Bygone Era - Fashion. “Strength and beauty must go hand in hand” ― Louisa May Alcott.

Barbara Goalen in February 1954 Julian Rose Suit

Anne Fogarty Vogue 1954

Adrian 1947 Suit with gingham insets and gloves

H & E Shapiro 1952. Suzy Parker

Jacques Griffe gown. Photograph by Guy Arsac 1955

Dorian Leigh for Bergdorf Goodman 1948. Richard Avedon photographer.

Dior for L’Officiel, 1956.

Marie Helene Arnaud in Chanel. 1959 photo by Peter Fink.

Dior 1953. Photograph by Willy Maywald

Christian Dior "Oblique Line" 1950

Christian Dior 1953

Balenciaga 1956

 

"An 87 Year Old College Student Named Rose

The first day of school our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn’t already know. 
I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder. I turned round to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming up at me 
with a smile that lit up her entire being. 
She said, “Hi handsome. My name is Rose. I’m eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a hug?”
I laughed and enthusiastically responded, “Of course you may!” and she gave me a giant squeeze. 
“Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?” I asked.
She jokingly replied, “I’m here to meet a rich husband, get married, and have a couple of kids…”
“No seriously,” I asked. I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age.
“I always dreamed of having a college education and now I’m getting one!” she told me.
After class, we walked to the student union building and shared a chocolate milkshake. We became instant friends. Every day for the 
next three months, we would leave class together and talk nonstop. I was always mesmerized listening to this “time machine” as she shared her wisdom and experience with me. 
Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and she easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and she revelled in the attention bestowed upon her from the other students. She was living it up. 
At the end of the semester, we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet. I’ll never forget what she taught us. She was introduced and stepped up to the podium.
As she began to deliver her prepared speech, she dropped her three by five cards on the floor. Frustrated and a little embarrassed she leaned into the microphone and simply said, “I’m sorry I’m so jittery. I gave up beer for Lent and this whiskey is killing me! I’ll never get my speech back in order so let me just tell you what I know.”
As we laughed, she cleared her throat and began, “We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing. There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy and achieving success. You have to laugh and find humour every day. 
You’ve got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die.
We have so many people walking around who are dead and don’t even know it! There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up.
If you are nineteen years old, lie in bed for one full year, and don’t do one productive thing, you will turn twenty years old.
If I am eighty-seven years old, stay in bed for a year, and never do anything I will turn eighty-eight. 
Anybody can grow older. That doesn’t take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding opportunity in change. 
Have no regrets.
The elderly usually don’t have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets.”
She concluded her speech by courageously singing “The Rose.”
She challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live them out in our daily lives.
At the year’s end, Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago. One week after graduation, Rose died peacefully in her sleep.
Over two thousand-college students attended, her funeral in tribute to the wonderful woman who taught by example that it’s never too late to be all you can possibly be.
These words have been passed along in loving memory of ROSE.
REMEMBER, GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY. GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL.
We make a Living by what we get; We make a Life by what we give."

 

''Jewelry takes people’s minds and eyes off your wrinkles!''

Elizabeth Taylor's iconic jewelry.

La Peregina
Before Elizabeth Taylor owned this teardrop-shaped pearl, it was once the property of both Anne Boelyn and Queen Mary Tudor of England. This stunning pearl is worth between $2 million and $3 million today. Richard Burton bought it at an auction in 1969 for $37,000, outbidding a member of the Spanish Royal family. It’s one of the most historical pearls in the world, but was almost eaten by one of Taylor’s dogs.

                        

Queen Victoria's Diamond and Emerald Tiara and Parure

Harry Winston donated the famous Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian Institution in 1958 mailing it in a plain brown package by registered mail and insured for one million dollars.

Verdura Emerald Heart

Trifari 'Alfred Philippe' Gold Pave Emerald and Sapphire Ballerina Pin

“A woman with good shoes is never ugly.” – Coco Chanel

                                                          Miu Miu Fall 2015

 

Prada 2017

“One shoe can change your life.” – Cinderella

                                                                  Dolce & Gabbana 

 

                                                          Dolce & Gabbana 

“A woman can carry a bag, but it is the shoe that carries the woman.” – Christian Louboutin

“You can never take too much care over the choice of your shoes. Too many women think that they are unimportant, but the real proof of an elegant woman is what is on her feet.” — Christian Dior

Roger Vivier for House of Dior evening shoes. Silk, leather, glass. 

Gift of Valerian Stux-Rybar, 1979.

 

House of Charles Jourdan  1965 (French, founded 1919)

                                                                      Roger Vivier 1960's

1950's

                      

Roger Vivier for Dior, 1950's. The Kyoto Costume Institute

Rayne's Wedgwood Jasperware heels made originally in 1958.

Roger Vivier for Dior 1957

Roger Vivier 1958

Christian Dior 1954 by Delman

Roger Vivier 1952 for Christian Dior

“I never dreamed about success. I worked for it.” —Estée Lauder

 

1. "Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts." — Winston S. Churchill

1. "It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation." — Herman Melville

1. "The road to success and the road to failure are almost exactly the same." — Colin R. Davis

1. “Success usually comes to those who are too busy looking for it.” — Henry David Thoreau
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3. “Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.” —Dale Carnegie

1. "Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. The slogan 'Press On' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race." —Calvin Coolidge
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3. “There are three ways to ultimate success: The first way is to be kind. The second way is to be kind. The third way is to be kind.” —Mister Rogers
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5. “Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best of which you are capable.” —John Wooden

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2. “Success is getting what you want, happiness is wanting what you get.” ―W. P. Kinsella

Chocolate black bean cake

Ingredients

100g low fat spread, plus extra for greasing

Black eyed beans, cooked

400g tin black beans drained and rinsed

5 eggs

2tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract

100g light Brown Sugar

50g cocoa Powder

1tsp baking powder

1 teaspoons, level 

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

 

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180°C, fan 160°C, gas mark 4. Grease an 18cm cake tin with low fat spread and line with baking paper.

Put the black beans, 3 of the eggs and the vanilla bean paste in a food processor and blitz until smooth.

In a large mixing bowl, beat together the low fat spread and sugar using a hand-held electric whisk until pale and fluffy. Add the remaining eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the black bean mixture to the bowl and stir until well combined. Finally, gently fold in the cocoa powder, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda until everything is incorporated.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for 15 minutes, and then turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely.

Decorate as desired.

Recipe: The Mail. Weight Watchers.