Memorial Day 2012

Thank You

 

Fashion Friday Photo - Diane Kruger

  Sorry I didn't do a Fashion Friday Photo last week, I was feeling a little off and then tonight my computer acted up so I am BARELY getting this post in on a Friday. Anyway, it is of "Inglorious Bastards" actress Diane Kruger at this years Cannes Film Festival when she showed up for the opening ceremony and the premiere for the movie " Moonrise Kingdom " in a beautiful aqua silk single shouldered gown by Giambattista Valli and diamond cluster earrings.

In Memoriam : Donna Summer

   It seems that we have lost a lot of people in the music industry these last months  Levon Helms, Adam Yauch (MCA of the Beastie Boys ) and now, shockingly today, the Queen of Disco, the lovely Donna Summer, from what has been reported, to cancer. She died this morning in Key West, Florida with her husband Bruce Sadano, of the R&B group Brooklyn Dreams, and her three daughters.

  Yes, we think of Donna Summer as the Disco Queen but that was not her first choice of music. Born Ladonna Adrian Gaines on December 31, 1948 in Boston, she got her start in her church in the Boston area neighborhood of Dorchester, Massachusetts, when she was 10 years old and replaced the singer that was supposed to be there but did not show up. Her priest thought it would be cute to have Donna sing, thinking she would have this cutesy little girl voice and boy did she fool him. She opened her mouth and out came a voice that belied Donna's 10 years. Weeks before she was to graduate from high school, in 1967, she left home for New York with her blues-rock band Crow, where they tried and failed to land a record deal. When the band realized this was not going to happen, they decided to split up with Donna staying behind to pursue her dream of making music. She auditioned for the role of Dionne in the musical Hair but lost the part to fellow aspiring singer, Melba Moore, but Donna Summer did agree to take the part in the Munich production of the play. Reluctantly, her parents gave her permission to move to Germany for the work.

While she lived in Munich she became fluent in German and performed in the musicals, the German version of the Broadway musical The Me Nobody Knows, Ich Bin Ich ( I Am Me), Show Boat and Godspell. In three years time she had moved to Vienna, Austria and was performing with the Viennese Folk Opera. In 1971 she had a one-off European record deal with Decca Records in which she did a cover of the Jaynetts song "Sally Go 'Round the Roses". In 1972, she released the single, "If You Walkin' Alone" on the Dutch label Phillips Records. In 1973, Donna married Austrian actor Helmuth Sommer and they had a daughter, Mimi, the following year. However, by 1975 her marriage had crumbled because of her affair with the German artist, Peter Muhldorfer and she formally divorced from Helmuth Sommer. Donna kept his last name and Anglicized it to Summer, hence Ladonna Gaines became forever known as Donna Summer. After her divorce she along with her boyfriend Peter Muhldorfer, who was a surrealist painter, moved back to America living in Los Angels.

  While providing background vocals for the 1970's group Three Dog Night, Donna met music producers Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte. She eventually would sign a deal with European label Groovy Records and in 1974 issued her first album, Lady of the Night. But there was no release of it in America and was met with limited success in Europe mainly due to the song "The Hostage", which went to #1 in Belgium and #2 in the Netherlands.

 

  In 1975, Donna went to Moroder with an idea for a song that Bellotte and she had been working on for another singer.She had come up with the lyric " love to love you, baby". Moroder became interested in the new popular sound that happening and used Donna's lyric to develop the song. Summer was persuaded by Moroder to record the demo for another artist but when Moroder listen to the playback of the demo, he felt that Donna's version ought to be released instead.

  The song was sent to Casablanca Records president Neil Bogart in hopes that it would be released in America. Bogart told Moroder and Bellotte that if they could do a longer version for the discothequeshe would release the song, now called "Love to Love You,Baby". So, Moroder, Bellotte and Summer came back with a 17 minute version and Casablanca signed Donna Summer and released the single in November of 1975.  While the clubs were playing the 17 minute version of the song ( also on the album "Love to Love You, Baby"), the radio stations were playing the shorter version. By early 1976, "Love to Love Youu, Baby reached #2 on U.S Billboard Hot 100, while the album sold over a million copies.The song became controversial due to Donna's moans and groans and some radio stations in America and Europe, including the BBC, refused to play it. But the song found success in Europe and made it the Top 5 in England, despite the BBC ban. 

 Thus began Donna Summer's successful musical career. But while she was becoming successful her boyfriend Peter Muhldofer was becoming resentful of all of her fame and it drove a wedge in between the two.Donna had stated that he became violent and with the help of Casablanca president Neil Bogart he was eventually forced to return home to Germany after his visa was revoked.

 

  In 1978, while recording the hit track "Heaven Knows", featuring Brooklyn Dreams member Joe "Bean" Esposito on vocals, Donna met fellow member Bruce Sudano. Within a few months they were dating.  Donna and Bruce married on July 16, 1980. A year later she gave birth to their first child together, a daughter, Brooklyn and the following year another daughter, Amanda was welcomed into the family.

  She had often talked about the early part of her career as being filled with confusion and anxiety. By mid-1977, because of her struggle with the media's naming her "the first lady of love", she began suffering from anxiety attacks and depression. Donna Summer wrote in her memoir that she had made several attempts at suicide. During this time she began to take prescription drugs as a self-medication and this led to her becoming an addict. Following a nervous breakdown in her home in 1979, Donna went to a local church with her sister and became a born-again Christian. It was then that she decided that she would no longer sing "Love to Love You, Baby", but 25 years later she did. Even as recent as 2011 she re-recorded the tracks, complete with moans and groans, for the "Loveoverdose" fragrance by Diesel.

Donna Summer and her family moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1994 because she was taking time out of show business to focus on painting, a hobby she took up in 1985.

Driven by Music by Donna Summer, artist

Now we come to today May 17, 2012 with the loss of singer and artist, Donna Summer. Thank You for the music and the paintings. You will live forever in your family, fans and your art both music and paintings.

Mother's Day 2012

Happy Mother's Day to all the women who take care of the children. Whether your an aunt, grandmother,stepmother, sister or mother this is for you.

Fashion Friday Photo # 6 : Another from the Met Gala, Karolina Kurkova

Karolina Kurkova  in this vintage looking Rachel Zoe metallic dress I keep thinking I have seen Raquel Welch wear a very similar dress 20+ years ago.Goddess Award for certain.

The Met Costume Institue Gala 2012

  What is known as the 'Oscars of the East Cost', the Costume Institute Gala aka the Met Ball, was held on May 7, 2012. The reason for this fee is to celebrate the annual opening of the Metropolitan Museum's exhibit at the Costume Institute. Celebrities come to the red-carpet event dressed to impress each other and their fans that will see their photos online and in magazines. And some really fall flat on their face on trying to make a good fashion impression.

Sarah Jessica Parker, where the Hell do I start with her? I have heard her dress referred to from wallpaper to a bedspread to drapes, but personally I think she is wearing a granny nightgown minus the ruffles at the cuffs and neck. This one I am tying for my #1 Falling Flat on Your Face Fashion Award.

Dakota Fanning in Louis Vuitton. I don't know maybe in another color or to be more precise ANY  color would do. I mean, this poor child is so pale as is her dress that it just washes her out. I feel like she is afraid of color.

Tebowmania has hit the Gala. Tim Looks very dashing in his tux.

Another Granny Fashion Alert! This time it is Mary Kate Olsen. She looks like she is in mourning from the Edwardian Era. Except they dressed better, even the lower-class. No! I KNOW! Mary Kate is a fan of Downton Abbey and she is paying homage to O'Brien. Or is that an insult to O'Brien? Mary Kate is tied with Sarah Jessica Parker for #1 Fall Flat on Your Face Fashion Award.

Beyonce is wearing a black lace with a purple feather train Givenchy gown. I'm not all too certain about the gown. I don't know if it's a bit too sheer for my taste or that the train reminds me of a feather duster. I can't hate it but I'm not that particularly fond of it. Sorry but I'm giving it a 2/3 Fall Flat on Your Face Fashion  Award. I hate doing that.

The back view of Beyonce's dress. Obviously.

Ah, the happy couple, Justin Timberlake with his fiancee, Jessica Biel. Jessica is wearing a lovely Prada dress that, unfortunately, seems to say late afternoon not night. But i do like it. Her hair looks like she held a ruler to her forehead and cut her own bangs. Unless Jessica is auditioning for a Chrissie Hynde biopic... no... can't like it. I don't see how she can even see where she is walking with those bangs. Now Justin is wearing a Tom Ford tuxedo.And what can be said about that? It's a tux.

Elizabeth Banks in a hideous creation by Mary Kantrantzou. It looks like it was made at the very last possible second with whatever fabric scraps were leftover because somebody forgot to buy enough fabric bolts to make a descent dress. Plus the side view of Elizabeth makes her look like she just replaced Jessica Simpson as the longest pregnant woman in America. Yep, this wreck is also now tied with Sarah Jessica and Mary Kate for #1 Fall Flat on Your Face Fashion Award.

Holy Crap! Jessica Alba shows how to do it right. Beautiful! Gorgeous! Stunning. Classy. Jessica is wear this wonderful gold pleated number from Michael Kors.  Definately a Goddess Award winner.

Scotsman Gerard Butler looking tamed in this Alexander McQueen tux. A good combination one of my favorite designers and one of my favourite actors to drool over. Yummy.

Model Karli Kloss and designer Jason Wu. Sad, she 6'1" and still has to wear heels to get close to my height. So this is going to be called " The Long and the Short of It' or maybe just 'Mutt & Jeff'.

Emma Stone looks precious and lovely in her thin strapped red Lavin dress. And if you will notice in the background, Kristen Wiig seems to be wearing the grown up version of Emma's dress.

Here's Kristen Wiig in a 1950's inspired Stella McCartney dress. I hate her shoes. They look like they are made from material that is used to make canvas boat shoes. And maybe her hair should've been put in a soft updo.

Cate Blanchett in Alexander McQueen. Overall I like the dress, feathers and all, but I think it would have been better with a thinner sleeve or maybe strapless.

 Florence + the Machine's Florence Welch showed up in another Alexander McQueen number and I'm not feeling it. I swear she looks like a flocked Christmas tree. Hate doing this to her because I like her music but, Florence also is a dubious winner of the Fall Flat on Your Face Fashion Award.

January Jones is offering a sunny alternative to Florence Welch's fiasco in this beautiful yellow Versace gown with Cartier jewelry. Stunning! Goddess Award.

Amy Adams wows us with her one-shoulder cream Giambattista Valli gown with a gold belt that helps showoff her waist. Goddess Award.

Coco Rocha, here is your Fall Flat on Your Face Fashion Award.I don't care if it is a vintage Givenchy outfit that was once owned by Elizabeth Taylor. Maybe it looked better on Dame Elizabeth or maybe it's that gaudy pink top that seems more appropriate for a tutu. Yes it IS the pink top it's so loud that it takes away from the outfit, I mean that is all I see is the pink top and hair. Forgot about the hair, that's not good thing either.

Scarlett Johansson in a lovely Dolce & Gabbana.

Gwyneth Paltrow, in her silver metallic Prada dress that looks like a glorified apron, is a winner of the Fall Flat on Your Fashion Face Award. Now her husband Chris Martin may enjoy this dress when they are alone because that is all about it is good for.

Vogue editor, Anna Wintour, wears a Prada gown with a lobster motif and a fur capelet. To me the only place for a lobster is on a plate with lemon butter on the side. I am going to give her a Goddess Award just for banning Kim Kardashian from the Met Gala. This fete is for A-listers only and Miss Wintour knows this and kept it classy.

Speaking of classy, Rihanna looks VERY classy in her Tom Ford gown. A marked improvement over her Saturday Night Live appearance. Goddess Award.

For us 'Downton Abbey' fans Michelle Dockery ( Lady Mary Crawley) and Laura Carmichael ( Lady Edith Crawley) graced the red carpet.

Michelle is wearing a stunning black dress with a gold corset and long black opera gloves would have looked better than the short ones for a funeral. But, hey she wore gloves. Wonder if she borrowed them from the set?

Laura, Laura, Laura. Are you really wearing leggings under that dress? Tsk. Tsk. She could have done so much better if the dress was fitted to her her body. Someone online said that she looks like Meryl Streep's daughter, that 's because Laura raided Meryl's closet.

Brook Shield and her date, a cane walk the red carpet May 7 in a J. Mendel gown and a torn meniscus. Ouch! She apparently did that while performing on Broadway in The Addams Family.

 Melania Trump, wife of Donald Trump, at the Gala. All I can say is that Alexis Carrington wants her dress back. Or was that Crystal Carrington? Anyway, give the dress back to the 1980's, Melania. That was not a good fashion decade.

Heidi Klum in her gun metal grey Escada mini dress with a sheer lace overlay. But the Lorraine Schwartz choker is too much. Heidi should have kept her jewelry simple.

Fashion Friday Photo Hollywood Dreams Bridal

  With what was starting with a picture of a red wedding dress has become another lengthy fashion post. I stumbled across the dress while trying to figure out what kind of Friday Fashion Photo to post and discovered Hollywood Dreams Bridal of the United Kingdom.

  Hollywood Dreams has Marina Adamou, who was educated in London began her love for designing wedding gowns over 30 years ago. With inspiration from old Hollywood, she created what was to become the trademark romantic look.

  Marie West became a member of Hollywood Dreams 16 years ago, as Marina's design assistant. It was Maria's intensity for art & jewelery & Marina's love of Hollywood glamor that made Hollywood Dreams what it is today.

This is the dress that got me started

'Theodora' dress in white

Red 'Theodora'

Mercedes by Hollywood Dreams

'Lucia' 2012

Annabelle

Lolita