Book Club: It's All About the Dress

(Photo: Kathy Yl Chan)

That shit storm of a Liz Taylor Lifetime movie with the once actress Lindsay Lohan touches down this Thanksgiving weekend, but if you really wanna know all about La Liz and Richard Burton, well "Furious Love" is really the go-to. But as Liz's longtime wardrobe go-to and wife of her personal make up artist, Ron Berkeley, Vicky Tiel had insider, entourage level scoop. And she dishes in her memoirs, "It's All About the Dress". But this isn't backstabbing tell-all, this is the kinda secret sharing you get from a bestie. 

However, that said, tales come out about other celebs like Faye Dunaway, Marlon Brando, Woody Allen, Martha Stewart, and more. 

And boy does she have something to say about designers like Yves Saint Laurent,Mary Quant, DVF and Louis Feraud, the former three she claims all stole from her! According to "Dress", Vicky invented the mini skirt, the wrap dress and designers posing nude in ads, amongst many other boasts. 

Yes, Ms. Tiel is one of those Janice Dickinson types trying to undercut others who claim they were the first. 

This is the perfect side dish this week for a full plate of trash TV and turkeys. 

Book Club: Furious Love

Ooh we haven't checked into our book club in a wee moment, have we? Well we chase the name dropping tome of Oleg Cassini with this little highly recommended treasure (both Mr. G and Miss L.N. have been pushing this biography's addition to the club for months)

A history of one of Hollywood's most sensational love affairs, Furious shows the trajectory of blossoming, forbidden romance to lavish marrieds on a yacht to the inevitable crash and burn. Along the way Tennessee Williams, Noël Coward, Eddie Fisher, Mia Farrow, Montgomery Clift, Robert Mitchum, Warren Beatty, Rex Harrison and a bevy of "Bluebeard" beauties get caught in the web that was Liz and Dick

(No one would blame you, Noël, for being a coward against that fearful headpiece! Yikes!)

It is, in fact, one of "Bluebeard"s b****s that is the catalyst for the (first) divorce when Burton beds Nathalie Delon, then wife of famous French actor, Alain Delon

(Satin sheets are very romantic, especially when accompanied by a green tunic. Grrr...)

I have about two chapters left; just the ideal amount for my 3 hour bus trip to Maryland today! Yay, homeward bound! 

Wearers O' the Green

It's Saint Patrick's Day and the combination of Irish heritage and showman in me loves any excuse to celebrate while wearing a silly outfit. However, there's a lot of naysayers out there that ballyhoo the color green and it's fashion savoir faire.


Well, naysayers, take a look at this list of clever clovers and tell me it isn't keen being green.




1. Angelina Jolie

Workin' it at this year's Golden Globes like an Adrian clad leading lady. Her face just reads "Bow down to your Queen" and she's earned your serfdom in this emerald Versace Fab-o-Gown. 

2. Heather Duke

This envious little sycophant wore her true colors on her sleeve. Sure when she went popular, she copped Heather Chandler's signature red, but inside she was still one mean green mother. 

3. Hannibal Barca

The Carthaginian general is most remembered for taking elephants over the Alps, but his military brilliance is studied to this day. One of his favorite strategies was using the terrain to cover his troops in the greenery. Wearin' of the green doesn't just mean the shamrock glasses and "kiss me I'm Irish" t-shirts of the great drunken masses. 

4. Green Berets

Speaking of verdant victories, the Green Berets have my vote for sexy soldier. I hope this record covers Gang of Four's "I Love a Man in Uniform"!





5. Liz Taylor

La Liz. She was a fan of Brits with green and Mr Burton (yes, I know he was Welsh) showered her with jewels. The emerald earrings and matching necklace from Bulgari amongst the most famous. Verde, verde nice.




6. The Riddler

Frank Gorshin, my dear, your manic laugh still knocks around in my head and I love your commitment to the character. Now I have a riddle for you: How were you able to leap about in Moschino before Moschino? Jealousy.




7. The Green Power Ranger

The Anti-Cousin Oliver, the addition of the Green Power Ranger grew that ish into a
non-stop monster of a hit with legs like a Fosse chorus girl.

You Must Be Pulling My Bluebeard

Last nite's Netflix delight: 1972's horror movie/ misogynistic exercise/ fashion explosion, 'Bluebeard' . 




Richard Burton stars as a sinister lady's man who woos a parade of impossibly made up lovelies before he kills them in elaborate deaths that would make the Crypt Keeper blush.


And what is this power he has over them? Is it his facial follicles of  Benjamin Moore blue or the ornate mansion lush with Technicolor turquoise damask wallpapers and crimson painted wicker chairs? Or is it his air of implied sadism?

("Gee, if only I could train this hawk to rip some white woman's face off on command...")

Not that plot seems to be of importance to the gays that must have ran this show. It's all fashion, fashion, sparkle, diva!

(Forgive the wardrobe department, for they have sinned!)

(The opening credits gave a special "furs by" acknowledgement)

(Oh and a Coiffures credit too. Doin' it!)

("But of course my suit matches my beard...")

Meanwhile, Joey Heatherton plays the one woman who discovers his sinister plot but it's all for naught as she is locked away in the freezer that Bluebeard uses as a sepulchre for his fashion victims

But as Mr G put it so succinctly,  "Joey Heatherton's career was just a good haircut"

Damn that Hollywood engine!  The Nazi resister who shoots Bluebeard at the train tracks manages to save her just before hypothermia kicks in!

(wipe that smirk off your face, you still got 'The Happy Hooker Goes to Washington' ahead of you, B)

But the ending is still a rewarding pastiche of some Charleston tune and credits like Raquel Welch played The Nun...

(you thought I was kidding)