Sense and Sensitivity

In the past week or so, I've been meandering my way through Model as Muse by Harold Koda and Kohle Yohannan. I believe the book went along with an exhibition by the same name that was at The Met last year. It's been interesting to learn about the history of fashion from the late 1800s to present day through the lens of the models that embodied those periods. 


I find myself gravitating most toward the elegant, slightly haughty femininity of the 1940s through late 50s, exemplified by Dorian Leigh and Lisa Fonssagrives in the 1940s, and in the 1950s by Dovima, Sunny Harnett, Jean Patchett and Suzy Parker. Unfortunately, my attention has started to drop off now that the late 60s is being covered in the book. I love that the fashion world was finally getting hip to diversity at that point, with models such as Donyale Luna achieving great success as a cover girl, but the fashion doesn't excite me as much. And I confess I don't feel much like reading about the Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell generation of models. Is that bad? Yeah, I shouldn't dismiss so many decades of fashion. And Cindy Crawford and Christy Turlington are cool with me. Maybe the 80s through now will seem a lot more fascinating and alluring when 50 years have passed. Or maybe Kate and Naomi in particular just really bother me as people. :p

*image of Suzy Parker via herecomesthesky, of Jean Patchett via tompalumbo, and of Dovima via skorver1