Thursday, April 16, 2009

SUMMER STYLE INSPIRATION...

*updated below*


Just Birkin as usual.

*I have more to say about Jane Birkin. A few months ago I read some interviews with her (which of course I can't find now to link to) where she says everything she did when she was younger was to please the men in her life and she also said (not perhaps in the same interview) that Serge sometimes pressured her into doing things she didn't want to (a cursory Google search will unearth the slightly dodgy nude photos of her chained to an iron bedstead). It struck me then how, as with many supposedly liberated young women of the sixties, she wasn't really that liberated at all. Her hair was long, her dresses short - her legs were liberated, but she wasn't. I can still look at a photo of her at 20 years old and appreciate her beauty and style, but there's a chink there. The woman she has become is far more interesting, and therefore far more beautiful to me now.

*I just had to get that out*

{photo credits unknown}

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

she is my style icon as well...someone who wears the simple classics but just exudes absolute freedom against restraints...
(am i making sense??).
always loved that she has the 'devil may care' attitude...
nancy

A chicette in Paris said...

Can't beat Jane!
I love to look at these vintage photos of her - she is just so naturally cool!! It must be an English thing! ;-)

Kisses from Paris!

xoxo

www.chicsetera.com

July Stars said...

I finally bought a copy of Encens in Paris yesterday! Bisou

Anonymous said...

i am glad that you got that out....what you wrote also reminded me of jane fonda and her time with roger vadim et al... i could turn this into a feminist rant...but i won't. but what you wrote really does ring true.
nancy

Bombay Beauty said...

This is very true -- it is easier to find the trappings of liberation than its substance, to liberate the legs, as you say, rather than the mind...

But she is fab these days -- saw her in NYC a few years ago on her Arabesque (was that the name of the album?) tour...

BB

boubou said...

i love jane birkin inspiration ...you have such a nice blog ! i love it ! i add you to my bloglist ;)
a bientot !
boubou

V said...

Well said. I'm delving into female liberation in sixties France, looking at Simone de Beauvoir as well and her relationship with Sartre. This makes me want to read more about Jane Birkin, and like you said, the woman she has become.

Claire said...

Oh I LOVE S de B! I'm sure you've read Tete a Tete but that was quite an eye opener for me too. Sometimes I feel that views on women in France are always through a man's eyes, even by the women themselves, if that makes sense?

Laura Soler said...

these are really nice! jane birkin can´t do wrong... she exudes beauty
and so stylishly!nice blog!