I remember when I was but a young glamling, sitting in my friend Iolanda’s living room –her father was the Portuguese ambassador I believe, or something equally cool and mysterious– and watching my first Almodóvar movie, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.
It’s funny, because I don’t remember being rocked by it in any profound way, although it’s one of my go-to fashion references now. We watched it and then spent the rest of the afternoon deciding which member of Color Me Badd we’d let go to second base as soon as we had second bases to go to. You know, like you do.
What I do remember was being shocked at Rossy De Palma. How could a woman who wasn’t conventionally beautiful be in a movie as a viable sex symbol? And yet the more I looked, the more fascinated I became, and now I think she is one of the most interestingly beautiful women I’ve ever seen:
(also. See those shoes? I would stab you for those shoes. Yes, even you.)
(images courtesy of Château Thombeau)
Everything about her makes me want to look at her more. There are a million and one bland, prettily perfect girls who get a look and nothing more (Katherine Heigl, I’m looking at you, briefly) but none of them are even a speck as intriguing as Ms De Palma.
“Uh, great Plumcake. Glad you like her…I thought this was a shoe post.”
It is. My reaction to the Vigotti Panya pump was much the same as my initial reaction to Rossy.
I hated it. Historically, I have no great love for an angular Louis heel, and when I first saw this shoe I thought it was just another cheap kick with any old heel tacked on. But I found myself going back to them over and over, and connecting them to Rossy de Palma in my mind.
Now perhaps it’s because they have a Spanish feel to them and I’ve got a deep fondness for Iberian chic, probably because of Almodóvar’s highly-stylized early influence, but the more I look at them, the more I love them.
The croc print is the best iteration for my fashionable farthing, but they’re available in several different treatments (and come in wide width) on sale at Zappos for under $75, which is no mean feat for a shoe that’s made in Brazil and not China.
I love this womans style. there is a picture (head shot) of her with African gear on i have somewhere…
this is her bald http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:Dx5yg_J3F4qZYM:http://razorland55.free.fr/Transf05/rossy_de_palma_at_stella_awards.jpg
Comment by pam — June 7, 2010 @ 12:49 pm
@Pam, isn’t she fab? I just love her face and her body manner.
Comment by Plumcake — June 7, 2010 @ 1:13 pm
Love the Rossy De Palma pictures. Love love love.
But I cannot get behind the shoes. That heel!
Comment by Chiken — June 7, 2010 @ 2:07 pm
Ayyyyyy! I am wearing Rossy de Palma perfume today, before I checked the page! WEIRD!
Maybe not THAT weird as it is one of my more useful summer perfumes, but…weird!
I think she’s gorgeous. I also like the shoe.
Comment by Lisa — June 7, 2010 @ 3:48 pm
Oh, and will somebody help me out and tell me these are stupid and look like toddler shoes and don’t work on an old fat lady who goes in for scarves and blazers? Because I am rather obsessing over them (http://www.saksfifthavenue.com/main/ProductDetail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524446256885&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=282574492817469&bmUID=1275941082028&ev19=3:19)
Comment by Lisa — June 7, 2010 @ 4:09 pm
Lisa, honey: no. I just don’t think they’ll do at all.
Comment by Jezebella — June 7, 2010 @ 4:21 pm
No? Darn.
Comment by Lisa — June 7, 2010 @ 4:42 pm
@Lisa: They’re awful. Categorically, empirically, deeply and profoundly awful. Do. Not. Buy.
Comment by Plumcake — June 7, 2010 @ 5:41 pm
@Lisa: You think Eau de Protection is a summer perfume? It makes Opium feel like a light cologne! Lord knows I love a big perfume, but I wouldn’t wear that except on the coldest day of winter. Admittedly, I don’t care for it all that much, but that is some Intense Juice. We must have some very different body chemistry.
Comment by Plumcake — June 7, 2010 @ 5:45 pm
God, I love Women on the Verge. Remember the mambo taxi? The day after my friend and I saw the film, we were driving to a friend’s graduation party, and this woman pulled up next to us in a big blue Caddy, wearing a leopard coat, leopard pill-box hat, and bright red lipstick. We turned to each other and said, “Mambo driver!”
Those shoes. Hm. I’m recently out of work, but I’m expecting a project to come my way this week, which could mean getting these.
Comment by zuzu — June 7, 2010 @ 7:41 pm
@ Plumcake: Rossy starts out big in on me and then sinks straight to my skin, where it wears very closely and lightly. It winds up being mostly a light spice with a vague rose smell within minutes. Shalimar vanishes on me, again, except for a light, pleasant fragrance on the skin, within minutes. I can not explain this. People hate Angel, for the most part, until they smell it on me, and then the conversation goes like this: Them: “You smell great! What is that?” Me: “Angel” Them: “I hate that perfume!” Fragrances that get big on me are things like Creed’s Angelique Encens, and then not all the time.
I think the bottom line the difference in humidity and body oils. There’s no humidity here most days, and my skin just doesn’t hold on to much of anything unless I use a heavy primer for just about everything: lips, foundation, eyeshadow, etc.
Or maybe I just stink to high heaven in the summer because I am wearing the wrong perfume. :). Suggestions for summer frags always welcome, though I understand you have your hands full with Shoe Month–a project of great social import which I very much appreciate. I loves looking at the shoes.
Thank you all for your decisive intervention on the comfy-looking Tory Burch potential mistake. :)
Comment by Lisa — June 7, 2010 @ 8:38 pm
Is your current theme graphics? On the shoes and on the hunks? I can see these shoes with the sort of red outfit worn in “Women on the Verge.” I saw the latest Almodovar film, “Broken Embraces” it seemed to be an homage to that earlier film.
I love the look of this shoes, but would be concerned it would make a large foot, like mine, look larger with sculpted heel and pattern. Off to buy a red suit,…
Comment by Debs — June 7, 2010 @ 11:28 pm
Plumcake, dear Plumcake,
I am in need of your advice. I am a misplaced Fat Episcopalian Texan–with brown hair–currently living in Oregon. People in Oregon may have been born in barns, for all I have seen; I’ve been attempting to bring civilization to them, but no one here seems to have heard of slips, panty-hose, not wearing jeans to church, heels for leg lengthening, etc. Missionaries to cannibalistic cultures probably have an easier road to hoe, but I will persist.
I have been invited to a daytime wedding, at which the 4th time bride, Mademoiselle Y, will be wearing snow white (it looks dreadful with her hair, but the groom requested it vehemently), and the 2nd time groom will be wearing a tux. His previous marriage was a shotgun affair in his dubious mother in law’s living room, I think he hopes to feel really married this time. They are not having attendants, but I am one of her closer friends. The reception is to be outside–a BBQ at the couple’s house.
In any event… I want to give Mme Y my best face forward that day. She deserves the best of luck this time, and I think this man is a good match. Our other particular friend is guaranteed to be a tasteless attention grabbing disaster (not much of a friend, although her gift of this bride as a friend has been spectacular). I merely wish to look elegant, put together, intelligent, and not at all sophomoric, so I can go about the day, assist the bride in any way possible, and be confident of my appearance.
The problem is, I’m not entirely sure what I should be looking for in a dress…
If it was purely a church affair I think this would be divine: http://www.kiyonna.com/plus-size-clothing/View_All_Dresses/12060902 (in chocolate)
But BBQ… (and keeping in mind that folks in Oregon say BBQ and mean… hot dogs and hamburgers, not ribs, brisket, or any of the other divinely messy things that make me unbearably homesick)…
And yet, she’ll be wearing a white dress and he a tux.
This? http://www.igigi.com/plus-size-dresses/walking-on-sunshine-wrap-dress.html
I’m a size 18ish 20ish with a horror of anyone seeing my upper arms. And I don’t do pink.
Advice, Idea?
Comment by Kristen M — June 8, 2010 @ 12:23 am
Sigh. Oh, to look amazingly unconventionally striking and memorable, but I am a Katherine Heigl-alike (plus 40 pounds and minus six inches in height) to the point where at least once a fortnight, a friend, family member or colleague will say ‘hey – I just saw 27 Dresses/Knocked Up/Grey’s Anatomy and has anyone ever told you you look like the girl in it?’. Realistically, I maybe could be KHeigl’s older, fatter sister or cousin who didn’t get quite as lucky in the gene pool with the face. And yes, I think the eye can skip straight over me so if I want to be noticed the only response for me is to be the unconventional/ minimalist/ verging on androgynous dresser who always wears kick-arse shoes and a dramatic haircut. If I go pretty pastels/florals and soft hair and girly – it is amazing how invisible I become. Like it’s all of a piece and you look how we expect you to look, so we don’t need to look anymore…
I’m babbling.
Comment by Alocin — June 8, 2010 @ 1:26 am
@Kristen: If you are trying to hoe a road, no wonder you’re having troubles. One generally hoes rows. The Kiyonna dress, which I love and own is too sexy, even in chocolate, for a religious ceremony and the Igigi dress looks like something the slutty girl from Mama’s Family would’ve worn. I hate it (but then again, I also hate IGIGI and think they su-uh-uck).
The Legacy wrap dress by Kiyonna is a better bet. It’s appropriate for a church function, covers the arms, and should there be some accidental drippage, there’s enough going on visually from the peacock pattern to hide the stain in photos. Best wishes to the bride and groom. I hope they’ll be very happy together.
Comment by Plumcake — June 8, 2010 @ 2:03 pm