My dears, I beg your pardon for being away so much. My day job has kept me very busy these past weeks. Forgive, but by all means, don’t forget?
I am finally coming up for a breath of perfumed air – just in time to catch a haute doc at Hot Docs in Toronto tonight (North America’s largest documentary festival).
About Face: The Supermodels, Then and Now, by photog and portrait-maker extraordinaire, Timothy Greenfield-Sanders (who has made films and photographs of everyone ‘from porn stars to politicians’), promises to be a moving portrait of mannequins of the moment, from the ’40s to the ’80s (and includes women in their 40s and their 80s!).
The film features fashion femmes from Carol Alt, Marisa Berenson, Karen Bjornson, Christie Brinkley and Pat Cleveland to Carmen Dell’Orefice, Jerry Hall, Beverly Johnson, Paulina Porizkova, Isabella Rossellini and China Machado. Highlighted, along with their cheekbones, are the intricate relationships these women had with their physical appearance and the brash business of beauty.
The director wanted to know, “What was it like to be overwhelmingly beautiful? To be constantly judged on your looks, your face, your body? How did it feel when your moment passed? How far would you go to keep that beauty from fading?”
These women captivated me as I was growing up. I can’t wait to hear what they have to say about culture, couture and the cult of being beautiful.
If you are in my fair city, you might still be able to get rush tickets for tonight. Hot Docs continues until May 6th.
All photographs are by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders for the April 2012 issue of Harper’s Bazaar, where you can read the entire Ageless Beauty feature.
