Gangster Chic: Bonnie & Clyde

One of the most stylish movies ever is the film Bonny & Clyde (1967).  The film is based upon the real lifes of Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker, a bank robbing and murdering gangster couple from the 1930’s, played by Warren Beatty and an incredible pretty Faye Dunaway.

The real Bonny and Clyde

 

The funny thing about the movie is that it has set the standard for the looks of criminal couples: classic suits, pencil skirts, berets and neck scarfs. (The real Bonnie Parker could never have worn a pencil skirt, because they first made an entree in fashion in the 1940’s….).

The movie is more than 30 years old, but still a major source of inspiration for film, fashion and music today. Like in this month’s edition of US Harper’s Bazaar magazine: 

Or this fashion shoot from the New York Post (2009):

They are currently shooting a remake of the film with Hilary Duff as Bonnie (why!?!), it should be finished this fall. This is how they portraited her in Allure magazine (May 2008):

A musical remake was made in 1968 by Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot. The song is based on a poem written by Bonnie Parker herself, a few weeks before she and Clyde Barrow were shot.

And finally, the Raveonettes paying homage to the duo:

The sounds of Karen Elson

She is one of my all time favorite models and is a wonderful style icon with her vintage Americana style. Bow down to Miss Karen Elson. Model, mom, musician and vintage store holder. The expression tripple quadruple threat doesn’t even cover the greatness of Elson. This post however is about one of those threats talents and that is her music.

The Citizens Band(with Sarah Sophie Flicker doing acrobatics in the background)

She has performed with the Citizens Band for years, but now ventures out to try her luck solo with a less elaborate backing(the citizen band is a whole spectacular spectacular show group that occasionally does singing numbers) and has recorded a duet with Cat Power(Serge Gainsbourg’s “Je t’aime moi non plus”) and has sung with Melissa Auf der Maur.

Melissa Auf Der Maur & Karen Elson – Devil’s Plaything

Promotional pictures launching her musical career look great, but that’s not surprising from a model. That the music actually sounds good is. “The ghost who walks” has left me and many other fans wanting more. It’s not perfect, but it’s interesting and her husky haunting voice adds more dimention to the aucoustic femme singer songwriter genre.

the ghost who walks(live acoustic)

She’s a bad influence. Now i want to go out tommorow to the hairdressers, have my bangs cut again and shop around for a maxi dress like hers.

http://www.myspace.com/karenelsonmusic

Finally here: Gainsbourg (vie Héroïque)

Hopes are high and grand for this very anticipated film: “Gainsbourg: vie héroïque”. It’s a bio-pic about the life the of the legendary(i would not use the word heroic, cause he was kind of an asshole as the movie also points out in his relations with women, but a musical legend he certaintly was) Serge Gainsbourg. It follows him from early childhood to his death at the age of 62 in 1991 and the many women that crossed his path during that time obviously take up quite a significant part of the movie.  It stars a cast of brilliant look-a-likes such as Eric Elmosnino as Serge, Laetitia Casta as Brigitte Bardot and Lucy Gordon(who committed suicide after the movie had been shot) as Jane Birkin amongst others. I’m excited to see how it turned out. Bio-pics are a tricky genre, but it looks promising and i’m already inspired by the 60s home-decor and clothes styling as seen in the previews!

Release dates:

January 20, 2010 (France)
January 27, 2010 (Belgium)
March 18, 2010 (Russia)
April 15, 2010 (Netherlands)
September 30, 2010 (UK)
No US release date announced as yet.

Queen of cool: Jane Birkin

Tonight I’ve watched the movie “Don Juan ou Si Don Juan Était une Femme'” (1973), directed by Roger Vadim, with Brigitte Bardot as the female version of Don Juan. It’s save to say it’s not one of the highlights in her acting career. The movie is basically about Bardot having sex with different people.  One of those people is actress Jane Birkin. The ironic thing about it is that at the time Birkin had a relationship with Bardot’s ex, Serge Gainsbourg. In 1969, Bardot and Gainsbourg recorded the duet “Je t’aime…moi non plus”. The song was originally written for Bardot. Because the song could hurt Bardot’s image, the song was never released (not until 1986)  and Gainsbourg re-recorded it with Birkin.

Some quotes from Jane Birkin:

“I met Serge through taking a role in a French film called Slogan. To begin with, he didn’t like me because my French wasn’t very good and he’d been hoping that Marisa Berenson (Death in Venice, Cabaret) would get my role. Everybody told me he was a mad, bad, dangerous Russian, but after a dinner together I discovered he was very charming. He was still in love with Brigitte Bardot and I was still in love with John, but little by little we healed each other’s wounds. He was 20 years older than me, but looked much younger. He used to say he loved the ambiguity of my body, a girl that looked like a boy, and with that in mind he made me sing an octave higher.”

“Initially I didn’t want to sing ‘Je t’aime…’, but I was so jealous that I wouldn’t let another girl get inside a telephone booth with Serge and sing it with him. Serge said to me he was frightened of large breasts and loved my petite body, but I didn’t know whether to believe that because he had just been with Brigitte Bardot and she had a very different body to mine.”

“I later starred as Bardot’s lover in the film Don Juan. It’s a terrible movie, but I took it up for the charm of being in bed with Bardot. I can tell you that every portion of her body is absolutely perfect. I should know: I had a good look!”

“The film was directed by her ex-husband, Roger Vadim, who made her cry, saying she wasn’t as beautiful as she used to be. I’m sure that because people judged her solely on her looks and she was slagged off for getting older that it turned her into a crazy person who belongs to the National Front and only talks to animals. Serge was very sweet to her; he was a very forgiving man.”

Altough Bardot is my style icon numero uno, Birkin’s also a fashion icon, because of her laidback and casual looks, like wearing a wicker basket instead of a handbag, faded denim, “I don’t care”-hair, belted sweaters and overknee socks. And she’s also part of fashion history because Hermès named one of their bags after her.

Early modelling job for Vogue magazine, 1966 

With Serge Gainsbourg

With Brigitte Bardot

Wearing Ossie Clark

Great dress and shoes!

Brilliant coat!

Recent photo