yesterday's muse #26 - helen bennett

Helen Bennett was born on August 14, 1911 in Springfield Missouri. she was a model and actress , best known for her stylish platinum coiffure. Bennett began her career as a beauty queen and was awarded the title Miss Missouri in 1937. she attended the University of Missouri and the Goodman Theater acting school in Chicago, before setting her sights on New York City.



in New York, Helen found work as a model. she also appeared on Broadway in shows such as "Dream Girl." according to IMDB, Helen's "attention to style and grooming earned her a much coveted recognition by Monsieur Leon, a prominent New York hairstylist who promoted -- some say invented -- the well-groomed "new look" in the late 1940s. Leon named Bennett along with actresses Claudette Colbert, Kathryn Grayson, Gertrude Lawrence and Norma Shearer as the five women in America with the best-dressed hair."




Bennett, along with a handful of other models like Norma Shearer and Gene Tierney, was able to make a successful transition into acting, appearing in films such as Lost City of the Jungle (1946) and The Scarlet Horseman (1946), and later, Return to Peyton Place (1961) with Tuesday Weld.



Helen was married to a man named Sylvester James Andrews, though I can't seem to find out when or for how long, or if she had any children. she died at the age of 89 on Sunday, February 25, 2001, in Santa Monica, California.

yesterday's muse #25 - gitta schilling

Brigitta ("Gitta") Schilling was born in Berlin in 1936 into a world of war and poverty. her family faced many hardships - something she discusses in the 2010 documentary: Gitta Schilling - Timeless Beauty. at the age of 16, Gitta was discovered while walking in a local parade, and by 1958, she was dividing her time between Berlin, Florence, Paris and New York, working with the best designers and photographers, as one of the world's most famous fashion models.



from 1958 to 1964, Schilling graced the covers of numerous magazines, including Vogue and Madame, and was appointed 'ambassador of elegance' in Germany. after her modelling career, Gitta became a stylist in Monaco before eventually retiring to a private life.





Gitta now lives in Italy, and at 74 years old she remains an extraordinary beauty.

yesterday's muse # 24 - ivy nicholson

forgive me for being vague, but i wasn't able to find a great deal of information on Ivy, so i'll just share with you what i did find...



born Irene Nicholson in Queens, New York, Ivy started modeling at age 16. in the 1950s she graced the covers of Vogue, Elle and Harper's Bazaar, among others. as many of her contemporaries would do, Ivy sought out acting roles once the end of her twenties began to loom. somewhere in her search she found Andy Warhol, and was cast in minor roles in a number of his films.




i know that at some time in her life she married and divorced a Count (DePoleon), with whom she had a son Darius -consequently a Viscount- who plays in a band called Eurotrash, made up of other entitled Europeans ;) Ivy has three other children, Sean Bolger, a Los Angeles fashion photographer, and twins Penelope and Gunther Palmer, whose father John is also in showbiz. Penelope was a child actress and her twin brother a child model. Gunther is now a drummer and vocalist in a band called Stagefright.

yesterday's muse #23 - jean shrimpton

Jean Shrimpton was born in Buckinghamshire, England on November 7, 1942. she graduated from modelling school at the age of 17, and began modelling in 1960. an icon of swinging 60s London, Jean appeared on numerous covers including Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Vanity Fair, Newsweek and Time. she was known as "the face of the 60s" and is often credited with helping to launch the mini-skirt (not quite nobel prize worthy, but a feat nonetheless :)




Shrimpton met photographer David Bailey at a photoshoot in 1960, and the two had a four year love affair. Jean became Bailey's muse and the couple's relationship resulted in photos that would become the building blocks of both their future careers. Shrimpton also had a celebrated romance with actor Terrance Stamp, but would eventually marry photographer Michael Cox in 1979, while four months pregnant with her son Thadeus. the couple now own and run the Abbey Hotel in Cornwall.

yesterday's muse # 22 - nusch eluard

Nusch Éluard was born Maria Benz in Mulhouse (then part of the German empire), in June of 1906. her father gave her the nickname Nusch, which would stick with her throughout her life. Nusch would become the celebrated muse of painters, poets and photographers in the 1930s and 40s, and would inspire some of that era's greatest art.



Picasso painted several portraits of her; she was photographed by Man Ray, Brassaï, Lee Miller and Dora Maar, and in 1930, Nusch met surrealist poet Paul Éluard, whom she married four years later. Paul Éluard's Facile, a collection of poems, was written for Nusch, who would later produce surrealist art of her own, primarily in the form of photomontage.




Nusch was known for her quiet, sensual charm and free spirit - a spirit that disappeared all too quickly when she collapsed in a Paris street in 1946, and died suddenly and unexpectedly of a brain hemorrhage.

yesterday's muse #20 - renee perle

Romanian born model Renee Perle moved to Paris in the 1920s, where she met French photographer Jacques Henri Lartigue on the Rue de la Pompe. Lartigue is considered one of the leading photographers of the 20th century and Renee Perle would become his mistress and his most famous muse, inspiring some of his best known photographs. in his diary, Lartrigue writes of Perle: ‘Around her, I see a halo of magic.’”
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Lartigue's 'Angel', as he often referred to her, passed away in 1977, but Renee's beauty remains an inspiration to contemporary photographers and designers. John Galliano has referenced Perle as the inspiration for his fall 2005 collection.