273 VISITORS HAVE CHECKED OUT THE BLOG TODAY. THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE SUPPORT!!!
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Keep An Eye Open!!!
The Life and Times of Bratprince is making some changes. Three people have been asked to be a guest writer/contributer. So far two have accepted. M.H. who is such a great commentator on my own posts and T.M.B. who is handling half of THE TOP TWENTY DESIGNERS OF ALL TIME next week. I'm delighted to have them as a part of the Blog and I know you will enjoy the different perspective!!!!
TAKING CARE BY BRATPRINCE
I'm on my way out the door to run my eight miles. Truth be told, I'm not in the mood today!!! I've been busy making phone calls to designers trying to set appointments to present my line of product. I had to buy groceries...we were getting down to eating dog biscuits.
Still...I feel a lot of peace in my run. Yes, I listen to my Ipod, but I get the opportunity to think and meditate. Of course exercise triggers endorphins...thus you ALWAYS feel better when you are done.
I try to run daily and I do at least 75 push ups per day. I'll be the first to admit that my regimen is difficult. Still....I love the results.
I can fit into my Boy Scout uniform I wore when I was 16. My jeans and slacks are a 31" waist and fit comfortably. I can even wear the occasional designer shirt that is listed as "small". I am not a small man though. I am 6'2" and weigh 183 lbs. However, through all of this exercise, I am all lean muscle with very little fat on my body.
My hope for this essay is that it makes people think. I've written on this topic before, but I find it very important and want to emphasize it. We spend so much time watching television, sitting around...blah, blah. Why not decide today to take a thirty minute walk? Why not think about joining a gym and talking with a trainer.
I love my friends and I want us all to be healthy, happy and content. I highly recommend that exercise and sensible eating become a part of your routine.
Well...off to feed the dogs and then out the door. I don't want to run today but the payoff will be tenfold.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
At 3 P.M. Central Time The Blog Hit 9,000 Visitors!!!
I can't thank you all enough for the support and I am so glad that you enjoy the BLOG. It's been fun and I'm always looking for input. Tell me what you think and keep coming back. We are on the way to 10,000!
Monday, September 28, 2009
AN INCREDIBLY EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT!!!
I am taking the week off from Top Twenty Lists....but beginning next Sunday, October 4th will start the TOP TWENTY FASHION DESIGNERS OF ALL TIME!!! For the first time I am thrilled to introduce a guest writer!! Every day one post will be written by me and one will be written by Terry M. Bridges. Get ready for FASHION, FASHION, FASHION and a fabulous new perspective by a great new writer!!!
AND SO IT ENDS!!
The top twenty one most fashionable/stylish women on the planet have been presented over the week. I hope you enjoyed seeing some of your favorites and perhaps meeting a few new faces. All of these women were beyond compare in style, elegance and taste. In that I began with my favorite...I will leave you with one last picture of the incomparable BABE PALEY!
TOP TWENTY ONE MOST STYLISH WOMEN OF ALL TIME: C.Z. GUEST
Lucille Douglas Cochrane (February 19, 1920 in Boston, Massachusetts – November 8, 2003 in Old Westbury, Long Island, New York) was an American socialite who achieved a degree of fame as a fashion icon. She was frequently seen wearing elegant designs by famous designers like Mainbocher. Her unfussy, clean-cut style was seen as typically American.
Her father, Alexander Lynde Cochrane, was an investment banker. She acquired C.Z. from her younger brother. She dabbled in acting, including an appearance in the Ziegfeld Follies in 1944.
On March 8, 1947, she married Winston Frederick Churchill Guest (1906-1982), a polo player, a member of the Guest family, grandson of Henry Phipps, a great-grandson of the seventh Duke of Marlborough, and Winston Churchill's second cousin. Ernest Hemingway was best man at the wedding, which took place in Havana. The couple had two children, Alexander and Cornelia; Cornelia was named the 1980s "Deb of the Decade".
After a horse riding accident in 1976, Guest was asked by the New York Post to write a column on gardening. Her first book, First Garden, was illustrated by her friend Cecil Beaton. Other friends included Truman Capote, Barbara Hutton, Gloria Guinness and Loel Guinness and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.
She died aged 83 as a friend was driving her to the hospital due to her experiencing breathing difficulties while at home.
Top Twenty One Most Stylish Women of All Time: Pauline de Rothschild
Aside from being an international fashion icon and tastemaker, Pauline Potter (to become Rothschild) was a writer, a fashion designer herself, and translated the plays of Chritopher Fry along with translating many Elizabethan poems.
Born in Paris to expatriate parents; Pauline was the great-great granddaughter of Francis Scott Key and a decendent of Pocohontas.
Her first marriage ended in divorce as she had married a tortured closet alcoholic homosexual husband.
From there, in the 1930's she moved to Manhattan and became a personal shopper for rich and famous women that were not sure about their own taste. Pauline's taste was impeccable and lengendary. At one point she ended up back in Paris working for the amazing designer Shiaperelli and even opening her own fashion house/line (which did not work out..her collection was critically panned and the fashion house closed within a year).
Beginning as a mistress, she became the second wife to the legendary Baron Phillpe de Rothschild...owner of the famed winery Chateau Mouton Rothschild.
No longer did she have to shop for others. Pauline now frequented all of the top fashion houses and remained a fashion icon for the rest of her life. However, even her new found wealth couldn't contain her spirit and drive. She wrote articles for Harper's Bazarre and Vogue (Diana Vrelland was a distant cousin).
Upon her death she was buried at the Rothschild family home. Her tomb is made of marble and Lalique glass.
TOP TWENTY ONE MOST STYLISH WOMEN: MARLENE DIETRICH
German born, Marlene Dietrich was Paramount Pictures answer to Greta Garbo. They believed she was an equal to the great Garbo due to her exotic good looks and European accent. In her first American film she had to speak her lines phonetically due to the fact that she knew so little English.
Dietrich was a bohemian at heart; a free thinker and an unabashed bisexual who didn't care if the world or the press commented on it...although she was married to the same man until his death. Their union produced a daughter, Maria Riva who has written extensively about her mother.
Marlene was brought to the U.S. in 1930 after her work in The Blue Angel as Lola Lola (a German film) caught the attention of Hollywood. Within a limited amount of time she would become one of the highest paid stars in the world.
Her style was supremely androgynous...she looked as beautiful in an Adrian designed gown for a film as she did in a man's tuxedo...and she loved playing with fashion and gender.
She considered the "greatest role" the one she played off screen. After being invited back to Germany by Hitler to "make promotional films", Dietrich joined the U.S. side of WWII and entertained troops around the globe with the U.S.O. and she also traveled throughout America stumping for war bonds. She became a U.S. citizen in 1939. Of her war work she said, "It is the only really important thing I have ever done."
From the 1950's to the early 1970's Marlene made few films but instead chose to star in a one woman traveling cabaret show. She worked well into her early seventies, but ended up retiring after breaking her foot during a performance.
For the last eleven years of her life, Marlene was a complete and utter recluse. She remained basically bedridden in her Paris apartment.
Top Twenty One Most Stylish: COUNTESS MONA VON BISMARK
Her name would become synonymous with international style, but the Countess began life as Mona Strader in Louisville, KY.
She was married 4 times (her second husband being James Bush who was considered by many at the time to be the most handsome man in the world). They divorced in Paris. Her third husband left her a widower but with her famed look and elegance it did not take long for her to catch the eye of and then marry Count Edward Von Bismark.
Both Salvador Dali and Cecil Beaton idolized Mona and painted and photographed her extensively. Cole Porter wrote RED, HOT and BLUE in her honor. Truman Capote' satirized her beauty in his unfinished novel, ANSWERED PRAYERS (Mona and Truman were not friends).
In 1933 Mona was voted the Best Dressed Woman in the world. Although she enjoyed different labels and often wore Chanel her primary fashion choice was always Balenciaga. They became very close friends for over thirty years. Once, due to a train accident that destroyed a large portion of her wardrobe, Mona ordered over 150 garments from Balenciaga in one sitting.
Givenchey had so much respect for Mona and Balenciaga that he arranged a major exhibition of her clothing after she had died.
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