Fashion Friday - 'A Chapman Original'

Model Dorian Leigh wearing white organdy shirt with full print skirt by Ceil Chapman 1950

Links of the Week

Susan Hayward as "Messalina" in Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954)

Vintage Film Costume Collector has an amazing post with fantastic photographs of Susan Hayward's costume as "Messalina" in the film Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954).  I've never seen the film, but the scenes look fantastic, and Hayward's costume couldn't be better.  So glamorous, yet fits in the film.  Amazing!


Need an amazing hair accessory?  Bobby Pin blog has a great how-to for a Christmas Poinsettia Hair Accessory.  It looks adorable, and I think I'll give it a try.

How to Tie a Perfect Sash Bow [Source: Sew Beautiful Blog]

When I tie a bow, it often seems just a bit off, so I was really excited to see Sew Beautiful's How-to about Sash Bows.  The steps were clear, the pictures were good, so I am excited to give the process a try.  After all, Christmas seems to be the season of bows.


Books are a great gift.  I am giving several as presents.  As everyone knows, I adore books, so I heartily endorse books as presents.  Imagination Soup has a great Christmas gift guide of the best books of the year for kids and teens.

Edith Head and Elizabeth Taylor

The Glamorous Housewife is spreading the glamour love with a great post featuring lessons from costume goddess Edith Head.  Ms. Head certainly knows about glamour.  Her costumes are wonderful.

I love blog Big Old Houses's home tours.  There is another one up featuring a Vanderbilt home in Florida.  Gorgeous!


Jessica over at Chronically Vintage always has amazing posts.  Literally, I could link to every post on her blog.  It is a rarity that I don't find something valuable in her posts.  Two I particularly enjoyed this week was her weekly dose of Saturday Snapshots and Ten Cold Weather Vintage Wardrobe Staples.  The cold weather staples basically is my vintage wardrobe wishlist while the Saturday Snapshots post really made me think.  

Links of the Week

A wonderful post from Go Retro! why Rankin/Bass Specials are amazing.  I adore them, and clearly others do too.  I just wish they wouldn't have had Rudolph on TV before Thanksgiving.  There is a rule in my house to have nothing to do with Christmas music, specials, etc. before Thanksgiving is over.  The pessimist part of me thinks they hoped people wouldn't watch so they have an excuse to take it off the air.  It's one of the few times I find myself watching network TV is during December when the specials are on.

Go Retro!  also has some amazing advice from lifestyle superstar Jack LaLanne.  I adore him, and his advice on happiness still has a place in these modern times.  Part of me thinks it much more relevant today then it was when first given.

James Dean Gets Serious

James Dean

James Dean and Elizabeth Taylor Reading

“I’m a serious minded and intense little devil – so tense I don’t see how people stay in the same room with me.  I know I wouldn’t tolerate myself”.

[Source:  Movieland;  February 1955]

Stars With Scripts - Elizabeth Taylor

James Dean, Liz Taylor, and a New Blog

I decided to start a blog about what celebrities read, and their home libraries. It's called Celebrity Reads. Here, James Dean and Elizabeth Taylor take a break on the set of Giant.

RIP Elizabeth Taylor

We lost one of the greats this week, the stunning Elizabeth Taylor. She will be remembered for many things:

Her incredible talent (Seen her with Paul Newman in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof)




Her Charity Work (Photo Source: CNN)

As A Wonderful Mother

For Style and Fashion

For Beauty and those Eyes



Her Jewels

Her Care and Love of Animals

Mike Todd - "He was 25 years my senior and eternally young. I could hardly keep up with him. He was the most energetic man I've ever known and he made our short 18 months together one of the most intensely glorious times of my life. ... I have had two great loves in my life. Mike Todd was the first." (Elizabeth Taylor Quote - Source: Fandango)

Richard Burton - "Since I was a little girl, I believed I was a child of destiny, and if that is true Richard Burton was surely my fate. Certainly for a very long time he was my life. Despite what the press wrote at the beginning of our affair, I never regretted a moment of it." (Elizabeth Taylor Quote - Source: Fandango)

As a Fierce Friend (Here with Montgomery Clift in the 1950s)

Elizabeth Taylor was a legend with no equal. I find her life particularly inspiring because despite her incredible beauty, she was an incredibly sweet, loving, generous and hard working. I admire her drive and love of life. I find it inspiring that she was able to accomplish so many wonderful things, despite her many health problems. As someone who has suffered from chronic back pain, like Elizabeth, it can be so hard to get out of bed, let alone function in society - yet she was able to win Oscars, help so many people through her charity work, and win the love and admiration of millions of people. RIP dear Elizabeth, and enjoy that wonderful backlot in the sky.

Are Liz and Michael Wilding headed for splitsville?

Michael Wilding, Michael Jr, Elizabeth Taylor, and Christopher; 1955

Liz Taylor
Was upset last spring when rumors insisted she and Mike were splitting up. But Mike assured her it was all idle gossip, and they’d be together after all the reports had faded. At that time, Liz told us that she was going to get herself a bigger house and fill it with children. With the new home and second baby on the way, it looks as if she’s carrying out her plan.

(Source: Movieland February 1955)


Michael Wilding and Elizabeth Taylor were married from February 21, 1952 - January 30, 1957. She married Michael Todd within days of her divorce from Wilding.

Monty Clift crashes at Liz's house and Premiere drama

Elizabeth Taylor and Michael Wilding

Montgomery Clift
Is usually a hermit when he comes to Hollywood for a picture. But he surprised everybody by house-guesting with Liz Taylor and Michael Wilding. His friendship with Liz goes back to A Place in the Sun, but it was never more than friendship. At that time Liz was single, and the studio cooked up the idea of having Monty take Liz to the premiere of the picture. He borrowed a tux and took a publicity man in a studio limousine to pick up Liz.

Liz and Montgomery Clift; 1950

But on the way to her house, they stopped at a drive-in to dine on hamburgers, Monty was more concerned about getting the publicity man home than he was about arriving at the premiere with Liz. His mood is mellowing toward Hollywood, but he’s still very careful about the scripts he selects.

(Source: Movieland, February 1955)