Wendy Brandes Jewelry Blog

Never Is the Next New Thing

Diana Vreeland, Isabella Blow and Me

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In 2008, I wrote this:

“A couple of years ago, a much-older male friend annoyed me by asking, ‘What are you going to do when you can’t be cute anymore?’ I privately thought, ‘WTF? My cuteness is eternal AND rust-proof, bitch.’ Out loud, I answered, ‘Then I’ll be old and crazy.’ … I’m going to wear rouge in perfectly round circles and apply lipstick to my teeth.”

The excellence of my plan was confirmed by a hybrid catalog/magazine that I recently received from Bergdorf Goodman. The publication included a Q&A between Andrew Bolton, the curator of the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Alexander McQueen designer Sarah Burton.  Writer Glenn O’Brien also participated.  I was thrilled by this passage:

Andrew Bolton: …We were talking about [the late Vogue editor-in-chief] Diana Vreeland. Our curator Harold Koda used to work with her, and he went to pick her up at her apartment one evening, and she said to him, “Oh, Mr. Koda, am I wearing enough makeup?” And Harold said, “Well, Mrs. Vreeland, you are wearing quite a lot.” And she said, “That’s not what I asked. Am I wearing enough makeup?”

Sarah Burton: That’s brilliant!

Glenn O’Brien: She occasionally wore lipstick on her teeth.

Burton: That’s very Izzy Blow, lipstick on the teeth.

Bolton: Really chic …

Good to know I’m on the right track. Read an excerpt from a book about the lipstick- and leopard-loving Diana Vreeland here and enjoy some of her choice quotes here.

Diana Vreeland in her outrageous red apartment. Click for source.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Did you tell your older friend “You tell me, you’ve obviously been there!” Oh snap! I seriously hope you become an eccentric old lady with crazy cool clothing and the copyrighted Wendy B. pizazz! I don’t see how you could be anything else really.

  3. ah, love the quote “I have never met a leopard I didn’t like” and I often feel the same way….they all have some allure:)

    Also loving the feathers in the hair bit, I HATE them ….but love feather earrings… is that wrong since they are basically the same thing, just over a few more inches….sigh….. oh well.
    C

  5. Well, maybe I’m not cute anymore but I am alluring forever. That’s my story. I love Diana V. and Izzy Blow as risk-taking, fearless, outspoken icons. I won’t model their makeup, it worked for them though. : >

  8. This post warms my heart as I just finished a biography of Isabell Blow and am half way through the Eleanor Dwight biography of Diana Vreeland. I was actually going to send you note to tell a) my daughter is thrilled with the lotus necklace and b) you remind me of Diana Vreeland!

    Diana is my hero :-). If there is reincarnation and I can choose which person I want to be, I want to be her. Here’s a couple more of my favorite quotes. This one was a retort when an interviewer asked her about becoming blind (later in life): “I’ve seen too many beautiful things.”

    But my all-time favorite is “People who eat white bread have no soul.”

  10. okay for one…. you are NEVER not going to be cute. it’s just not going to happen. period.

    also when i first clicked on this post i thought it said “diana vreeland, isabella blow me”

    whaaaa??? where is my mind?

    xxx
    t

  13. See… you’re in good company! And WTF — you will ALWAYS be cute. What an ass. Was the guy actually jealous that you were both cute AND smart?

    • It was very rude and unnerving. We certainly weren’t discussing appearance at the moment. It came totally out of the blue!

  15. Hi Wendy, thanks for visiting my blog. The only way to grow old is the DV way. She was amazing her entire life and I hope I never give up, give in, or throw in the towel on looking my best – whatever that means. Isabella Blow would have been one to watch in the same way. Such a shame.