Rebel Without a Cause

Posted on 4 June, 2014 by María López Linares

Rebel Without a Cause

Year: 1955.

Director: Nicholas Ray.

Stars:

James Dean (Jim Stark).

Natalie Wood (Judy).

Sal Mineo (John “Plato” Crawford).

Jim Backus (Frank Stark).

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars: Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Sal Mineo), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Natalie Wood) and Best Writing.

Curiosities:

Wearing a t-shirt was not very usual back then. However since James Dean wore one in this movie, sales shot up.

The three main actors died in tragic ways. James Dean suffered a car accident, Sal Mineo was stabbed to death and Natalie Wood drowned. In addition, Edwad Platt who had a smaller role in the film, committed suicide in 1973.

The knives appearing in a fight scene are real. Actors wore doublets under their clothes.

James Dean was able to act in this movie because Elizabeth Taylor was pregnant and Giant was delayed.

Unfortunately, James Dean died before the movie was released.

Nicholas Ray dealt with real street gangs before the movie was shot.

Paul Newman was the first option for Jim Stark’s role. Marlon Brando even made a role casting.

Although his role was as a teenager, James Dean already was 24.

The candelabrum that Jim, Judy and Plato takes in a scene, was made with light bulbs and cables hidden in Sal Mineo’s jacket.

The plot lasts exactly one day.

The role of Sal Mineo was pretended to clearly be homosexual. The name of Plato was inspired on Platon, Greek philosopher who happened to be homosexual.

Nicholas Ray seems to appear en the final scene. It’s the one walking to the tower. It’s said he used to appear in all his movies, although it’s just a rumor so far.

The real first scene of the movie was cut off due to its violence: it was a scene with a gang assaulting a father and you could see how a toy dropped from his hands. Instead, the Director decided to shot James Dean with a toy in his hand.

At first Natalie Wood seemed to be too naive for this movie.

The beginning of the film was shot in black and white.

With no doubt, something was changing in cinema those days. After so many romantic movies with a happy end and also those where the hero fights and beats the “bad guys”, something different was needed. No one had gone so far with a movie.

Nicholas Ray realized there was a niche still untouched. Young people needed to be heard in a movie. They were shaking the society up and they deserved to be listened to.

There were no more happy ends. Love, sex, drugs, music and above all the extreme competition among young people had to be reflected in the big screen.

There were parents who were shocked after watching this film since the didn’t know what their sons and daughters used to do out in the streets. Society was about to be changed. Rock and roll was in its roots. The explosion of libety happened a little after.

This is a movie to see in order to understand the changes that happened during the 20th Century.

Images:

Cicus.us.es

agenda.granadaimedia.com

elrincondeloseruditos.blogspot.com.es

masterhalconcine.blogspot.com.es

Imágenes detrás de la cámara en:

enfilme.com

Japanese Art

Posted on 3 June, 2014 by María López Linares

The Eurpean interest for the Japanese art started in mid 19th Century. It happened thanks to the opening of the commerce with Orient with London and Paris. The first goods to be exported were picture cards that reproduced Japanese etchings. Artists, painters, arquitects and designers started adding to their works a few bites of the Japanese series.

After a few years, due to the Universal Exhibition in London in 1862, the great audience was able to contemplate and touch for the first time Japanese art works. It’s not difficult to imagine what those women from the London middle-class felt when they saw these wonderful pieces…

However European women fashion didn’t add this trend until the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1867. From that momento onwards Japan started exporting on a massive scale Japanese series created exclusively for the European market.

She loved wearing those shinning silk kimonos and following thed Japanese painting art, that is wear those kimonos inside home as an attire.

They loved those fabrics so much that even gave them the form of the Western world dresses.

Hand fans also were frenzy. They were created exclusively for Europe and they turned into one of the most valued art works for collectors from the 19th Century. Same happened with other accessories like slippers and bags.

Also the main kimono stores in Tokyo showed a huge interest on the Western market. They started increase their businesses trying to adapt their Japanese piece to the European taste.

The most famous European designers of the time were also influenced by the Japanese art. They started adding Japanese motives to their designs.

After a few decades, Japanese style was just forgotten until in the 80’s (20th Century) some designers like Kenzo, Miyake, Kawakubo or Yamamoto, knew how to recover its glory and bring it back to Paris the same way that happened 100 years before in the Universal Exhibition in 1867…

Karin Wachtendorff has a degree on History of Art and is specialized on History of the Suit and Cataloguing of Historic Fabrics. Thank you very much for your interesting contribution to our blog!

Karin Blog : Hstoriadelamodaylostejidos.blogspot.com.es

Magdalena Strozzi

Posted on 30 May, 2014 by María López Linares

Magdalena Strozzi was Agnolo Doni’s wife, a rich businessman and a patron in Florence. This singular portrait was painted by Rafael back in 1506. It seems it was an order from Agnolo Doni as a wedding gift and also because of the birth of his first-born son. The idea was to have it in a diptych in order to have both celebrations together forever. The last studies indicate they were taken out from the same tree.

This painting is quite similar to the one made by Leonardo Da Vinci, the well-known Mona Lisa. It’s said Da Vinci’s artwork was the inspiration that took Rafael to portray Magdalena Strozzi, something clear if you compare both portraits.

The Lady appears with a very open neckline, something common by the times and also wears big detachable sleeves in blue damask. The backline is a typical Tuscan landscape, as it happened in Mona Lisa. Also both women have the same exact posture.

The main difference with the Da Vinci’s artwork is that Magdalena appears here wearing her best jewelry: a magnificent pendant necklace ended in a big Pearl and 3 pieces in different colors, each one was a symbol of something special: The emerald reminds Magdalena chastity, the ruby symbolize how intense is her personality and the sapphire is talking about her purity. Lately, the pearl in the end symbolize fidelity.

This is the piece that grabbed all my attention. It amazed me so much that I didn’t stop until I found a master artisan in Florence who was able to make a piece as similar as possible.

And that is exactly what I’m showing to you today: that pendant necklace with such a history and able to transmit many feelings through its colors

Magdalena also wears a simple necklace apparently made in jet beads, that reminds me to the Lady With An Ermine.

This painting was eventually own by the Donia’s descendents, until 1826 when it was acquired by the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Leopoldo II of Lorena, and it was included among the collections in the Palazzo Pitti in Florence

Here’s the unique jewel that Magdalena Strozzi wore back in 1506. I really hope you like it.

Isabel Muñoz

Posted on 27 May, 2014 by María López Linares

Trying to reproduce Isabel Muñoz’s art work has been the most worrying challenge I’ve faced since I decided to start back in January a 12-months work with my colleagues from El Objetivo Magico, copying one master work per month.

Isabel Muñoz was the master photographer to imitate this month, chosen by my colleague Sara Lagunas. And I can tell you it’s been very challenging to me to reproducing the work of one of the biggest talents in Spain.

Let me give you a few bites about her biography, not much though, since you can find a lot about her on the Internet. Her awards, travels and artwork could well fit the plot of a movie. Her series of the Cuban traditional dance, her Cambodian, Turkish or Kenian works or the amazing set of photographs about the children at the Beijing circus school are just a few breathtaking samples that amaze me.

The momento I sat down in front of her artwork I felt nervousness. I lost in thought every time I listen to her. It’s not only the light, how she treated the leather or her way of dealing with black and white what grab my attention. It’s her courage when capturing what she feels. That’s what makes me feel so small…

And now I’m supposed to take my Nikon camera with my inexperienced hands and to try to emulate one of these magnificent and full of passion pieces… That moment I wonder if I am embarrasing myself trying to copy her.

So I started studying her work, her editions, the way she treated the light and also I had to look for models for the session of pictures.

The momento I saw the series “Oriental” I thought on my friend Malen: She’s being dancing since I can remember… And that’s too long! Malen is a pharmacist but she spends every available second in the day to practice. Her passion for dancing and her extreme dedication are admirable. She can dance tango, tap dancing, the belly dance and any other saloon dance. However she’s not a professional, although her couple at dancing indeed is and actually dances for a group called “Sweet Twins STW”.

I was totally convinced I couldn’t find a better model to my purpose. Like all the biggest discoverings in life, this series of photographs came from a garaje… I hope you like them.

I’ve had a professional relationship with Mapy, my second model, since many years ago. She is our Creative Director, the head who actually turns to reality all my ideas on and off-line. Nowadays she also is a friend after so many years of work.

I loved chatting with her about her tattoos, how she managed to hide at home to keep them out of her parents sight and how she spent a Summer wearing a jacket until she succumbed to the sun and had to put it off.

Mapy is an illustrator, creative and graphic designer. Her body reflects her sensibility and art. You can read on her skin what she feel about painting, the masters she admires and follow. That’s why I thought of her when I saw the Isabel Muñoz’s series about gangs. Her tattoos grabbed my attention long time ago and I felt respect for the fact that she had her passion on her own body. To me that is so brave and beautiful at once…

This series came out from an evening at home.

I’d like to emphasise I feel the deepest respect for this amazing professional who is Isabel Muñoz. I’m only an amateur pretending to learn something by copying the biggest photographers in history.

Here’s her official website, in case you want to check her whole work.

http://www.isabelmunoz.es/

With H: “Huevo de Pascua” (Easter Egg)

Posted on 26 May, 2014 by María López Linares

A “Huevo de Pascua” (Easter Egg) is a unique jewel for exhibits made by the Russian jeweller Carl Fabergé. Those eggs were made in gold, glaze and precious stones.

This artisan created 69 easter eggs between 1885 and 1917. 61 out of them are still well preserved.

By Easter in 1883, Tzar Alexander III ordered to the artisan jeweller Peter Carl Fabergé a very special egg to give away to his wife, the Tzarina Maria. The eventual gift was an egg with a Shell in platinum that had a smaller egg in it, this time in gold. This last egg had inside a hen in miniature wearing the Russian Imperial Crown. The Tzarina liked it so much that Alexander III ordered Fabergé to make a new one every Easter.

In total, Tzar Alexander gived 11 eggs to his wife. Then, his son Nicolas II kept this tradition ordering more eggs to give away to his wife and mother.

The 57 eggs made by the Fabergé House had a little gift inside: a replica of a Tzar’s belonging.

Lately a Fabergé egg made under the order of the Rothschild family reached a price of 18 million dollars in an auction in the Christie’s House in London.

The surprising anecdote heppened when an American scrap dealer bought with no knowledge one of those eggs: a jewel carved in gold and decorated with diamonds and zaphires ordered by Alexander III as a gift for his wife, the tzarina Maria Feodorovna in 1887. The merchant bought it in a street market with the purpose of selling the gold by weight. Afortunately he couldn’t do it since nobody paid as much as he did to buy the piece.

Over the years, thanks to the Internet, this man found the origin of the piece and decided to travel to London to sell the jewel for the breath-taking amount of 20 million pounds.

Here’s the link to this incredible story: Dailymail.co.uk

We have miniature replicas of this jewel. They are actually among the most liked in our space!

To Catch a Thief

Posted on 21 May, 2014 by María López Linares

Year: 1955.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock.

Stars:

Cary Grant (John Robie).

Grace Kelly (Frances Stevens).

Jessie Royce Landis (Jessie Stevens).

John Williams (H. H. Hughson).

Awards:

Oscar to Best Cinematography, Color.

Also nominated to the Oscar to Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color and Best Costume Design.

Nominada to the Satellite Award for Best Classic DVD in 2009.

Alfred Hitchcock was nominated to the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1955.

Nominated to the Writers Guild of America Awar to the Best Writter American Comedy in 1956.

Curiosities:

The road where the chase with Cary Grant was shot was the same where Grace Kelly died.

The actress Brigitte Auber shows off about being younger than Grace Kelly in the scene with the floating platform. The Princess was only one year and a half older.

The acress Jessie Royce Landis makes the role of mother-in-law to be. In the movie North by Northwest she plays the role of the mother.

According to the script, Cary Grant should be 35 years old. He was 50 in real life.

John Robie says in one of the scenes of the movie that he was a trapeze artista in an European Circus. That was a detail taken from Cary Grant’s real life.

The two main characters are considered the eithgth hottest couple in cinema.

The French actor Charles Vanel (Bertani) didn’t speak English. He had to be doubled.

Grace Kelly’s car in the movie is a Sunbeam-Talbot Alpine Sports Mk I roadster.

In the first scenes a black cat intentionally appear. John Robie was known as “the cat”.

Alfred Hitchcock shows himself sat in a bus close to Cary Grant

Alfred Hitchcock never won an Oscar. He always was ignored by Hollywood like a few other actors. He however ended up becoming into the best director in the history of Cinema.

Cary Grant is magnificent in his role of a white-glove thief. Grace Kelly was not the only one who felt in love with him in the movie because of his character. Many women from that epoque also did. No one else but the great Gentleman Cary Grant could have played the role of that lovely thief.

And also Grace Kelly seems to fit perfectly in the role of a manipulative and cold woman.

Comedy, adventures, action and intrigue… And a romance with a happy ending of course.

This is Cinema made with a very good taste.

Unforgettable scenes:

Images:

www.cinematte.com.es

www.elantepenultimomohicano.com

blogtomados.wordpress.com

Grace of Mónaco

Posted on 19 May, 2014 by María López Linares

It will be released in a few days. I’ve been looking forward to this moment over the past year and now Grace of Monaco will be on theatres soon.

The movie has opened the 67th edition of the Cannes Festival (May 14th to 25th) and after a few days, it will come to our closest cinemas. The film, directed by Olivier Dahan and casted by Nicole Kidman, Tim Roth and the Spanish actress Paz Vega, among others, focuses in one year of Grace’s life: 1962. Back then the situation between France and Monaco was truly delicate and Grace’s political role was crucial.

Most of the fashion and glamour lovers are excited about the movie. I am indeed, so I put my back on getting something amazing ready to celebrate the release. So one year ago I started a deep research about the jewelry that the Princess loved the most. My intention was pay her homage these days, when her life is being remembered worldwide.

That’s the way my new collection “Grace” was born: A series of a necklace, earrings, a brazalet and a tiara made in silver and zirconia. A collection I’ll launch to all of you this Tuesday May 20th in our space in Madrid. And you are invited to join us if you happen to be around here! Otherwise, you also can follow our event across social networks using the hashtags #GraceKelly and #HistoricJewels.

All details about the exhibition: Show Grace

Grace Kelly become one of the most acclaimed royal Princesses ever thanks to her elegance, distinguished education and her natural beauty. To be honest, she’s been a source of inspiration to us in Vintage by Lopez-Linares.

I won’t miss the release. Don’t hesitate to tell me your thoughts about the movie and, better yet, come over to my space during the exhibition (opened until June 30th) and chat about it with me!

Images:

El septimo arte.net

Rear Window

Posted on 14 May, 2014 by María López Linares

Year: 1954.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock.

Stars:

James Stewart (L. B. Jefferies).

Grace Kelly (Lisa Carol Fremont).

Wendell Corey (Thomas J. Doyle).

Thelma Ritter (Stella).

Raymond Burr (Lars Thorwald).

Awards:

The film was nominated to four Oscars: Best Director, Best Writing, Best Cinematography and Best Sound, and also won many other awards we invite you to check in the IMDB website.

Curiosities:

The movie was shot in an only set. The whole scenerio was built, both the patio and the appartment with water and power. A few of them were even furnished. It took months to build all that.

But for the three first scenes, where an orchest is playing music, the only audie you can perceive is the natural sound of things. Music in the Street, chats and other daily and common sounds.

This is the only film where Grace Kelly smokes a cigarette.

Alfred Hitchcock shot the whole movie from the appartment, from where he commanded the actors via radio.

The actress on the role of Miss Torso was living in the appartment all the month long.

Hitchcock used one thousand spotlights to simulate daylight.

The film was about to be lost during the 60’s due to the deterioration of the pigment that was used to give it color. Experts had to restore it.

The camera James Stewart shows in the movie is a 35 mm from Germany. The Producer Paramount Pictures intentionally covered the brand.

Alfred Hitchcock appears in a scene in the compositor’s appartment while wind up a clock. The musical composer is Ross Bagdasarian, the creator of Alvin and the Chipmunks.

A patio and an appartment. That’s all Hitchcock needed to film the movie that many think it’s the great British director’s best seller. There’s even more. The main character has his leg in a plaster and can barely move during the entire film.

Grace Kelly, our protagonist this week, is breathtaking with that black dress. That image became one of the most famous of the actress. Although the role she plays is not essential, the light she radiates with her only presence, the way she moves and how she went to the camera looking at the viewer stright in the eyes made her enter into the Olympus of gods in cinema.

Alfred Hitchcock was trully in love with her and that’s something you can perceive in this movie. The camera loves her and she enjoys it.

On the other hand, James Stewart grabbing his camera from a wheelchair keeps the audience engaged all the time, looking forward to the ending that is resolved the “Hitchcock way”.

This is a unforgettable movie that this week opens our week until the exhibition Jewels of the History, based on those that the pretty Grace Kelly wore.

Trailer:

Images:

El submundo de alfred hitchcock.blogspot.com.es

Lookandfashion.hola.com

Camaracoleccion.es

3rd Edition Jewelry of the History

Posted on 12 May, 2014 by María López Linares

We are celebrating the third edition of our Show “Replicas of Jewelry of the History”. After the great success of our two previous editions and also using the momentum of the release in theatres of Grace of Monaco, we’ve decided make it very special this year.

The big opening will be next Tuesday, the 20^th, at 12 pm (GMT + 1) with the History specialist María Romero de Cuenca who will lead you across the most amazing life of jewelry.

And we have a surprise! Both you who happens to be in Madrid and want to join us, and you who will follow the event on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ will have the chance of being the first to see and enjoy our new collection “Grace”, based on the jewels Grace Kelly was gifted during her royal wedding. Did you know it was a very special order made by Rainier III, Prince of Monaco? A necklace with pearls and double clip, a bracelet and a pair of earrings compound the beautiful gift.

But we won’t stop there! Beyond those replicas, we’ve made a lovely tiara inspired in the one Grace Kelly preferred the most. She wore it in a few events, with a pretty hairstyle by the famous stylist Alexandre.It’s a jewel made in silver and zircons. The original piece had on it 214 bright-carving diamonds and 45 baguette-carving diamonds. The Princess wore it in several special occasions like the Gala pre Spanish Royal Wedding in Athenas and also during the party previous to the wedding between the Infanta Pilar Duchess of Badajoz and Luis Gomez-Acebo back in 1967.

During the show you’ll also find many other luxurious accessories our Princess could have worn: hand bags, gloves, earrings…

The next 20^th of May will be a very special date. We’ll open our space in Madrid in a non-stop timetable from 11 am until 8.30 pm. That day we’ll also make a toast with a glass of Oporto and we’ll have the chance to know each other better at the same time we enjoy these iconic pieces.

Here’s the invitation to the event: INVITATION TO THE SHOW JEWELS OF THE HISTORY. in case you are in Madrid in that date and wish to join us.

For those of you who can’t attend that day, feel free to follow the event on Facebook and Twitter using the hashtags #historicjewels and #GraceKelly. We’ll also have a hangout on Google+, so stay tuned!

Looking forward to seeing you all!.

Maria y Ana López-Linares

The Barefoot Contessa

Posted on 7 May, 2014 by María López Linares

Year: 1954.

Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz.

Stars:

Ava Gardner (María Vargas).

Humphrey Bogart (Harry Dawes).

Edmond O´Brien (Oscar Muldoon).

Rossano Brazzi (Count Vincenzo Torlato-Fabrini).

Awards:

It won the Oscar to the Best Actor in a Supporting Role and was nominated to the Best Writing, Story and Screenplay.

The film got many other awards you may consult in the IMDB website.

Curiosities:

The character María Vargas was based on Rita Hayworth who also was asked to do the role. Rita was origins from Spain (her parents were Spanish) and she got married with the Prince Aly Khan. However, some of the elements of the movie are also based on Ava Gardner’s real life. The relationship between María and the Producer is the same that had Ava and the magnate Howard Hughes.

The story is a flashback told by the three main characters.

When Howard Hughes knew that the character of Warren Stevens was base don him, he threatened them with a complaint, since he was been told the character would be a magnate from Texas. The script was changed and the character was then become in a financier from New York.

Bogart ensured in his biography he didn’t like to work with Ava Gardner because “she didn’t give you anything to work with”, according to his own words.

The Barefoot Contessa was the first Mankiewicz’s work as a scriptwriter, director and producer at the same time. It also was the first job of his film producer Figaro Inc.

The scenes outside were shot in the suburbs of Roma, San Remo and Portofino, in Italy.

Ava Gardner used to walk barefooted even before this film.

Edmund O’Brien’s character was Oscar, and was the only actor who won an Oscar. Redundant, uh?

Ava Gardner was practicing for three weeks the scene where she dances with gypsies. She had never danced in a movie before. During the shot of that scene, the sound system broke. She however kept dancing without missing not one step.

Ava Gardner has never been this beautiful, I’d say. She was a sex-symbol and she was the only one able to do a scene like that one, taking off her bath robe and showing her body in a swimsuit.

In a time where the nude was forbidden, Ava shows one more time why she was known as “the most beautiful animal in the World”.

Her huge sex appeal and her wild and magnetic personality (not only in the film but also in real life) make this movie the best Ava Gardner worked in. This is how Ava will be remembered by her fans.

Bogart and Edmund O´Brien, who do the voice of María Vargas’ conscience, only can fly around Ava. And despite they were better actors than she was in that momento this is with no doubt a film thought to be starred by the unique Ava Gardner.

http://youtu.be/Kv2Jw2BSi0c

Images:

zinefilaz.blogspot.com.es

Wikipedia

Vintage by López Linares

Pure vintage Blog

Author Archives: María López Linares

Rebel Without a Cause

Japanese Art

Magdalena Strozzi

Isabel Muñoz

With H: “Huevo de Pascua” (Easter Egg)

To Catch a Thief

Grace of Mónaco

Rear Window

3rd Edition Jewelry of the History

The Barefoot Contessa