Hidden Treasures

Hello Be-Bops! How are you doing?

Although I've read many posts about the great artist Gil Elvgren, this will be my turn but I don't want to write about his life and career because I bet you know it.

Self portrait

I always felt attracted to his art. It reads, he was one of the most important Pin Up and glamour artists of the 20th century.
Elvgren never portrayed women like femme fatale. His illustrations were cute, sweet and cheeky at once. His gals could be 'the girl next door', who revealed their lingerie and stockings in embarrasing situations: a breeze, an arrow, a posture, a whiteware, a playful pet...Anything was the perfect pretext for lifting their skirts up and showing their lovely legs. I do recommend you this article: Gil Elvgren and his real Pin Ups. Have a look! you will love it!

Cooling Off (A Cool Number) (1958)

Finders Keepers (1945)

Hold Everything (1962)

Screen Test (1968)

The Wrong Nail (1967)

Next picture shows my custom Pin Up floor lamp. It's decorating my living room from now on :)

Custom Pin Up Floor Lamp ♥

Did you like it?

What would you need to have one?

Ingredients :)

I bought a cheap paper floor lamp, you can find lots of them in IKEA. The Pin Up illustrations belonged to an old calendar, but you can print some of them from the internet. It's so easy to do! :)
If you need some inspiration, just have a look around this beautiful blog: Vintage. El Glamour de Antaño. Nena Kosta designs some cute collages and they would be grand for your custom lamp! :)

To finish, next picture was taken by my boyfriend 

and I was the humble model.

It's my little tribute to Gil Elvgren ♥

My name is Guybrush Threepwood
and I want to be a pirate! hahaha ;)

This was the inspirational picture: Hidden Treasures (1954)

Hidden Treasures (1954)

Love,

♡Lorena Be-Bop♡

Frosty Blondes

Men prefer blondes and the director Alfred Hitchcock fetishized them. During his career, he glorified them as 'Frosty blondes', perfect women.

Anny Ondra in Blackmail (1929)

A succession of beauties girls combined feminine refinement and sex appeal in a way that was meticulously stylized. Hitchcock heroines tended to be lovely, cool blondes who seemed proper at first, but when aroused by passion or danger responded in a sensual, animal or even criminal way.

Carole Lombard in Mr. and Mrs. Smith (1941)

While they all shared some qualities, it would be a mistake to view them as a cookie-cutter blondes. The continuous and symbolic evolution of the Hitchcock heroine made them very different from each other.

Marlene Dietrich, in State Fright (1950), was one of the earliest of the type and a knowing, glacial heroine. In the film, Charlotte Inwood, a glamorous singer, with her chiseled cheekbones and sharply arched brows, murders her husband, and then tries to pin the crime on her lover.

Marlene Dietrich in Stage Fright (1950)

Kim Novak was more voluptuous, and throughout Vertigo (1958) tantalizingly wore her hair in a tightly coiled French twist (a thinly veiled Hitchcockian metaphor, of course, for tightly coiled feminine passion).

Kim Novak as Madeleine in Vertigo (1958)

Eva Marie Saint in North by Northwest (1959) possessed, by comparison, a brittle and seductive perfection. She plays Eve Kendall, and she is not as innocent as she looks. 

Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint in North by Northwest (1959)

Even the choice of lipstick colour could be loaded with symbolism. Hitchcock's 'good' female characters wore cool, barely-there makeup to minimize their sexuality, while lipstick blatantly signified sex. For instance, Kim Novak as the idealized Madeleine in Vertigo has light-pink lips and blonde hair, but as 'imperfect' Judy has coppery hair and red lips.

Kim Novak as Judy in Vertigo (1958)

My little tribute for Vertigo and Kim Novak

Madeleine and Judy, Vertigo (1958)

But it was Grace Kelly who was the quintessential 'snow-covered volcano'. Kelly was one of the definitive beauties of the 1950's. An icon of elegance and refinement, she effortlessly portrayed the haughty allure that so appealed to Hitchcock, for whom she starred in Dial M for Murder (1954), Rear Window (1954) and To Catch a Thief (1955). She retired from film to become Monegasque royalty in 1956, but always credits Hitchcock for being her one, true cinematic teacher: 'He taught me everything. It was thanks to him that I understood that murder scenes should be shot like love scenes, and love scenes like murder scenes'.

Grace Kelly and Alfred Hitchcock in Rear Window (1954)

Rear Window (1954)

Cary Grant and Grace Kelly in To Catch a Thief (1955)
♥♥♥I love this couple ♥♥♥

On the other hand, the director once said, 'You know why I favour sophisticated blondes in my films?' 'We're after the drawing-room type, the real ladies, who become whores once they're in the bedroom'.

I bet, he preferred the white bird haha x)

Love,

♡Lorena Be-Bop♡

Snoods for safety

Hello Be-Bops! How was your weekend? Mine was great! :)

Today, I'm posting a must-have complement from Arthelia's Attic etsy shop: This is a custom snood. HRF is offering you a chance to win one on her lovely blog 'Haute Rockabilly Fashionista'.

Chocolate Brown is my favorite colour ♥

Each snood comes with a matching grosgrain ribbon at the top which is pinned on so it can be removed if you prefer.

I love the matching ribbon ♥

And you can choose your favorite colour, that goes with your hair colour. See all of them, here.

Did you like it? Hurry! These are the rules for entry. It's open worldwide.

1. You must be a blog subscriber (Click here)

2. You will need to post something on your blog about the giveaway (as I did)

3. Leave her a comment below to let me know you want to be entered (Click here).

Entries will be taken until January 14th. The drawing will be held on January 15th.

Arthelia's Attic etsy shop craft these hair snoods using a vintage pattern from 1942. This reminded me of a famous video, I watched some years ago. 

During the WWII, in the early 1940's, Veronica Lake had to change her trademark peek-a-boo hairstyle to encourage women working in war industry factories to adopt more practical, safer hairstyles. Women had to cover their hair, using safety caps too.

Take a look at this video!, you will love it:

Peek-a.boo hairstyle

Fortunately, I am not working in a war industry factory but it would be great to win one of these custom snoods. Windy days are terrible in Ireland. Next picture proves it.

It was taken last August (yep I was wearing a coat, as usual) I started the outing, with my gorgeous victory rolls hairdo...This was the end hahaha :/

Crossing my fingers!!! :)

My hair would love to win a snood in windy days x')

Thank you HRF, Good Luck Ladies and...Of course

Baci Tutti! ;)

♡Lorena Be-Bop♡

I'm your Hoochie Coochie Girl

Hello Dearies! Today, as I said on Facebop, I'm bringing along a different post and a new section on the blog, called: risqué. 

Have you ever listened to this song? 

'Hoochie Coochie Man' is a blues written by Willie Dixon and first recorded by the great Muddy Waters in 1954 in Chicago. The song was a major hit upon its release, reaching #8 on Billboard magazine's Black Singles chart. The intro and verse to Muddy Water's version feature stop-time while the chorus features a refrain. According to an account by Dave Van Ronk, Muddy Waters stated that the song is supposed to have a comic effect. 

The gypsy woman told my mother

Before I was born

I got a boy child's coming

He's gonna be a son of a gun

He gonna make pretty women's

Jump and shout

Then the world wanna know

What this all about

But you know I'm him

Everybody knows I'm him

Well you know I'm the hoochie coochie man

Everybody knows I'm him

I got a black cat bone

I got a mojo too

I got the Johnny Concheroo

I'm gonna mess with you

I'm gonna make you girls

Lead me by my hand

Then the world will know

The hoochie coochie man

But you know I'm him

Everybody knows I'm him

Oh you know I'm the hoochie coochie man

Everybody knows I'm him

On the seventh hours

On the seventh day

On the seventh month

The seven doctors say

He was born for good luck

And that you'll see

I got seven hundred dollars

Don't you mess with me

But you know I'm him

Everybody knows I'm him

Well you know I'm the hoochie coochie man

Everybody knows I'm him

The hoochie coochie was a sexually provocative belly dance that originated at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition in 1876. It became wildly popular during and after the Chicago World's Fair in 1893. Described by the New York Journal in 1893 as 'Neither dancing of the head nor the feet', it was a belly dance performed by women of an Eastern European gypsy heritage, often as part of travelling 'sideshows'. Gooch, goochie or gootchie was apparently already a term in the American South term for a woman's vagina, and hoochie coochie has been suggested as referring directly to sex.

Since the dance was performed by women, a 'hoochie coochie man' either watched them or ran the show. Alternatively, from the directly sexual meaning of hoochie coochie, he greatly enjoyed sexual intercourse. The dance was still popular at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition: the World's Fair of 1904, but had all but disappeared by the Second World War; the song was therefore harking back to an earlier 'golden' era.

Bellydancer, circa 1893 (source)

That said, in relation with the title, I'd like to show you a magazine from 1946. I got it at the same  vintage fair in Barcelona, where I bought Elvis' vinyls too.
Paris-Hollywood was a French erotic magazine. It reminds me of the classic 'Picturegoer' magazine, because it's feauring stars and showgirls of stage and screen too, but a little more risqué in content at times. There are some 'art pose' pictures. It's printed on similar newsprint type paper. Monotone covers and interior mostly. Mine has a centre page pull out art pin up too.
Our cover girl is Lily Bontemps. Born in 1921 and she died in 1979. She was a pretty woman who starred in 8 films, some with Louis de Funès who wasn't known yet as he is today:

- Le bagnard (1950).

- Le Chéri de sa concierge (1951).

- Au diable la vertu (1952).

- L'île aux femmes nues (1952).

- Le Chevalier de la nuit (1953).

- Scènes de ménage (1954).

- L'amour à la mer (1962).

- Au pan coupé (1968).

Lily Bontemps in the film 'Au diable la vertu' (1952) (Source)

Au Diable La Vertu! release poster

And now...this is the gallery of pics. Hope you like them :)

Cover #73 Paris-Hollywood 

Pin Up art of the centre page

Strip tease

Back cover #73 Paris-Hollywood 

Les petits secrets de la secrétaire

Maryse est sauvée des eaux

La dame de coeur

Miss Dais reçoit chez elle

Quand une Blonde recontre une autre Blonde

La statue de chair

Les surprises d'une nuir de noces

Ca c'est tapé

Ne pas prende son travail par dessous la jambe

Paris-Hollywood indiscret

Les confidences de Maggy

Love,

♡Lorena Be-Bop♡

The Space Age in 1964

Hello Be-Bops! Today I went for a walk, wearing one of my most comfortable handbags. It's a faux crocodile one, designed by Courrèges. I bought it some years ago, in a thrift shop. It was in a perfect state of preservation as you can see on the pictures below, but I'm not sure how old it is...I can only say, it's inspired by a classic men's briefcase.

Front picture

Side picture

André Courrèges was born in 1923, he graduated as an engineer at the age of 25. In 1950, he went to Paris to work at the fashion house of Jeanne Lafaurie, before securing a position at Balenciaga. He worked for the couture master for ten years, honing his skills in the cut and constructions of garments. In 1961, with his mentor's blessing, he left to set up his own house.

André Courrèges

His look was radically different not only from that of Balenciaga, but also from just about everything that was going on in a contemporary fashion. His wife and partner Coqueline organized the presentation of his collections, which she conceived explicitly as 'a show', energized by loud music and dancing young models.

'A show' as a presentation of his collection

His spring 1964 collection, with its linear minidresses and futuristic tailoring, confounded the experts. The look was created using heavyweight fabrics such as gabardine that held a stiff, uncompromising shape. Moreover, he used materials hitherto unheard of in the couture atelier: metal, plastic and a cutting-edge innovation called PVC. Many of the outfits had cut-out panels, exposing backs, waists and midriffs, and shockingly they were also often worn without a bra.

He was in love with white and red colours :)

Accessories included flat boots, goggles, and helmets inspired by the equipment used by astronauts. With his stark shapes and white and metallic colourways, Courrèges was celebrated as a designer of the Space Age.

The Space girl

Next pictures show a gorgeous Audrey Hepburn, they were taking by Douglas Kirkland in 1965.

Audrey Hepburn dressed Courrèges' designs (1965)

She looked a little bit weird in this one, didn't she?

She dressed Courregès' designs in two movies: 'How to steal a million' and 'Two for the road'.

How to steal a million (1966)

Two for the road (1967)

From the perspective of publicity, the collection was an absolute sensation. British Vogue declared 1964 'the year of Courrèges'. His clothes represented a couture version of the 'Youthquake'-driven style, and heralded the arrival of the 'moon girl' look.

Ferrari advertisement from the 60's featuring Courrèges' models.

Sondra Petersen for Vogue in Courrèges sunglasses (1965).

Moon girl collection

His career may have been short-lived but his influence was seismic. Courrèges made trousers acceptable daywear for fashionable women, and to this day he vies with Mary Quant for the credit of being the inventor of miniskirt.

Who was the inventor of miniskirt? ♥♥♥

Massiel, a Spanish pop singer, dressed one Courrèges' design, which was her good-luck charm, because she won the Eurovision Song Contest 1968 with the song 'La, la, la' :)

Love,

♡Lorena Be-Bop♡