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have you met this gorgeous couple?
who are they?
if you've studied her- you will recognize the Schiaparelli suit, or if you read blogs you've seen them making the rounds-
photograph by Cecil Beaton of Wallis Simpson before her wedding
yes-it's her.
and this page is devoted to the much loved-maligned American-but I can not help but wonder?
why is HE so tall? her little man the Duke was not so tall-in fact his stature I think is an important part of their story-but Madonna knows best-I hope.
the Duchess- good looking- no beauty she-but Madonna knows best- I hope.
all these glorious photographs of the actors in the new Madonna movie about the pair are in the new Vanity Fair.
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W.E. - the Duke was taller than Wallis...but shorter than most men of his time. Many images show them side by side with others and he does stand well above shoulder to shoulder.
ReplyDeleteCan this couple REPRESENT more than just a physical nature in the movie? Perhaps the allegory of his stature as King and she as a celebrated sleek Tang figurine of American Beauty - a chiseled beauty with stance much lauded by Beaton and Vogue then.
Many years ago, when I sold our home to Madonna...she mentioned CHANGE IS GOOD...WE have high hopes for THIS story to be told with an untainted view for the sake of the Windsor's and Madonna.
Certainly, she does her homework...firsthand knowledge can attest.
The Swan, I do think this King is about 6 feet tall-but I take heart in your hopes-I just have my doubts. I know it will be a beautiful movie-beyond that...?
ReplyDelete"WE" shall see. Of course the resemblance is there but not uncanny ~ still a perfect vehicle to tell THE Love Story thrU...who today in Hollywood could fit this bill? Soigne' Brunette Beauty is not typical and a fey Blondness is unheard of today.
ReplyDeleteLight the Candle of HOPE! I heard Weinstein bought it.
Hopefully he is a remarkable actor because the physical part does not work. I saw the exhibition at Sothebys for the auction some years ago that included some of the duke's clothes. He was not just short, but tiny. Like a boy really. That is surely an essential factor in his relationship with Wallis. Otherwise, the visuals are fabulous, however.
ReplyDelete__ The Devoted Classicist
I am very intrigued as to how this is going to be, being Madge's directoral debut!
ReplyDeletethe daily mail discusses the plot of the movie a bit- with loads of pictures. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2022002/Will-Madonnas-directorial-debut-W-E-make-forget-Swept-Away.html
ReplyDelete"The movie, which also stars Abbie Cornish and James Fox, is described as a two-tier romantic drama, looking at both the affair between King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson and the modern relationship between a Russian security guard and a married woman."
out of curiosity I did some reading and googling-2 sources are better than one. James Fox-who plays the Duke is 6'3" while THE DUKE was 5'7". Wallis' height is a little less clear-around 5'2", but for the most part her heels created the sense of being taller and almost as tall as the Duke. In the few videos and in countless images of the pair her complete physical dominance over him is palpable.
ReplyDeleteIrregardless of the height mystery, I love her black and white dress!
ReplyDeleteAnn-on that we agree! she was an impeccable mannequin!
ReplyDeleteBalenciaga...if I recall, created the Black and White stripe dress. I know the Met Coatume Institute have the Wedding outfits both wore which I have had the pleasure to see up close. Her wedding hat really is Crown like.
ReplyDeleteHi Gaye - the previous adaption was Edward & Mrs Simpson, played by Edward Fox, (not his brother James). Edward is much shorter. It was an excellent British TV programme. I will be fascinated to see Madonna's adaptation.
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ReplyDeleteoh I can't wait, at least we will have an impressive wardrobe to admire!
ReplyDeleteIn the late 1970s there was a mini-series done in the UK called
ReplyDeleteEdward and Mrs Simpson.
The little prince was played by a very, very short actor named
Edward Fox and his lines were spoken in Edward Fox's usual declamatory
manner. Mrs Simpson was played by the American actress Cynthia Harris, who was a ringer for Wallis~and hers was the role that impressed me most, because of the way she captured the emotional ambiguity of that character.
If Madonna's film gets one thing right, it will be the faithful reproduction
of Wallis's wardrobe.
A little-known fact about Mainbocher (if I have mentioned it before please forgive me). He wanted to be an opera singer and studied with a very famous New York voice teacher, Anna E. Schoen-René, who was a student of Pauline Viardot-García and her brother Manuel García. Both García's were legends in the world of singing.
ReplyDeleteWhat I find interesting is that Mainbocher was learning what is essentially a Baroque art (bel canto), and the dress in question in the first photograph in nothing but Baroque curves. Art meets Art? Making beauty is such a wonderful thing.
columnist, TW-I did see the movie and with the onset of all the publicity for this one-it might be time to revisit.
ReplyDeleteLife of Style, TW-yes it seems to wardrobe is to get top billing-fitting no less.
correction-the gown that was created for Wallis (as shown in the movie still)was by Schiaparelli.
Daniel- though I missed the designer of the dress-your revelation about Mainbocher is news. He did design the now famous-albeit faded dress Wallis wore to marry in. What style might that be likened to?
ReplyDeleteI saw the Vanity Fair article - such beautiful photographs. I hope it's good but for some reason I am rather skeptical - it somehow reminds me of the Julia Julia concept, the dual plot being the weakest part of the movie for me - I would have been happy with just Meryl Streep as Julia. At least we know the costumes and jewelry will be spectacular!!
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ReplyDeleteKathryn, as to Galiano's rant-I can not say. How he was treated by Dior speaks for itself,right or wrong perception is everything. I have been studying the era somewhat and also have been reading excerpts from Hugo Vickers-Behind Closed Doors. Wallis went right along with the ill advised tour of Germany the Duke made. There were many that believed the same of Nazi Germany's greatness-many American companies were operating in France supplying the third reich- Henry Ford, Standard Oil, not to mention the installed French govt,the infamous Chanel of the period? Appeasement in Britain was strong.It is hard to view the many without sin- a full list might be interesting.
ReplyDeleteAh Gaye! So much for my analogy! Can I read? Yes. Did I mix things up? You bet! I misled myself with the photo description of 'before the wedding."
ReplyDeleteThe Schiaparelli is Baroque while the wedding dress seems a sleek Edwardian number - sexed up Gilbert and Sullivan.
Daniel- No my error, in reviewing the Suzy Menkes book today- I saw that I had incorrectly identified the dress as made by Mainbcher- and made the change in the text-sorry I did not make that more clear. Sullivan would have liked that! As always I love your insights. pgt
ReplyDeleteTwo biographies on Wallis Simpson have recently been published. I haven't read them but the authors reportedly make a historical reassessment of Wallis Simpson and King Edward VIII. They argue, I understand, that King Edward didn't want to be king to start with.
ReplyDelete"That Woman" by Anne Sebba
http://annesebba.com/books/that-woman/
"Behind Closed Doors" by Hugo Vickers
http://www.literaryreview.co.uk/ridley_04_11.html
NPR: 'American Harlot' Wallis Simpson Gets Another Look by Vicki Barker
http://www.npr.org/2011/04/20/135546958/american-harlot-wallis-simpson-gets-another-look
KO , all great recommendations. I have the new Vickers book and am scanning at the moment-to be read later-but certainly before this movie emerges. pgt
ReplyDeleteI think if you look at the Tang Dynasty clay figures of Courtesans standing, you will see a striking silhouette of the Duchess of Windsor's Mainbocher Wallis Blue Wedding dress...I think she rather modeled the dress on the sleek restrained Chinese cheongsam rather than the fluffy Hartnell concoctions favored by the future Queen, her sister in law.
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