The classic Hermes handbag, known as the "Kelly" since 1956, was joined in the early 1980s by the "Birkin."
WHO'S BLOGGING?
Read what bloggers are saying about this article.
Style It Less
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"The Kelly is a touch more formal, a little more appropriate for an evening out, a business dinner, as a more refined look. The Birkin is more sporty, more casual. Often people use it as a briefcase, throw in a change of shoes," says Trina Sams-Manning, manager of the Hermes shop in Fairfax Square, which recently reopened after a major facelift.
Inga Guen, who sells gently used Kellys and Birkins at Inga's Once Is Not Enough, a high-end consignment shop in Northwest Washington, is even more emphatic about the difference. "A woman who is going to wear the Kelly is of very erect stature, she comes from money, very good background, is extraordinarily educated, and life to her is one where she will be very inconspicuous," says Guen, an avid Kelly carrier. She cuts a bit of slack for the Birkin femme, who "wears Manolo mules, a pair of jeans, a little Chanel jacket. She is the younger woman."
Both bags have made their marks on the cultural landscape. In "Le Divorce," a red crocodile Kelly was a sure sign that young Isabel was having having an affair with someone rich enough to buy her this five-figure confection.
The Birkin became an intense object of desire on "Sex and the City," when Kim Cattrall's Samantha told Hermes she needed one instantly for a client. Yes, it was a big fat lie, but morally defensible in social circles where owning a bag that can cost as much as a car is, like, truly, seriously important.
Conversely, a Birkin may have worked against Martha Stewart, who schlepped her well-worn Hermes to court during her 2004 insider trading trial, to the derision of critics who thought the super-expensive bag might not play well with a middle-class jury.
For the uninitiated, these bags, which start at about $7,000 and can top $25,000 depending on hide and hue, are named for a duo of beautiful actresses.
Philadelphia-born Grace Kelly -- so blonde, so patrician -- had been wed less than a year to Prince Rainier of Monaco when she deftly obscured her royal pregnancy with a structured, crocodile Hermes purse on a 1956 Life magazine cover. Created in 1892 as a large saddle carrier -- the French fashion house started out as a saddlemaker -- the bag was downsized for daywear in the 1930s. But after its moment in Life, it was dedicated to Her Serene Highness, and, as legends often do, lives on after her.
By contrast, it was during a 1981 airplane flight that the effluvia in British-born actress-singer Jane Birkin's overstuffed purse spilled in the vicinity of Jean-Louis Dumas-Hermes. Three years later, the venerable firm introduced a bag for Birkin's more bohemian lifestyle based on an 1892 design. In a splendid bit of irony, Birkin recently confessed she barely used hers because it had proved hazardous to her health.
"I told Hermes they were mad to make it. My one was always full, and it ended up giving me tendinitis," she told the Scotland on Sunday newspaper in March.
Like the Kelly, the Birkin is crafted entirely by hand by a single artisan from start to finish, and embellished with a petite padlock, keys and gleaming hardware made of white or yellow gold.
Why, exactly, are they so expensive, so obsessively coveted?
scriptgirl
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Washington Post (continued)
or starters, they are beautifully made. ... The bottom is built of three layers of leather. A single artisan can spend up to 25 hours painstakingly constructing a Kelly or Birkin.
And oh, the hides: silky smooth or pebbly textured calfskin; exotic lizard, crocodile and ostrich, in colors that span the spectrum. The immutable laws of supply, demand and merchandising are also at work here. Make something fabulous, in fabulously limited quantities, and people will clamor to own it. At Hermes in Fairfax -- where just a handful of objects cost under $150, such as those itty-bitty leather holders for Post-it notes -- 200 people fervently await the arrival 60 Birkins in any given season, said manager Sams-Manning. Their names are entered onto what she calls "a wish list."
The classic Hermes handbag, known as the "Kelly" since 1956, was joined in the early 1980s by the "Birkin."
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Such controlled scarcity explains why the resale market is so strong.
Two years ago, an anonymous Midwesterner put 11 Hermes bags on the auction block at Doyle New York, including a 2002 black crocodile Birkin she had customized with 484 small diamonds set in the white-gold hardware. The presale estimate was $25,000 to $35,000, but when the hammer fell, the winning bidder ponied up $64,250.
"It was bought ostensibly by a gentleman for his wife," said Clare Watson, Doyle's director of couture, noting that the victor outbid another deep-pocketed chap.
In April, Inga Guen sold one consignment client a taupe ostrich Kelly for $6,000 and told another that the Birkin she'd just bought on eBay was a fake. Taped to the top of the desk in her cluttered office is the small tipsheet Guen penned to help patrons avoid getting scammed: The stitching "is diagonal /////// not horizontal -------." Or as she later explained, "the stitching goes always uphill."
So, apparently, does the satisfaction level among chic women who may save for years to buy one. "I treated myself to a Birkin when I was still working, before my first child was born," said one fashionista, seeking anonymity "because my husband has no idea how much it cost."
The very luckiest women get them the old-fashioned way; well, actually, the second-oldest old-fashioned way -- as a family legacy.
"I think I have about six or seven," said Veronique Danforth, public information service coordinator at the World Bank. "I am French, so I have been raised with those bags around me. I got my first one when I was 17. Some are 40 years old and look as if they were bought yesterday."
or starters, they are beautifully made. ... The bottom is built of three layers of leather. A single artisan can spend up to 25 hours painstakingly constructing a Kelly or Birkin.
And oh, the hides: silky smooth or pebbly textured calfskin; exotic lizard, crocodile and ostrich, in colors that span the spectrum. The immutable laws of supply, demand and merchandising are also at work here. Make something fabulous, in fabulously limited quantities, and people will clamor to own it. At Hermes in Fairfax -- where just a handful of objects cost under $150, such as those itty-bitty leather holders for Post-it notes -- 200 people fervently await the arrival 60 Birkins in any given season, said manager Sams-Manning. Their names are entered onto what she calls "a wish list."
The classic Hermes handbag, known as the "Kelly" since 1956, was joined in the early 1980s by the "Birkin."
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Read what bloggers are saying about this article.
Style It Less
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Such controlled scarcity explains why the resale market is so strong.
Two years ago, an anonymous Midwesterner put 11 Hermes bags on the auction block at Doyle New York, including a 2002 black crocodile Birkin she had customized with 484 small diamonds set in the white-gold hardware. The presale estimate was $25,000 to $35,000, but when the hammer fell, the winning bidder ponied up $64,250.
"It was bought ostensibly by a gentleman for his wife," said Clare Watson, Doyle's director of couture, noting that the victor outbid another deep-pocketed chap.
In April, Inga Guen sold one consignment client a taupe ostrich Kelly for $6,000 and told another that the Birkin she'd just bought on eBay was a fake. Taped to the top of the desk in her cluttered office is the small tipsheet Guen penned to help patrons avoid getting scammed: The stitching "is diagonal /////// not horizontal -------." Or as she later explained, "the stitching goes always uphill."
So, apparently, does the satisfaction level among chic women who may save for years to buy one. "I treated myself to a Birkin when I was still working, before my first child was born," said one fashionista, seeking anonymity "because my husband has no idea how much it cost."
The very luckiest women get them the old-fashioned way; well, actually, the second-oldest old-fashioned way -- as a family legacy.
"I think I have about six or seven," said Veronique Danforth, public information service coordinator at the World Bank. "I am French, so I have been raised with those bags around me. I got my first one when I was 17. Some are 40 years old and look as if they were bought yesterday."
scriptgirl
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ABC News
he Regal Majesty Of Prince Rainier
By Robin Givhan
The Washington Post
Friday, April 8, 2005; Page C02
For those who do not live with a monarchy and so tend to judge the few that still exist by their degree of glamour and fashionability, the Grimaldi dynasty was perfectly wrought.
Prince Rainier III, who died Wednesday at 81, crafted an exquisite fairy tale complete with a picture-perfect princess and a Mediterranean kingdom fueled by beauty, wealth and speed. The economy of Monaco is driven by the cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries, well-to-do tourists and the fast cars of the Monte Carlo Grand Prix. Thanks to the famous Monte Carlo casino, Rainier maintained the aura of gambling as a high-rolling sport of dashing counts and louche playboys rather than the pastime of bored retirees playing the penny slots. Like so many royal families, his was plagued with scandal, but of the sort found in bodice-ripping page turners. The Grimaldi tabloid spectacles were dominated by out-of-wedlock births, inappropriate lovers and the high-strung willfulness indulged in by those who have little to worry about other than their own happiness.
_____From Robin Givhan_____
• A Reality Show Cut From Whole Cloth (The Washington Post, Jun 3, 2005)
• Where Middle East Meets West (The Washington Post, May 13, 2005)
• 'Seamless': It's The Designers' Turn to Strut (The Washington Post, Apr 29, 2005)
• H & M Plays Dress-Up for the Masses (The Washington Post, Apr 22, 2005)
• Bolton's Hair: No Brush With Greatness (The Washington Post, Apr 15, 2005)
_____Arts & Living_____
• The Fashion & Beauty section has stories and tips.
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This royal fairy tale was enticing because it was flawed. Perfection, all too often, is boring.
Rainier chose as his princess the Hollywood star Grace Kelly, whom he married in 1956. Only the film and fashion worlds can quickly bestow credentials of glamour, and Hollywood and the catwalk were both enamored with Kelly. Few films so lavishly celebrate style as "Rear Window," in which Kelly, as socialite Lisa Fremont, arrives at the apartment of her boyfriend -- played by Jimmy Stewart -- with a lacy overnight kit stored in an elegant Mark Cross overnight bag. The audience knew the precise brand of her valise because she announced it in the film.
The Hermes Kelly bag was named for Princess Grace after she used one to demurely obscure her pregnant belly. And fashion continues to be inspired by her. The most recent example is the fall 2005 collection from Alexander McQueen.
Rainier benefited from the reflected glory of his princess, but he had his own cosmopolitan panache that diminished only slightly with age. His expression and attire always suggested a bit of rakish charm. In a photograph taken in 2000, he stands with a muffler wrapped casually around his neck. He's wearing a navy suit and taupe overcoat and his hands are casually tucked into the pockets of his blazer. He is neither stiff nor stern. He could be any well-traveled, dapper gentleman awaiting his driver -- or in this case, the start of a soccer match.
Prince Rainier in 1999. (Jacques Munch)
Except in the most formal portraits, Rainier never looked particularly burdened. There are a host of images of Rainier in his fashionable sunglasses at the races, having a smoke or even leaving a commemorative Mass. The fantasy of a royal life never includes the rigorous pomp and stifling obligations that, in reality, so often come with it.
The prince was lucky because he was in the prime of his social life during a particularly fashionable period in history and when folks were photographed in black-and-white. The dramatic contrasts, the moody shadows, seem to make everyone look better -- more elegant, more charismatic. Color photography brings realism, but in the process, mystery and magic are often lost. In the 1950s and much of the '60s, everyone seemed to dress with greater attention to detail -- not just those with titles. Rainier, pictured with his stunning bride and her famous Hollywood cohorts, epitomizes the image of the debonair prince, his fast life filled with beautiful people.
Rainier's carefully crafted fairy tale preceded the awkward -- and ultimately unsuccessful -- one authored by Britain's Prince Charles. To some degree, the times conspired against Charles, who will finally marry Camilla Parker Bowles on Saturday. Rainier benefited from a more diplomatic period when fantasies tended to wear away slowly rather than be chipped away with malicious glee. But Rainier also appeared pleased with the image he presented to the public. Charles looked morose during his marriage to Princess Diana.
Toward the end of Rainier's life, the Grimaldi family scandals took on an air of the absurd. But the prince never fully lost the glamour that he carefully constructed during his reign. His kingdom was still one of celebrities and millionaires. His princess, who died in an auto accident in 1982, was forever remembered as a classic beauty. And he -- even with thinning hair and a portly physique -- looked like a prince for whom his title was a privilege rather than a duty.
he Regal Majesty Of Prince Rainier
By Robin Givhan
The Washington Post
Friday, April 8, 2005; Page C02
For those who do not live with a monarchy and so tend to judge the few that still exist by their degree of glamour and fashionability, the Grimaldi dynasty was perfectly wrought.
Prince Rainier III, who died Wednesday at 81, crafted an exquisite fairy tale complete with a picture-perfect princess and a Mediterranean kingdom fueled by beauty, wealth and speed. The economy of Monaco is driven by the cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries, well-to-do tourists and the fast cars of the Monte Carlo Grand Prix. Thanks to the famous Monte Carlo casino, Rainier maintained the aura of gambling as a high-rolling sport of dashing counts and louche playboys rather than the pastime of bored retirees playing the penny slots. Like so many royal families, his was plagued with scandal, but of the sort found in bodice-ripping page turners. The Grimaldi tabloid spectacles were dominated by out-of-wedlock births, inappropriate lovers and the high-strung willfulness indulged in by those who have little to worry about other than their own happiness.
_____From Robin Givhan_____
• A Reality Show Cut From Whole Cloth (The Washington Post, Jun 3, 2005)
• Where Middle East Meets West (The Washington Post, May 13, 2005)
• 'Seamless': It's The Designers' Turn to Strut (The Washington Post, Apr 29, 2005)
• H & M Plays Dress-Up for the Masses (The Washington Post, Apr 22, 2005)
• Bolton's Hair: No Brush With Greatness (The Washington Post, Apr 15, 2005)
_____Arts & Living_____
• The Fashion & Beauty section has stories and tips.
Add Fashion to your personal home page.
Free E-mail Newsletters
Washington Entertainment Guide
See a Sample | Sign Up Now
Movies
See a Sample | Sign Up Now
Travel
See a Sample | Sign Up Now
Home & Shopping
See a Sample | Sign Up Now
This royal fairy tale was enticing because it was flawed. Perfection, all too often, is boring.
Rainier chose as his princess the Hollywood star Grace Kelly, whom he married in 1956. Only the film and fashion worlds can quickly bestow credentials of glamour, and Hollywood and the catwalk were both enamored with Kelly. Few films so lavishly celebrate style as "Rear Window," in which Kelly, as socialite Lisa Fremont, arrives at the apartment of her boyfriend -- played by Jimmy Stewart -- with a lacy overnight kit stored in an elegant Mark Cross overnight bag. The audience knew the precise brand of her valise because she announced it in the film.
The Hermes Kelly bag was named for Princess Grace after she used one to demurely obscure her pregnant belly. And fashion continues to be inspired by her. The most recent example is the fall 2005 collection from Alexander McQueen.
Rainier benefited from the reflected glory of his princess, but he had his own cosmopolitan panache that diminished only slightly with age. His expression and attire always suggested a bit of rakish charm. In a photograph taken in 2000, he stands with a muffler wrapped casually around his neck. He's wearing a navy suit and taupe overcoat and his hands are casually tucked into the pockets of his blazer. He is neither stiff nor stern. He could be any well-traveled, dapper gentleman awaiting his driver -- or in this case, the start of a soccer match.
Prince Rainier in 1999. (Jacques Munch)
Except in the most formal portraits, Rainier never looked particularly burdened. There are a host of images of Rainier in his fashionable sunglasses at the races, having a smoke or even leaving a commemorative Mass. The fantasy of a royal life never includes the rigorous pomp and stifling obligations that, in reality, so often come with it.
The prince was lucky because he was in the prime of his social life during a particularly fashionable period in history and when folks were photographed in black-and-white. The dramatic contrasts, the moody shadows, seem to make everyone look better -- more elegant, more charismatic. Color photography brings realism, but in the process, mystery and magic are often lost. In the 1950s and much of the '60s, everyone seemed to dress with greater attention to detail -- not just those with titles. Rainier, pictured with his stunning bride and her famous Hollywood cohorts, epitomizes the image of the debonair prince, his fast life filled with beautiful people.
Rainier's carefully crafted fairy tale preceded the awkward -- and ultimately unsuccessful -- one authored by Britain's Prince Charles. To some degree, the times conspired against Charles, who will finally marry Camilla Parker Bowles on Saturday. Rainier benefited from a more diplomatic period when fantasies tended to wear away slowly rather than be chipped away with malicious glee. But Rainier also appeared pleased with the image he presented to the public. Charles looked morose during his marriage to Princess Diana.
Toward the end of Rainier's life, the Grimaldi family scandals took on an air of the absurd. But the prince never fully lost the glamour that he carefully constructed during his reign. His kingdom was still one of celebrities and millionaires. His princess, who died in an auto accident in 1982, was forever remembered as a classic beauty. And he -- even with thinning hair and a portly physique -- looked like a prince for whom his title was a privilege rather than a duty.
scriptgirl
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SF Gate
For Debbie Reynolds, her work is her life. At an age when most of her Hollywood contemporaries are either retired or dead, the petite dynamo tours 40 weeks a year.
IMAGES
View Larger Images
"I've never had a problem drinking or drugging," the 73-year-old said. "I'm so busy working. I guess my drug is dancing. I get my kick on the stage. I just step on the stage and the pain of life passes and I'm happy. I love my work. That's my hobby."
She famously has not prospered in her personal life. Married three times, she calls her third husband a criminal. Her second husband was a compulsive gambler who lost millions. Her first husband, pop crooner Eddie Fisher, left her and their two small children for Elizabeth Taylor in one of the great scandals of the 1950s.
"I always marry the wrong man," she said.
She has made more than 50 films. She starred on Broadway, had her own TV series, appeared on the cover of Life. She was Gene Kelly's dancing partner in "Singin' in the Rain," She was 18, the same age her daughter, Carrie Fisher, was when she played Princess Leia in the first "Star Wars."
She shared the Top 10 at the height of the rock 'n' roll boom with Elvis Presley, Ricky Nelson, Buddy Holly and the Everly Brothers with "Tammy," a treacly ballad that she still sings in every performance. "I have to sing that, " she said from her Beverly Hills home across the street from her daughter and grandchild. "My audiences yell at me if I don't."
She played the Singing Nun and Albert Brooks' living nightmare in "Mother. " She is an old-fashioned Hollywood star from another era who starred in movies opposite John Wayne and Frank Sinatra and still turns up regularly on TV's "Will and Grace" playing Grace's mother.
She bought massive amounts of historic movie memorabilia -- Judy Garland's ruby red slippers, Marilyn Monroe's subway dress -- and owned her own Las Vegas hotel where she exhibited her collection and appeared in the showroom until she was forced into bankruptcy. She will open the new Debbie Reynolds Motion Picture Museum in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., next year.
For Mary Frances Reynolds, the onetime Miss Burbank raised poor and signed to her first movie studio contract when she was 16, life has been a long, glorious and often bumpy ride, which she will discuss in her inevitable cheery good humor in an onstage interview with "Poseidon Adventure" beauty Carol Lynley on Friday at the Castro Theatre, another event presented by Marc Huestis, who has brought such screen legends as Jane Russell, Sandra Dee, Ann- Margret and others to the Castro stage over the past 10 years. Following the interview, Huestis will screen the 1964 musical, "The Unsinkable Molly Brown," for which Reynolds received her only Academy Award nomination.
"That's a very good movie, one of the top films," she said. "I'd say it's equal to 'Gigi' and 'American in Paris' of that genre. It's very happy. That's my best performance. That was my role. I knew I was Molly Brown, and I wanted to do it. She was very energetic. The part they wrote is a great role for an actress. The music and dancing is very hard -- Peter Gennaro was the choreographer -- really tough dancing, wonderful dancing. Synchronized hoofing, tapping. It's exciting. Everyone that sees it doesn't forget it."
Her career launched when MGM studio boss Louis B. Mayer put her in "Singin' in the Rain" over Kelly's objections. Teen Reynolds, who would be dancing alongside Kelly and co-star Donald O'Connor, both big-time hoofers from way back, didn't know how to dance. She endured six months of bloody feet to make cinema history in the 1952 film that is certainly one of the great screen musicals of all time.
"They built stars," she said. "They made stars. If the boss wants you, Gene Kelly doesn't have a prayer."
But Reynolds triumphed over more than failed marriages, lost fortunes, bankruptcies, bad movies and the disintegration of the Hollywood studio star system. She survived a career built on impossibly perky, squeaky-clean roles that would have made Doris Day cringe. But what she lacked in gravitas, she always compensated for with pluck, verve and a physical commitment to her craft that borders on athleticism.
She certainly works. In addition to her recurring role on "Will and Grace, " she plays a good witch in the Disney Channel TV movie series, "Halloweentown. " She tours constantly with her nightclub and concert work. "I just got home from being out four weeks and then I'm home three days and then I go out again, " she said. "They have these casinos all over."
With her son, Todd Fisher, she has also found a home for her enormous movie memorabilia collection at a major new development called Belle Island, near Dolly Parton's Dollywood in the Smoky Mountains in east Tennessee. The foundation has already been laid for the 25,000-square-foot museum, which has been one of her major obsessions since she became the chief bidder at the 1970 MGM auction, where the studio sold old sets and costumes for peanuts. Reynolds bought entire sets and all the costumes from movies such as "Planet of the Apes," "Hello Dolly!" and "Gigi," as well as films in which she starred such as "Singin' in the Rain" and "The Unsinkable Molly Brown."
"My hand never went down. I tried to buy historically. I bought sets, the costumes, from each Academy Award film or most popular film to recreate the exact set and the costumes of the whole cast.
"I bought heavy Marilyn, Barbra Streisand and Grace Kelly because I knew they were like Garbo and were going down in history individually. So I bought pieces that weren't necessarily the full set. But on films like the 1936 production of 'Romeo and Juliet' starring Norma Shearer, I bought the full sets and all those gorgeous gowns. Every time a dress went up, my hand went up. "
She and Todd Fisher designed and built a lavish exhibition at the Vegas hotel she opened with her third husband, Virginia real estate developer Richard Hamlett. She lost the hotel -- but not the collection -- in a 1997 bankruptcy, three years after she divorced Hamlett. Her collection includes everything from Laurel and Hardy's jalopy to -- in some kind of modestly ironic twist -- Elizabeth Taylor's "Cleopatra" headdress. After a deal to open a place in the recent development at Hollywood and Highland boulevards fell through, Tennessee looked like the promised land.
"I want to get it done before I kick the bucket," Reynolds said. "I'm going to be like George Burns and never retire, and then I'm going to be like Trigger and have myself stuffed."
For Debbie Reynolds, her work is her life. At an age when most of her Hollywood contemporaries are either retired or dead, the petite dynamo tours 40 weeks a year.
IMAGES
View Larger Images
"I've never had a problem drinking or drugging," the 73-year-old said. "I'm so busy working. I guess my drug is dancing. I get my kick on the stage. I just step on the stage and the pain of life passes and I'm happy. I love my work. That's my hobby."
She famously has not prospered in her personal life. Married three times, she calls her third husband a criminal. Her second husband was a compulsive gambler who lost millions. Her first husband, pop crooner Eddie Fisher, left her and their two small children for Elizabeth Taylor in one of the great scandals of the 1950s.
"I always marry the wrong man," she said.
She has made more than 50 films. She starred on Broadway, had her own TV series, appeared on the cover of Life. She was Gene Kelly's dancing partner in "Singin' in the Rain," She was 18, the same age her daughter, Carrie Fisher, was when she played Princess Leia in the first "Star Wars."
She shared the Top 10 at the height of the rock 'n' roll boom with Elvis Presley, Ricky Nelson, Buddy Holly and the Everly Brothers with "Tammy," a treacly ballad that she still sings in every performance. "I have to sing that, " she said from her Beverly Hills home across the street from her daughter and grandchild. "My audiences yell at me if I don't."
She played the Singing Nun and Albert Brooks' living nightmare in "Mother. " She is an old-fashioned Hollywood star from another era who starred in movies opposite John Wayne and Frank Sinatra and still turns up regularly on TV's "Will and Grace" playing Grace's mother.
She bought massive amounts of historic movie memorabilia -- Judy Garland's ruby red slippers, Marilyn Monroe's subway dress -- and owned her own Las Vegas hotel where she exhibited her collection and appeared in the showroom until she was forced into bankruptcy. She will open the new Debbie Reynolds Motion Picture Museum in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., next year.
For Mary Frances Reynolds, the onetime Miss Burbank raised poor and signed to her first movie studio contract when she was 16, life has been a long, glorious and often bumpy ride, which she will discuss in her inevitable cheery good humor in an onstage interview with "Poseidon Adventure" beauty Carol Lynley on Friday at the Castro Theatre, another event presented by Marc Huestis, who has brought such screen legends as Jane Russell, Sandra Dee, Ann- Margret and others to the Castro stage over the past 10 years. Following the interview, Huestis will screen the 1964 musical, "The Unsinkable Molly Brown," for which Reynolds received her only Academy Award nomination.
"That's a very good movie, one of the top films," she said. "I'd say it's equal to 'Gigi' and 'American in Paris' of that genre. It's very happy. That's my best performance. That was my role. I knew I was Molly Brown, and I wanted to do it. She was very energetic. The part they wrote is a great role for an actress. The music and dancing is very hard -- Peter Gennaro was the choreographer -- really tough dancing, wonderful dancing. Synchronized hoofing, tapping. It's exciting. Everyone that sees it doesn't forget it."
Her career launched when MGM studio boss Louis B. Mayer put her in "Singin' in the Rain" over Kelly's objections. Teen Reynolds, who would be dancing alongside Kelly and co-star Donald O'Connor, both big-time hoofers from way back, didn't know how to dance. She endured six months of bloody feet to make cinema history in the 1952 film that is certainly one of the great screen musicals of all time.
"They built stars," she said. "They made stars. If the boss wants you, Gene Kelly doesn't have a prayer."
But Reynolds triumphed over more than failed marriages, lost fortunes, bankruptcies, bad movies and the disintegration of the Hollywood studio star system. She survived a career built on impossibly perky, squeaky-clean roles that would have made Doris Day cringe. But what she lacked in gravitas, she always compensated for with pluck, verve and a physical commitment to her craft that borders on athleticism.
She certainly works. In addition to her recurring role on "Will and Grace, " she plays a good witch in the Disney Channel TV movie series, "Halloweentown. " She tours constantly with her nightclub and concert work. "I just got home from being out four weeks and then I'm home three days and then I go out again, " she said. "They have these casinos all over."
With her son, Todd Fisher, she has also found a home for her enormous movie memorabilia collection at a major new development called Belle Island, near Dolly Parton's Dollywood in the Smoky Mountains in east Tennessee. The foundation has already been laid for the 25,000-square-foot museum, which has been one of her major obsessions since she became the chief bidder at the 1970 MGM auction, where the studio sold old sets and costumes for peanuts. Reynolds bought entire sets and all the costumes from movies such as "Planet of the Apes," "Hello Dolly!" and "Gigi," as well as films in which she starred such as "Singin' in the Rain" and "The Unsinkable Molly Brown."
"My hand never went down. I tried to buy historically. I bought sets, the costumes, from each Academy Award film or most popular film to recreate the exact set and the costumes of the whole cast.
"I bought heavy Marilyn, Barbra Streisand and Grace Kelly because I knew they were like Garbo and were going down in history individually. So I bought pieces that weren't necessarily the full set. But on films like the 1936 production of 'Romeo and Juliet' starring Norma Shearer, I bought the full sets and all those gorgeous gowns. Every time a dress went up, my hand went up. "
She and Todd Fisher designed and built a lavish exhibition at the Vegas hotel she opened with her third husband, Virginia real estate developer Richard Hamlett. She lost the hotel -- but not the collection -- in a 1997 bankruptcy, three years after she divorced Hamlett. Her collection includes everything from Laurel and Hardy's jalopy to -- in some kind of modestly ironic twist -- Elizabeth Taylor's "Cleopatra" headdress. After a deal to open a place in the recent development at Hollywood and Highland boulevards fell through, Tennessee looked like the promised land.
"I want to get it done before I kick the bucket," Reynolds said. "I'm going to be like George Burns and never retire, and then I'm going to be like Trigger and have myself stuffed."
scriptgirl
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CBS News
The weddings often are splendid, gluing entire nations to their TVs. The outcomes often are not.
From Windsor to Monaco and beyond, many European royal marriages have turned sour or been tainted by scandal, with illegitimate children, divorces, sordid affairs and tragedies that tabloids dole out to publics with seemingly unquenchable appetites for the dirty laundry of royalty.
Britain's Prince Charles, who announced Thursday that he will wed his longtime lover Camilla Parker Bowles, is just one of the coterie of royals for whom matrimony has led to misery and lurid front pages.
No Briton over age 30 can forget the royal fever that gripped Britain when Charles wed the bashful, blushing Diana in 1981. The street parties, souvenir tea mugs, plates and coins; her dreamy dress with the its impossibly long train; the enormous, glittering jewel on her engagement ring.
Diana's split with Charles and their respective love affairs — his with Parker Bowles, hers with former cavalry officer James Hewitt and others — were documented in detail by Britain's small army of professional royal watchers and court hangers-on. Eavesdroppers taped the lovers' sweet nothings, and tabloids and magazines gleefully carried transcripts.
TV cameras were there in 1981 to capture the kindergarten teacher who would become "Princess Di" climb into her car; they were there to film the dark Paris tunnel where her speeding Mercedes slammed into a post in 1997, killing her and her latest beau, Dodi al-Fayed.
For Monaco's Prince Rainier III, a fairytale wedding in 1956 ended in tragedy, too. He never remarried after his Princess Grace — the stunning Hollywood actress Grace Kelly — died in 1982 of injuries suffered in a car crash.
Their children's tumultuous love lives have kept many paparazzi busy.
Princess Stephanie's 1995 marriage to her former bodyguard Daniel Ducruet collapsed a year later after he was photographed frolicking with stripper Fili Houteman, then the reigning Miss Nude Belgium.
A talkative and repentant Ducruet later published a "Letter to Stephanie" where he told her: "The night after my mistake with Fili, I felt dirty ... I couldn't make love to you."
Stephanie was regarded as the wild child of the family even before that scandal, because she and Ducruet had two children before they wed. She went on to have a third child with another bodyguard before remarrying in 2003, to a Portuguese circus acrobat. A palace spokesman wouldn't say Thursday if they are still together.
But the palace confirmed that Princess Caroline of Monaco is still married to Prince Ernst August of Hanover, who also has a reputation as a royal black sheep. A German court handed him eight months probation and a hefty fine in 2001 for kicking a photographer in the buttocks and beating the owner of a hotel in Kenya.
The prince — a distant relative of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and great-grandson of the last German emperor, Wilhelm II — also caused an uproar in 2000 when press photos showed him urinating outside the Turkish pavilion at the World's Fair in Hanover, Germany.
Colorful German-born Dutch Prince Bernhard, the father of Queen Beatrix, had a mid-marriage period of separation with his wife, former Queen Juliana, when she fell under the influence of a Rasputin-like holy woman. They never divorced, but Bernhard fathered two illegitimate daughters, one of them a landscape artist in the United States, the other living in France. He died last December.
Belgium's King Albert II is also known to have fathered a daughter out of wedlock. He acknowledged in his traditional Christmas Eve speech in 1999 that his marriage with Queen Paola has had ups and downs, with a "crisis in our relationship 30 years ago."
"We were able to get over those difficulties and rediscover a deep love and understanding," he said.
A royal marriage has turned rotten in the state of Denmark, too.
The palace announced last September that Prince Joachim, second in line to the Danish throne, and his wife Princess Alexandra were separating with plans to divorce. They wed with great fanfare in 1995; she wore a Danish-designed gown of thick Italian silk quilted with 8,900 pearls.
News of the divorce — the first in the Danish royal family since 1846, when King Frederik VII divorced Princess Caroline Charlotte Mariane of Mecklemburg-Strelitz — was front-page news in Denmark and in Alexandra's native Hong Kong.
The couple met in 1994 in Hong Kong, where Joachim was working for a Danish shipping company.
The weddings often are splendid, gluing entire nations to their TVs. The outcomes often are not.
From Windsor to Monaco and beyond, many European royal marriages have turned sour or been tainted by scandal, with illegitimate children, divorces, sordid affairs and tragedies that tabloids dole out to publics with seemingly unquenchable appetites for the dirty laundry of royalty.
Britain's Prince Charles, who announced Thursday that he will wed his longtime lover Camilla Parker Bowles, is just one of the coterie of royals for whom matrimony has led to misery and lurid front pages.
No Briton over age 30 can forget the royal fever that gripped Britain when Charles wed the bashful, blushing Diana in 1981. The street parties, souvenir tea mugs, plates and coins; her dreamy dress with the its impossibly long train; the enormous, glittering jewel on her engagement ring.
Diana's split with Charles and their respective love affairs — his with Parker Bowles, hers with former cavalry officer James Hewitt and others — were documented in detail by Britain's small army of professional royal watchers and court hangers-on. Eavesdroppers taped the lovers' sweet nothings, and tabloids and magazines gleefully carried transcripts.
TV cameras were there in 1981 to capture the kindergarten teacher who would become "Princess Di" climb into her car; they were there to film the dark Paris tunnel where her speeding Mercedes slammed into a post in 1997, killing her and her latest beau, Dodi al-Fayed.
For Monaco's Prince Rainier III, a fairytale wedding in 1956 ended in tragedy, too. He never remarried after his Princess Grace — the stunning Hollywood actress Grace Kelly — died in 1982 of injuries suffered in a car crash.
Their children's tumultuous love lives have kept many paparazzi busy.
Princess Stephanie's 1995 marriage to her former bodyguard Daniel Ducruet collapsed a year later after he was photographed frolicking with stripper Fili Houteman, then the reigning Miss Nude Belgium.
A talkative and repentant Ducruet later published a "Letter to Stephanie" where he told her: "The night after my mistake with Fili, I felt dirty ... I couldn't make love to you."
Stephanie was regarded as the wild child of the family even before that scandal, because she and Ducruet had two children before they wed. She went on to have a third child with another bodyguard before remarrying in 2003, to a Portuguese circus acrobat. A palace spokesman wouldn't say Thursday if they are still together.
But the palace confirmed that Princess Caroline of Monaco is still married to Prince Ernst August of Hanover, who also has a reputation as a royal black sheep. A German court handed him eight months probation and a hefty fine in 2001 for kicking a photographer in the buttocks and beating the owner of a hotel in Kenya.
The prince — a distant relative of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and great-grandson of the last German emperor, Wilhelm II — also caused an uproar in 2000 when press photos showed him urinating outside the Turkish pavilion at the World's Fair in Hanover, Germany.
Colorful German-born Dutch Prince Bernhard, the father of Queen Beatrix, had a mid-marriage period of separation with his wife, former Queen Juliana, when she fell under the influence of a Rasputin-like holy woman. They never divorced, but Bernhard fathered two illegitimate daughters, one of them a landscape artist in the United States, the other living in France. He died last December.
Belgium's King Albert II is also known to have fathered a daughter out of wedlock. He acknowledged in his traditional Christmas Eve speech in 1999 that his marriage with Queen Paola has had ups and downs, with a "crisis in our relationship 30 years ago."
"We were able to get over those difficulties and rediscover a deep love and understanding," he said.
A royal marriage has turned rotten in the state of Denmark, too.
The palace announced last September that Prince Joachim, second in line to the Danish throne, and his wife Princess Alexandra were separating with plans to divorce. They wed with great fanfare in 1995; she wore a Danish-designed gown of thick Italian silk quilted with 8,900 pearls.
News of the divorce — the first in the Danish royal family since 1846, when King Frederik VII divorced Princess Caroline Charlotte Mariane of Mecklemburg-Strelitz — was front-page news in Denmark and in Alexandra's native Hong Kong.
The couple met in 1994 in Hong Kong, where Joachim was working for a Danish shipping company.
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