Thursday, June 30, 2011
MISSY ASKS YOU : DO YOU SPEAK FRENCH ?
French may just be THE (second?) language of mistresses. This is not just because of the tradition of mistresses in France but because the language of French is often thought of as the language of literature and love!
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Saturday, June 25, 2011
BOOK REVIEW : FIFTH AVENUE 5 A.M. BY SAM WASSON on the making of BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S STARING AUDREY HEPBURN
AUDREY HEPBURN, the actress who became famous for charity work before her death, starred in "Breakfast at Tiffany's" in the early 1960's. Sam Wasson's new book "FIFTH AVENUE 5 a.m." isn't just about the making of the movie - though that is certainly covered - but also the way the film had impact on notions of modern womanhood.
Was the character Holly Golightly really based on TRUMAN CAPOTE'S real mother in her search for a husband? Was Audrey Hepburn the person, in her role as Holly Golightly, who made the color BLACK as in Little Black Dress, the garment of sophistication?
Page 127 says that Centuries ago, black dye was affordable only to the very rich. Black had been the color of death and worn in mourning. A woman wearing black was trying NOT to be noticed. Then CoCo Chanel designed the little black dress as a must have for sophisticated women.
In "Breakfast at Tiffany's" the character Audrey played was a woman who has had lovers, does not regret it, and does not come to a bad end because of it. So it was the beginning of the sexual revolution when it came out.
It was the time of Helen Gurly Brown's book "Sex and The Single Girl."
C 2017 Mistress Manifesto - BlogSpot All Rights Reserved including Internet and International Rights
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
TO BE IRREPLACEABLE ONE MUST ALWAYS BE DIFFERENT : MADEMOISELLE COCO CHANEL
RebecaRazorzx is the creator of this video, a mini documentary with a commentary about the changes due to war that allowed women in the workplace and how Chanel's clothing designs allowed women more freedom of physical movement.
posted June 2021
Monday, June 20, 2011
Saturday, June 18, 2011
MISSY ASKS YOU : WHAT DOES "WOMAN OF A CERTAIN AGE" MEAN ?
What does "WOMAN OF A CERTAIN AGE" MEAN?
It seems to be a very polite way of indicating the woman is "MATURE." (But as we know even very old people can be immature!) so please let me know what images come up in your mind when you read or hear "A Woman Of A Certain Age."
It seems to be a very polite way of indicating the woman is "MATURE." (But as we know even very old people can be immature!) so please let me know what images come up in your mind when you read or hear "A Woman Of A Certain Age."
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
COCO CHANEL Quote
"I imposed black. It's still going strong today, for black wipes out everything else around." Co Co Chanel
Thursday, June 9, 2011
COCO CHANEL and ETIENNE BALSAN and ARTHUR CAPEL
Gabrielle "CoCo" Chanel, was 25 years old, born in 1883 (or so), when Etienne Balsan took her as a mistress. He was a man of wealth who bred horses. Arthur Capel was her next lover...he died in 1919 and it broke her heart. THOSE ENTWINED C's that are on of her symbols are CHANEL and CAPEL... forever!
But CoCo did NOT live a life devoid of other friendships and lovers or good times just because she was an ambitious business woman too! And she remained chic until her death!
UPDATE October 2016: This is one of my most popular posts. Now that you are here, please check out some of the other Mistresses I've included in my blog!
You can look through the archive or use the search feature in this Google Blogger to find out more about the Mistresses in my Hall of Fame Not Shame!
UPDATE October 2016: This is one of my most popular posts. Now that you are here, please check out some of the other Mistresses I've included in my blog!
You can look through the archive or use the search feature in this Google Blogger to find out more about the Mistresses in my Hall of Fame Not Shame!
Sunday, June 5, 2011
REALISTIC FOR WOMEN IS SPENDING YEARS UNPARTNERED
The idea that in youth we will meet a "good man," marry him, stay married to him, and reach an old age partnered, is a myth.
Women actually spend most of their life WITHOUT A PARTNER!
It is a dangerous myth because so most women expect nothing less and do not plan for another lifestyle that is without a MAN.
Perhaps women are essentially romantic and do not want to look at the financial basis for marriage (something quite modern - arranged or class conscious marriage has been the norm) or for mistresshood.
What is different today, though contraception is not perfect, is our options for preventing pregnancy and legal and safe abortion when we were not ready and able to afford raising a child.
Women actually spend most of their life WITHOUT A PARTNER!
It is a dangerous myth because so most women expect nothing less and do not plan for another lifestyle that is without a MAN.
Perhaps women are essentially romantic and do not want to look at the financial basis for marriage (something quite modern - arranged or class conscious marriage has been the norm) or for mistresshood.
What is different today, though contraception is not perfect, is our options for preventing pregnancy and legal and safe abortion when we were not ready and able to afford raising a child.
Friday, June 3, 2011
COCO CHANEL : DESIGNER WHO CHANGED WOMENS FASHION GOT HER START AS A MISTRESS
CoCo Chanel, the fashion designer, is our mistress for the month of June 2011 and she's been our Mistress of the Month before. Why again? I Just finished reading a wonderful book about her called...
COCO CHANEL
The Legend and The Life
by Justine Picardie
which is published by itbooks An Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
BOOK REVIEW:
Justine Picardie has created a solid and invigorating book, packed with images, some in color - portraits, fashion, sketches, posters - which amplify the understanding of the poor born orphaned girl, who lived some unconventional years in the players palace of Royallieu, owned by Etienne Balsan, and then, through hard work and diligence, made it as a world famous fashion designer.
Did Balsan move the seamstress CoCo into his "decadent lifestyle", perhaps father a child or insist she have an abortion?
Certainly he was the person who first funded her ambitions to have a millinery shop, and then design clothes.
There were other women for him - and eventually other lovers also for her - In particular a man called Boy Chapel. Most intelligently CoCo and Etienne continued to be friends until he died in 1953. When she came to Royallieu he already had a mistress there, an actress and beauty known to be well kept by men, Emilienne d'Alecon. So perhaps the romance between them has been exaggerated.
Emilienne was 14 year older than CoCo, and perhaps if not her mentor, an example. She showed CoCo how to get along with and remain friends with ex lovers and providers. (We see this characteristic also in mistress Pamela Digby Churchill Harriman.)
Blurring the possibility that she may have given birth to a son, CoCo apparently embroidered stories and cut out truths, and perhaps this was not lying so much as self preservation and promoting a reality she could deal with. Perhaps she spoke of the conclusions she had come to in making sense of her life.
She blurred her birth date, and how old she was at various experiences in her life, taking the "I am a little girl" perspective, claiming in later years to have been 16 (innocent) rather than in her twenties, when at Royallieu. In this account she was more of an observer than a participant, and so how could she be very heartbroken?
Why is all this important? Because Chanel did much to change women's lifestyles by giving them comfortable clothing that allowed them to move freely and be free.
And while, in past bios, much has been made of how CLASS played a role in preventing an aristocrat from marrying a girl of her working poor background, reading this, I feel Chanel learned some valuable lessons and accepting her station in life, if not a wife, did the extraordinary for a woman of those times coming out of nowhere.
One wonders if perhaps, living in a nunnery- orphanage, turned Coco out to be an unconventional woman, who maybe did not want children or did not want marriage.
Certainly marriage eluded her.
But she was driven and ambitious!
This book also tells about the business deals she made and regretted, and how she fought to get back (her perfumes). She was not waiting on a man to do any of these things for her. She made others wealthier than she was. She was also generous and willing to mentor, champion, or keep, younger men and friends, while cutting some family and aiding others.
C 2011 Missy Rapport/ Mistress Manifesto All Rights Reserved including Internet and International Rights
COCO CHANEL
The Legend and The Life
by Justine Picardie
which is published by itbooks An Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
BOOK REVIEW:
Justine Picardie has created a solid and invigorating book, packed with images, some in color - portraits, fashion, sketches, posters - which amplify the understanding of the poor born orphaned girl, who lived some unconventional years in the players palace of Royallieu, owned by Etienne Balsan, and then, through hard work and diligence, made it as a world famous fashion designer.
Did Balsan move the seamstress CoCo into his "decadent lifestyle", perhaps father a child or insist she have an abortion?
Certainly he was the person who first funded her ambitions to have a millinery shop, and then design clothes.
There were other women for him - and eventually other lovers also for her - In particular a man called Boy Chapel. Most intelligently CoCo and Etienne continued to be friends until he died in 1953. When she came to Royallieu he already had a mistress there, an actress and beauty known to be well kept by men, Emilienne d'Alecon. So perhaps the romance between them has been exaggerated.
Emilienne was 14 year older than CoCo, and perhaps if not her mentor, an example. She showed CoCo how to get along with and remain friends with ex lovers and providers. (We see this characteristic also in mistress Pamela Digby Churchill Harriman.)
Blurring the possibility that she may have given birth to a son, CoCo apparently embroidered stories and cut out truths, and perhaps this was not lying so much as self preservation and promoting a reality she could deal with. Perhaps she spoke of the conclusions she had come to in making sense of her life.
She blurred her birth date, and how old she was at various experiences in her life, taking the "I am a little girl" perspective, claiming in later years to have been 16 (innocent) rather than in her twenties, when at Royallieu. In this account she was more of an observer than a participant, and so how could she be very heartbroken?
Why is all this important? Because Chanel did much to change women's lifestyles by giving them comfortable clothing that allowed them to move freely and be free.
And while, in past bios, much has been made of how CLASS played a role in preventing an aristocrat from marrying a girl of her working poor background, reading this, I feel Chanel learned some valuable lessons and accepting her station in life, if not a wife, did the extraordinary for a woman of those times coming out of nowhere.
One wonders if perhaps, living in a nunnery- orphanage, turned Coco out to be an unconventional woman, who maybe did not want children or did not want marriage.
Certainly marriage eluded her.
But she was driven and ambitious!
This book also tells about the business deals she made and regretted, and how she fought to get back (her perfumes). She was not waiting on a man to do any of these things for her. She made others wealthier than she was. She was also generous and willing to mentor, champion, or keep, younger men and friends, while cutting some family and aiding others.
C 2011 Missy Rapport/ Mistress Manifesto All Rights Reserved including Internet and International Rights
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