John Singer Sargent dresses Rita Hayworth for “Put the Blame on Mame” 2
“The designer Jean Louis, supposedly inspired by John Singer Sargent‘s famous portrait of the décolleté Madame X, created for Miss Hayworth a fetishistic black satin strapless gown, with elbow-length gloves, and the dance director Jack Cole devised the strip-tease routine in which she flung those gloves to her audience. The director, Vidor, expected the filming ...
Lula Washington’s “tutu raffia” bids 2011 adieu
A highlight of the blistering Kwanzaa show staged by Lula Washington Dance Theatre at the Nate Holden Theater this weekend was a sinewy solo by Haniyyah Tahirah bedecked in what the choreographer Lula Washington calls a “tutu raffia.” It’s a clever cultural mash-up combining Africa & classical ballet. The eternally creative Washington explained: “The look ...
African-American photojournalists capture L.A.’s rich post-War arts world 1
These arts images are drawn from “Identity and Affirmation: Postwar African-American Photography,” an exhibition of 125 images produced by Los Angeles African-American photographers during the postwar years from 1945 to 1980. The marvelous show, now on at Cal State Northridge, also includes social and political photographs. It’s part of the Getty’s “Pacific Standard Time” survey ...
A dancer’s shoes
Zaldy, the trendy costume designer for Michael Jackson’s aptly named “This is It” tour, speaks in the film’s DVD-extras about the custom loafers he created for the singer-dancer. The designer describes how he knocked off the cut and dimension of [hundreds of] loafers that [Jackson told Zaldy], “I can dance in.” Michael Jackson was ...
Michael Jackson’s gold trousers
Google michael jackson gold trousers. There are a bunch of images. It’s a look he liked, and it reminds me of the Yellow Brick Road. At left, the gold sequined pants he dons so terrifically in the rehearsal documentary, “This is It.” I saw the film last weekend and was thunderstruck by how talented and ...
The divine meets the dogged: Tippi Hedren & Edith Head reunite for “A Conversation with Edith Head”
High Hollywood gets a sparkling rejuvenation when the divine Tippi Hedren will meet the determined Edith Head at a theater opening on October 28. It’s the restaging at the Odyssey Theater in West Los Angeles of the one-woman show, “A Conversation with Edith Head.” Ms. Head, who was petite, loomed large as a cinema costumer. ...
It’s a Barbie kind of day 3
Silken flame Brunette Barbie 1960 Apple Print Sheath Pink Sheath Platinum Swirl Barbie Fashion Editor Christie Tickled Pink Black Magic Barbie American Girl Thank you, artist Judy Ragagli, for permission to share images of your oil paintings on arts·meme. Like this? Read more: A doll of a different kind. Liz Taylor dons tutu. If you ...
Quiz: Pick the ballet you want to see, just by the costume!
This is a test. It’s easy, it’s straight-forward. It’s a test of which ballet you would like to see, all by New York City Ballet, just based upon the costume. Good luck! (Hint: there are two correct answers and one wrong answer.) La Valse (1951), chor Balanchine, costume Karinska, portrait of Tanaquil LeClercq Ocean’s Kingdom ...
Tutu Taylor
It was a hell of a week for ballet. Our most brilliant male ballet dancer, a true wunderkind, a homegrown wonder, David Hallberg, got a job offer from the Bolshoi Ballet, better, obviously, than his current gig with American Ballet Theatre. So off he goes. Hallberg’s young, 29, he doesn’t speak the language, and Russia ...