The Divine Ms. Simone

Incomparable!

Do You Hear What I Hear?

To those who still believe in the magic of the season:
the Merriest of Christmas.

Pensée de la Semaine

Oscar Wilde: “Hate blinds people.
Love can read the writing on the remotest star.”

"Pasquale" Telegram

BELATED STOP CHICAGO'S LYRIC PRESENTS PASQUALE STOP DUBBED POPCORN AND PASQUALE LAST SUNDAY STOP GEARED FOR CHILDREN AGES 5-12 STOP ILDREBRANDO D'ARCANGELO WAS VERY FUNNY AS TITLE ROLE STOP MARLIS PETERSEN AS NORINA WAS EVEN FUNNIER STOP COREY CRIDER AS MALATESTA WAS HILARIOUS STOP STEPHEN LORD LED THE ORCHESTRA STOP CIRCUS-LIKE AMBIANCE STOP THE KIDS WENT HOME HAPPY STOP 

Final Masterpiece

One of the last dresses that YSL designed in 2002, the year of his retirement. In the show, it was worn by the Russian model Eugenia Volodina, as seen above. It is made of silk chiffon, in a shade of blue so beguilingly lovely that Giotto himself would have been mesmerized. As the photo shows, the dress is strapless, draped and caught at the side with a perky bow in silk organza. Masterful. Sublime. Saint Laurent.

Beauty Diva

Irene Esser, 21, Venezuela’s representative in the forthcoming Miss Universe pageant in Las Vegas, being interviewed by a Spanish talk show a few weeks ago. Words are inadequate to accurately describe the beauty of this jaw-dropper. If she doesn’t win, there’s something seriously corrupt with the Miss Universe organization. If she does win, she would grabbed the headlines, the likes of which would make someone like the future queen of England green with envy, precisely because Ms. Esser would make her look like a royal nanny.

Runway Diva

Anna Bayle, fashion’s self-proclaimed First Asian Supermodel, was, in her glory days throughout the 1980s, one of high fashion’s most sought-after faces. She walked like no one else, whether on the runways of Paris, Milan, Rome, London, and New York. The 5’ 10”, Manila-born Ms. Bayle modeled for every major designer in the world: Saint Laurent, Christian Lacroix, Valentino, Thierry Mugler, Dior, Chanel, Givenchy, Versace, Oscar de la Renta, Michael Kors, Marc Jacobs, Calvin Klein, Mizrahi, et. al. And it was all because of her signature walk; a walk (above, it begins at :40.) that one New York Times critic described as though “she were crushing a cigarette butt with each step down the runway.” Ms. Bayle has long since retired, but through online videos of her triumphant years on the fashion stage, her exotic beauty and grace, but above all her inimitable walk, continue to inspire.