3 posts tagged "Greta Garbo"
In Milan, Celebrating A Thirties Icon With Millennial Appeal
In a gesture of atypical extravagance, Greta Garbo would order up to a hundred pairs of shoes at a time from Salvatore Ferragamo. At the Saturday opening of a Ferragamo-sponsored exhibition devoted to Garbo’s style, Salvatore’s widow Wanda shared her impressions of the actress. “Her bearing,” she said, hauling herself up ramrod straight in an echo of Garbo’s posture. “And her eyes. They were gray.” Which helps account for Greta’s mesmerizing gaze in the black-and-white movies that sealed her reputation as the most enduringly timeless of stars. The impressively comprehensive show should also help to consolidate her status. Exhibitions of the bits and pieces that belonged to Hollywood legends tend to leave you flummoxed by how minuscule the greats were. (It’s not just exhibitions either. Can that truly be Elizabeth Taylor’s footprint sealed in cement outside Grauman’s Chinese? Is the woman a leprechaun?) Garbo’s Ferragamo footwear, at least, was reassuringly normal in size. And, according to the show at Milan’s Triennale, her outfits maintained the same remarkably consistent real-woman silhouette from the thirties to the sixties. Hence that timelessness. You could imagine almost anything she wore stepping out onto the Milanese catwalk right now. In fact, in a week where Miuccia Prada celebrated womanly shape, there couldn’t have been a more timely museum opening.
Milan, Off The Runways
Milan fashion week begins in earnest today, but the continuing financial crisis has put something of a damper on the party scene. That should make this February a perfect time to rediscover favorite old haunts. Expect the editors to beeline for the cozy trattoria La Libera—its Bugsy Malone-styled owner, Italo, has already found his way before the Sartorialist’s lens. For aperitivi, there’s the legendary Bar Jamaica. The clientele—largely from the nearby Brera Art Academy—gives it a suitably bohemian atmosphere, but it’s truly infamous for being the site where the Futurist manifesto was plotted. Fashion’s own futurists may find it an appealing watering hole. Anti-bohemians will flock to Armani’s revamped café (pictured) off Via Manzoni for the food and the model-gorgeous wait staff, or maybe just to get a feel for the new Giorgio Armani Hotel that’s due to open directly above it in early 2011. After hours, the fashion week party at Lotvs’ second floor, La Bouche, will draw crowds, but the real night owls will head to Marcello Burlon’s Pink Is Punk party. Why? The guest DJ, Margherita Missoni.
Of course, editors in their off hours are not only eating, drinking, and partying. There are plenty of art exhibitions—funded by the various fashion houses and retailers—going on for a little culture throughout the week. Louis Vuitton’s installation by Sudarshan Shetty, the Ferragamo-sponsored show on Greta Garbo’s style at the Triennale, Vladimir Restoin-Roitfeld’s exhibition of Richard Hambleton paintings (courtesy of Armani), and 10 Corso Como’s display of Tim Walker photos will all be on display. They’ll all, of course, be attended by parties to celebrate them—this is fashion week, after all.
Garbo’s Favorite Jeweler Celebrates Its 70th
“When Greta Garbo died, her family sold off all her belongings, including the knickers in her drawers—except her Verdura watch and bracelet,” said Harry Fane, the gallerist behind the 70th anniversary exhibit of the great Italian jeweler Duke Fulco di Verdura, at the exclusive sneak preview in London today. (The show will open to the public in October.) Seventy of Verdura’s prized pieces were on display (with a few even for sale), including Coco Chanel’s beloved Maltese Cross cuff bracelets, Garbo’s watch, and the now iconic “Rapt Heart,” commissioned by Tyrone Power. The Duke’s influential fans included his lover, Vogue editor Nicky De Gunzburg; his muse, Babe Paley (and wife of CBS founder Bill Paley); and Marella Agnelli. Today’s fans—Sarah Jessica Parker, Halle Berry, and Elle Macpherson included—are no slouches, either. Does the idea of selling multi-thousand dollar baubles during these hard-luck times worry vice president Nico Landrigan? “Verdura started the company in 1939, one of the worst years in economic history,” he said. “2009 doesn’t scare me.” With a client base like that, why should it?