Archive for December, 2010

Some Icons Tarnish

Wednesday, December 15th, 2010

A lot of people think that “once an icon, always an icon.” Sadly, that is not always the case as evidenced by the once-iconic Whitney Houston. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Houston is the “most awarded” female artist of all time with two Emmy Awards, six Grammy Awards, 16 Billboard Music Awards, and 22 American Music Awards among others that propelled her to 411 career awards (as of 2006). The star rose to prominence in 1985 and 1986 with reviews attributing her as “one of the most exciting new voices in years.” Her career continued to climb to the stratosphere until the years 2000 2005 when drug allegations and personal struggles (as a result of her marriage to singer Bobby Brown) skyrocketed. These struggles were clearly evidenced during live interviews where Houston uttered such lines as “crack is whack,” even though she later admitted to using other substances. From that point on it seems that Houston became a bit of a joke and sadly, (more…)

Style Icons

Saturday, December 4th, 2010

Iconic style is something that captures our attention as it presents itself. If you want to get behind ther scenes with some of the world’s most coveted fashion style icons you might want to consider getting between the covers of the following books. Fifty Dresses that Changed the World (Design Museum) is filled with pages of beautiful clothes, and the famous faces (and bodies) that put them on the world stage including Wallis Simpson, Jackie Kennedy, Twiggy, Cher and, of course, Princess Di. This delightful book shares fascinating appraisals of what gave the 50 most important garments their iconic status and you don’t have to be a fashionista or a design aficionado to adore its look at the power of one dress to change society.Fashionista: A Century of Style Icons (Simone Werle) features a wide array of fashion icons with each one (like Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Audrey Hepburn) given her own (more…)