Working Girl

My latest post for On Pins and Needles is, for the most part, a book review 

– a review of Ginette Spanier's It Isn't All Mink. I read the book on the subway, enjoying Spanier's humor, empathizing with her during the war years, and appreciating the insight she provided on life at the House of Balmain. While reading her life story, I laughed, I almost cried, and I learned a lot. And, as always, fellow subway riders found me a bit strange.

 Can you hear the music?

 There were too many interesting quotes to include in one post, so I thought I would include some of the other quotes here:

Thoughts on waking up:

I've always had some difficulty getting out of bed in the morning, and I found it refreshing to read Spanier's opinion about her morning routine. Note: Dinkie Mann was a fellow (very successful) sales associate who married Barney Baruch Jr., a wealthy American businessman.

“I learned a lot from Dinkie Mann, the most important of all being how to wake up in the morning. Throughout my whole career people have admired me for all the wrong things: my courage, my energy, my thoroughness, my giving up the boring social life which takes place in the daytime. For one thing only do I deserve admiration and respect – getting up in the morning; and when I say so, people shrug their shoulders and think I am trying to be funny. Getting up in the morning is a daily torture. ‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ they said when I started my job at Fortnum’s. ‘You’ll get used to it in three weeks.’ Why three weeks? Why not thirty years? It’s rather worse today than it was then. Only Dinkie understood and suggested a remedy. How did I come to work, she asked me? By tube, I answered. That was bad. I was to come by bus and get out at Hyde Park Corner and walk through the Green Park. Getting up was such an agony anyway that half an hour earlier made no difference. So every morning, come hell or high water, Dinkie met me at Hyde Park Corner and we walked through the park together and I was awake when I reached Piccadilly. Moreover, I got to love the park so much that even now on fine, misty mornings, I get a deep, almost painful nostalgia for it” (47 – 48).

Thoughts on banking (and making the most of what you have, even if you have very little):

“After my first week as a shopgirl, I had ten shillings left over from my pay. This was to be the basis of my fortune. I looked around for a bank with which to open an account. Sticking to my principle of 'luxury wherever possible,' I wanted the grandest I could find, the one with the most marble and gold, so that I should enjoy going there every week. I chose Barclays, 160 Piccadilly, and took them my ten shillings. As I handed the money over the counter I told them to take good care of it, adding that it probably did not mean a lot to them, but it meant a great deal to me. I’ve had no cause to regret my choice of bankers; they have always been perfectly sweet to me, not only when I put money in but even when I took rather too much out” (48).

Memories about World War II and brief moments of rebellion:

“Everyone talked in low, almost inaudible voices. There were no snatches of conversation to overhear in the street…No 'And he said, and I said, and he said, and I said,' which is part of street life, particularly in France” (81).

“Every now and then, of course, I couldn’t stand it, and I burst out and felt better. For example, one fourteenth of July, Bastille Day, we were with friends in a restaurant and we started quarrelling about the possibility of an English defeat, and my voice got louder and louder, and I was sure everyone was listening and I didn’t care. The B.B.C. had told us to wear red, white, and blue ribbons in our buttonholes to show Vichy we were not done yet, and a blond pro-Vichy young man suddenly asked me what my tricolor rosette meant. Exasperated, I shouted, 'The B.B.C. told me to.' (It was enough to send Paul-Emile to a concentration camp.) And when the excited feeling—the pride in what I had done—wore off, I worried myself sick.

“Another time I went slightly crazy and marked an enormous V sign and the Cross of Lorraine with my lipstick on the window screen of a German car” (81).

Thoughts on diligent and dedicated work at a job that inspires you:

“It is easy to imagine how I felt in the evenings. I got tired. I still do. The standing, the arguing, and the lack of air, to say nothing of the tension and the artificial light, took toll of my nervous system. They still do. I am on my feet eight hours a day, four in the morning and four in the afternoon. I quite often feel as if I had forgotten to breathe, because of the couture house atmosphere. If I try to open a window someone instantly closes it; and it is quite impossible to light a grand salon properly without strong arc lights” (186).

"I made bad mistakes. I was not tactful. I was violent, uncompromising. As I grew tired I became more violent. Nowadays, although I often get whipped up about my work, I lose my temper less often; I am, it seems to me, calmer and more dignified than is humanly possible! And in spite of all the difficulties I became very interested in, and very fond of, the human beings involved in couture. And I also, of course, enjoyed the constant drama. I might have drowned in the ocean of haute couture, but I did not. I had to swim. As I did so I learned" (187).

And as I read and as I write, so I learn.

The Work Blog: Five Fascinating Women

To celebrate Women’s History Month, I thought it would be interesting to highlight the lives and accomplishments of five local ladies– five women with ties to New England. Whether they were born here, raised here, or worked here, these five women made substantial contributions to sports, science, politics, music and art:

1. Cornelia Thurza Crosby, the First Maine Guide – Cornelia “Fly Rod” Crosby was a writer, a sportswoman, and a public-relations mastermind. Born in 1854, she was the first person to receive a Maine guiding license. Adept at fly-fishing, she once caught over 200 trout in one day, and she is also said to have competed against Annie Oakley in a sharpshooting competition. Her popular column, "Fly Rod's Note Book," was syndicated across the East Coast, and she was equally well known for the scandalous knee-length skirts she would wear to fairs and shows across the country, where she would tout the virtues of Maine’s forests, lakes, and streams to other outdoor enthusiasts. She died in 1946.

2. Nettie Maria Stevens, Brilliant Geneticist – Nettie Maria Stevens (1861 – 1912) has ties to two New England states; she was born in Vermont and attended school in Massachusetts. After earning her doctorate, she received a grant to conduct independent research in order to learn how the sex of human progeny is determined. While studying mealworms, Stevens discovered differences between male and female chromosomes and through additional studies, verified a consistent correlation between chromosome appearance and sex. Credit for this discovery is often given to her colleague, Edmund Wilson, who published a paper with the same conclusions around the same time.

3. Mary Katherine Goddard, Political Postmistress – Mary Katherine Goddard, born in Connecticut in 1738, was the first woman publisher in America and First American Postmistress. She was also a bookstore owner and the author of an almanac. On January 18, 1777, Goddard committed treason by publishing the first signed copies of the Declaration of Independence. (She was never charged.) After a successful career as the popular Postmistress of the Baltimore post office, she was removed from her position when the Postmaster General ruled that the position required more “than a woman could undertake."  She died in August 1816.

4. Sarah Caldwell, “First Lady of American Opera” – Sarah Caldwell was born in Arkansas in 1924. A child prodigy, she had mastered the violin by age ten and had graduated high school by age fourteen. She moved to Boston in the 1940’s to study at the New England Conservatory, and later returned to Boston in 1952 to head the Boston University Opera Group. In 1954, she started the Boston Opera Group (later renamed the Opera Company of Boston) and was known for directing excellent and innovative productions of difficult operas. She died in Maine in 2006.

5. Anni Albers, Innovative Artist – born in Germany in 1899, Albers was a textile designer and printer who studied at the Bauhaus and after moving to America, taught textile arts at Black Mountain College in North Carolina. As the wife of Josef Albers, she is well known for her abstract designs focusing on form and function. She was the first textile artist to create innovative new fabrics combining synthetic and natural fibers. She moved to Connecticut in 1950, and lived there until her death in 1994.

Bonus Biography:  Charley Parkhurst, Pioneer Woman – born Mary Parkhurst in 1812 in Lebanon, New Hampshire, Charley Parkhurst was abandoned by her father and raised in an orphanage. After living for a time in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, she moved to California at the start of the Gold Rush and became known as one of the best coach drivers in the West.  She lived her life as a man, and it wasn’t until she died in 1879 that her closest friends learned that she was a biological woman.

For this list, I chose women who exemplified great perseverance and determination.While their names and accomplishments may not be general knowledge, their insight and abilities contributed to the life we enjoy today. 

Which woman/women inspire you? I'd love to hear!

Somebody That I Used to Know

Read the interview here.

So, I'm sitting here watching Bullitt, and suddenly realized I never posted those images/quotes from Newsweek I've been collecting:

Some of Steve McQueen's favorite accessories.

An article by Johnny Depp

Advice from Christine Lagarde, managing director of the IMF

 

Why America Should Care About the Collapse of European Unity

Five Architects Who Planned the Future

 Five post from Friday:

Those of us who work in [department] often speak with architects and review architectural plans. And many of these plans look similar – one box, or two boxes, or one curved wall stuck on a box. It’s easy to compare buildings to small squares and tall rectangles.

But, as we know, architecture can be far more interesting. As I was speaking with an architect last week, I began thinking about the fascinating minds responsible for the masterpieces that continue to capture our attention – Andrea Palladio, Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Kahn, Greene and Greene, Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius, Inigo Jones, Richard Neutra, Charles Mackintosh, Santiago Calatrava, Zaha Hadid, et al. Despite my somewhat cursory knowledge of architecture, I realize that condensing a list of architects to five talented folks would be impossible.

Instead, I’ve decided to focus on architects whose ideas inspired future generations. While many of their ideas remained on paper, these visionaries had the insight to create spaces worthy of housing the zeitgeist they helped define:   

1. Louis Sullivan, the “Father of Skyscrapers.” When you think of Chicago, or better yet, any city skyline, you should think of Louis Sullivan. An early adopter of the modern construction methods, he used steel framing and linear ornamentation to emphasize the towering heights that could not be achieved with masonry.

2. Vladimir Tatlin. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, Constructivist architects sought to define communist architecture – a style emphasizing both modernism and equality. Tatlin, who was also a painter, did not limit his ideas to accepted architectural forms, but rather ignored these limitations and created a structure with rotating elements, The Monument to the Third International.

3. Adolf Loos is better known for his theories than his works. His essay, “Ornament and Crime” is a scathing critique of the excess ornamentation popularized by Art Nouveau. His claims, while bombastic, sought to champion a strong relationship between form and function. Loos' concepts were similar to those proponed by the founders of The Bauhaus school, an institution known for the design and creation of well-made and moderately priced structures and furnishings.

4. Antonio Sant'Elia. Influenced by Adolf Loos and associated with the Futurist movement, Sant’Elia imagined Italy’s industrial possibilities in a series of design drawings, La Citta Nuova. While none of his works were ever realized, he influenced a new generation of architects who began to consider structures as machines for living.

5. Antoni Gaudi, a true individual. His works, including Casa Batlló and the never completed Sagrada Familia, recall drip castles, dragons, and fish scales. Instantly recognizable all over the world, his designs encouraged later architects to depart from classical forms and straight lines and explore whimsical elements.

Funnily enough, I began writing this post before the [meeting] that took place this afternoon. What fun to hear the Frank Gehry has accepted an invitation to attend a [company] event! There are some seriously jealous people here at the [Massachusetts] office! Well, at least one.

What architects would you include in a top five list? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

The Women of Prohibition

Dance the Charleston...
At a speakeasy...
Drinking the best New England beers!

So, by now, I'm assuming that you've had a chance to watch Prohibition, the latest documentary from Ken Burns and Lynn Novak, which was playing almost continuously on PBS last week.

If you didn't, you missed a fast-paced and incredibly interesting study of how prohibition developed, how it ultimately failed, and how it forever changed the political landscape of the United States. 

I was particularly fascinated by the women who rose to fame and notoriety in those years. In school, it always seems we skipped past prohibition to discuss World War II, and barely finished the war before finals arrived. And we hardly ever discussed women in history class beyond Eleanor Roosevelt, Rosa Parks and Jackie Kennedy.

Prohibition featured three women whom I found particularly interesting: Carry Nation, Lois Long, and Mabel Walker Willebrandt.

Disappointed with the lackadaisical attitude of elected officials, Carrie Nation resorted to lawlessness to enforce the Kansas' dry laws. She carried her hatchet from dry town to dry town, defacing the property of many a saloon proprietor. I'm a little disappointed that she wasn't included in "And Then There's Maude":

Lady Godiva was a freedom rider,
she didn't care of the whole world looked.
Joan of Arc, with the lord to guide her,
she was a sister who really cooked.
Isadora was a first bra burner
Ain't ya glad she showed up?
And when the country was falling apart
Betsy Ross got it all sewed up.... 

Lois Long reminds me of Katherine Brush. (I've posted about her before.) Long, who was from a prominent and very conservative family, achieved prominence by writing about about the youth, glamor, and parties, parties, parties. While Brush is well-known for her short stories and novels, Long found fame as Lipstick, the pseudonym she signed underneath her witty columns describing New York nightlife and fashion in The New Yorker. Like Brush, she smoked, she danced, she drank, and she wore her skirts too short. And the public couldn't get enough of her escapades.

Mabel Walker Willebrandt is my favorite of these three ladies. Intelligent and determined, she accepted the position of Assistant Attorney General and the responsibility to enforce the Volstead Act throughout the nation. Armed with a small force and an even smaller budget, she continued to uphold and enforce the law amidst rampant government corruption and the increasing support of the wet agenda in many major cities.

The documentary reminded me of the recent uproar amongst small breweries in Massachusetts. In August, the State Alcohol Commission announced that all breweries must grow or locally source half of the hops used in beer production. The licensing rule was created to encourage agricultural development in the Bay State, but it would have negatively affected over 24 local breweries, who would have found meeting the new standard impossible or too expensive. Fortunately, the Commission re-evaluated the rule and decided to abandoned it. 

I'll drink to that, Boston!

Gorey Surrealism

I first encountered Lee Miller at the V&A in 2008:

Early this summer, I ran into her (and her son, Anthony Penrose) at the PEM:

And then I saw her again in W magazine this August:

Penrose's stories about her life as an artist, a lover, a Surrealist, a mother, and an alcoholic were well-rehearsed but fascinating.

Here's what Edward Gorey had to say about Surrealism in a 1997 interview for Speak:

Q. Are you interested in Dada?

Yes. I regret that i wasn't around when it was [happening]. I'm also very interested in Surrealism. I think that most of the stuff that was produced was not terribly interesting. All you have to do is hand me a book of Surrealist short stories and I go to sleep instantly. The art is marginally more interesting. The whole theory of Surrealism I'm all for. And even more so with Dada. By the time you get to the Surrealists, they're getting more philosophical.

(Interviewer: Ed Pinsent) 

Jackie Kennedy and Sailing

Over the past few weeks I've been busy developing a new project, and since my non-working  hours are limited, I've neglected the blog. I'm sorry, faithful readers. I do appreciate you!

Did anyone else spend a good part of last week reading and listening to snippets of the long-awaited Jackie Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy?

In support of my local library, I joined the waiting list for the CD's. Hah.

Despite the negative reviews, I am hopeful that the interviews have some substance and give some insight into how her husband's actions and untimely death affected her. She cannot have thought that her scathing opinion of her political contemporaries were worth recording. And to gloss over her obviously difficult marriage to JFK? I hope that, even in mourning, she was able to honestly reflect on the past. But then again, she was protecting a legacy she worked hard to build.

Always a style icon, here's an image I found this week; it's one I've never seen before:

  

 

Lovely, lovely, lovely!

Quilted

Quick re-post of the New York Times article on alt-quilting.

It's great to see quilting get so much attention! Check out's Boo Davis' site here.

Stick it to me

I like opening the mail at work because I see some of the most interesting stationary designs and the most dramatic handwriting. However, I rarely see an interesting stamp, so I've enjoyed finding some of the USPS's recent designs attached to Crane's stationary and retro 70's envelopes alike.

This latest set of commemorative stamps has captured my fancy, and I'm planning on purchasing a set or two. I wish I was hosting a large party this spring; I would love to use these designs en masse!

Francis Folsom Cleveland Preston

Francis Cleveland

Youngest First Lady at 21. Fashion icon. Mother. Social reformer.

An excerpt from the First Ladies National Library website: She also voiced her personal support to the Princes Kaiulani of Hawaii in her efforts to convince Washington lawmakers to permit her to succeed to the Hawaiian throne which her aunt Queen Liliuokalani had been coerced from by American business interests; whether Frances Cleveland's sympathy for the effort to restore the monarchy influenced the President's sending of a new U.S. minister to Hawaii to facilitate the restoration (which failed) is, however, is unknown.

Mourning the Loss

Lee Alexander McQueen is dead. 

 

Courtesy of the Montreal Gazette.

I am shocked by his untimely passing and wish his family and friends peace during this time.

This will devastate the fashion world; he was a true visionary!

Fallaci at BU

"The secret of happiness is freedom, the secret of freedom is courage."  -- Oriana Fallaci

I'm taking an evening class at BU this semester, and I was elated to find a display of some of Fallaci's notebooks along with some photographs on the main floor of the Mugar Memorial Library. The display is part of  the exhibit titled A View from the Vault: Exhibitions from the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center. It's worth visiting if you are in the area. Along with Fallaci's notebooks, you can see a pair of Fred Astaire's dancing shoes, and other personal memorabilia from other well-known figures like Cab Calloway, Bette Davis, and W. Somerset Maugham.


Some pictures of Oriana Fallaci:

Rhoda Morgenstern

Rhoda, Valerie Harper's character on MTM and the spin-off Rhoda, was seventies chic with her boho layers of shawls, fringe coats, and headscarves.















Which reminds me of Lanvin's Pre-fall show (I lovelovelove the tassel necklace):

 I think polyester trumped lace in the 70's, and I haven't seen any matching pant/skirt and sweater sets that Rhoda wore on any of the runways as yet. While I like wearing bold colors, I much prefer the classic dark reds, leopard print, and neutrals used by Lanvin.


 I feel inspired. Let's all wear side-tie headscarves today.

Charlotte Perriand

Charlotte Perriand worked with Le Corbusier for several years as an interior  and furniture designer. She designed some of the furniture for which Corbu took credit, including the iconic Chaise Lounge upholstered in pony hair.

What I like most about Charlotte is her sense of fashion, which was radical for the conservative 1920's. In the photo on the right she is wearing a great graphic print dress with a dropped waist and a knee-length hem. She also designed the chromed ball-bearing necklace she is wearing in the photo.

I love this necklace -- it's simple and timeless.  We see these elements in her furniture designs.

Charlotte reposing in her iconic chair.

Charlotte's apartment, 1927. My prof told me this great story: Charlotte went to see Le Corbusier about a job, but he disliked women, so he dismissed her after telling her that they "did not embroider pillows at his studio."

Daringly, she invited him to see her apartment, which she had decorated entirely in chrome. It was totally unlike anything Corbu had ever seen, and he hired her. She was 24.

Now, I googled this story before posting it, and there seems to be several versions of her interview and how she began working for Corbu. Some say that Corbu saw an installation of her work, Bar sous le toit, and subsequently decided to hire her. But I like my version. I'd like to think that this is a photo or her apartment and that she had the confidence to invite Corbu to see her work, even after he dismissed her thoughtlessly.