#sir cecil beaton

[mote-historie]

Marlene Dietrich wearing an Elsa Schiaparelli ensamble from the fall/winter 1936-1937 collection, British Vogue, photo by Cecil Beaton, October 1936.

[conformi]

Sir Cecil Beaton in his bathroom decorated with autographed hands of guests, Ashcombe House, Wiltshire, UK, 1934 VS Cueva de las manos, Santa Cruz, Argentina, 7300 BC

[lamarchesacasati]

1971 Cecil Beaton, Marisa Berenson in a Paul Poiret dress as the Marchesa Luisa Casati for The Proust Ball at the Rothschild family’s opulent Château de Ferrières in France, December 1971.  

Tribute to Marchesa Luisa Casati.

Marisa Berenson went as Marchesa Luisa Casati to The Proust Ball—the idea of costume designer Piero Tosi, with whom Berenson had just worked on the film Death in Venice. “You are not going to go like all those other women,” he proclaimed, instead dressing her in a Paul Poiret dress adorned with jeweled snakes, a curled red wig, black lipstick, and a black tiara. "When I walked in, nobody recognized me,” she says. “I had so much fun because I was totally sticking out from everybody else.  

The Proust Ball (Bal Proust), 1971.

The Proust Ball, thrown in honor of the 100th anniversary of Marcel Proust’s birth in 1971, might be considered Marie-Helene de Rothschild’s greatest triumph. Around 350 guests attended the extremely rich dinner at her home outside of Paris, the Château de Ferrières, with 350 or so more arriving in time for a second, later dinner. Among the guests were Audrey Hepburn, Princess Grace of Monaco, Elizabeth Taylor, and Richard Burton, while Cecil Beaton was the night’s photographer. French model and actress Marisa Berenson remembers the night, saying, “As soon as you arrived at Ferrières it was like going back in time, but more luxuriously with highly refined taste… . The women wore dresses, bodices, big headdresses, tiaras, lots of jewelry. It was truly the era of Proust.” (x)

[artdecoandmodernist]

Clothes and the Car... At the Theatre for Vogue, Photo by Sir Cecil Beaton, 1927.

[theroyalsandi]

Elizabeth II ( b. 21 April 1926 - d. 08 September 2022)

Buckingham Palace has release a never before seen photo of Queen Elizabeth II to mark the first anniversary of her death. The portrait was taken by Sir Cecil Beaton at Buckingham Palace in 1968 | September 8, 2023

[onefootin1941]

Sir Cecil Beaton, Portrait of Dorian Leigh wearing a Charles James Evening Gown, 1948

[thewales]

Message from King Charles III to mark the first anniversary of the death of Queen Elizabeth II and his accession as king. Buckingham Palace also released a photo of Queen Elizabeth II. The photo was taken by Sir Cecil Beaton on October 16, 1968.

[corallapis]

Olga “Oggie” Lynn (1882-1961), born Lowenthal, was a singer and singing teacher, who, despite being somewhat older than most of the Bright Young Things, was a staple of their circle. She was “short,” “dumpy,” and “jolly,” and would often host tableuax vivants for charity or sing at parties with “a rather sweet, pure little voice” when she wasn't giving lessons. She “was inclined to get into situations with which she could not cope and was always being helped by her friends,” chief among them Oliver Messel.

For a time, she lived together with Gladys Cooper, Lady Idina Sackville, and Tallulah Bankhead. According to Chips Channon, she and Tallulah Bankhead were “the queens of London's wickedest world — la haute lesbie [coterie of smart lesbians].” Her girlfriend, Maud “the Admiral” Nelson (1904-1969), though “unable to type,” was secretary first to Napier, Lord Alington, and then Cecil Beaton. It is undoubtedly Maud Nelson to whom Anthony Powell refers when he describes the mixed make-up of the parties of the age:

At one end of the scale there'd be quite smart people, Diana Cooperish sort of figures and so on. At the other there'd always be a lot of these girls who were sort of living on the margin — you know, they'd do a little modeling; at the same time they were not quite tarts but they were being half kept. And then it would tail off into the queer, almost criminal world — lesbians dressed as admirals, that sort of thing. (emphasis mine, qtd. in Taylor, Bright Young People)

As a Christmas present, in 1933, Baba and Cecil Beaton gifted Olga Lynn a scrapbook filled with signed photographs of their friends, giving us a glimpse of her social circle. It included Lady Idina Sackville; Violet, Duchess of Rutland; Gertrude Lawrence; Lady Diana Cooper; Napier, Lord Alington; Sir Michael Duff; Audrey Pleydell-Bouverie; and Viola Tree.

[bala5]

Happy Birthday!

Sir Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton, CBE was a British fashion, portrait, and war photographer, diarist, painter, and interior designer, as well as an Oscar–winning stage and costume designer for films and the theatre.

[oceancentury]

“Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary.” Sir Cecil Beaton, born 14 January 1904. Photographer for Royalty, Hollywood, a war photographer, and an Oscar winner, designing costumes and sets for movies like My Fair Lady and Gigi. He died 18 January 1980.

[philibetexcerpts]

Didn't Philip like Beaton to be the photographer for the coronation? I wonder how he behaved during the photocall... 🤣🤣

No, he didn’t. He preferred his friend, Baron Nahum, to do the job, but the Queen Mother preferred Beaton and overrode him lmao

“The Duke began to make a great deal of fuss, being frightfully bossy again, telling us where to stand and when to smile. Cecil Beaton was very commanding behind the camera. He was well known for taking a dislike to interfering comments, and the more the Duke of Edinburgh tried to have his say, the tetchier he became.

The Duke persisted, either not realising or not caring that he was disrupting the photographer, and eventually Cecil Beaton snapped. He put down his camera, glared at the Duke of Edinburgh and said, ‘Sir, if you would like to take the photographs, please do.’ He then gestured to the camera and started to walk away. The Queen looked horrified, as did the Queen Mother, and realising he had gone too far, the Duke of Edinburgh moved off.”

Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown by Anne Glenconner

[mote-historie]

Portrait of Margaret Whigham later Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll or Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, by Sir Cecil Beaton, 1934.

[grandmaster-anne]

Vogue 1 October 1967 Portrait Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy and her husband, businessman Sir Angus Ogilvy, with their one-year old daughter, Marina, and three-year old son, James. They are playing in the garden outside the Thatched House Lodge, where they live in Richmond Park, London. Angus wears a window pane blazer with dark pants and is lifting James, in a blue playsuit, into a tree. She wears a simple pink dress with strands of pearls around her neck. © Cecil Beaton

[lamarchesacasati]

1922 Marchesa Luisa Casati, representing 'Light' Costume by House of Worth. A costume made of a net of diamonds, glittering silver fringe, a gold feather sun against a diamond tiara and embroidered diamond stars. From the book “A century of fashion” by Jean-Philippe Worth, 1928. 

The press said:

“Marchesa Luisa Casati made the Venetian night her slave.”

Muse to many including Sir Cecil Beaton, Paul Poiret, Mariano Fortuny, John Galliano and Karl Lagerfeld. 

[artdecoandmodernist]

Margaret Whigham, later Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll or Margaret, Duchess of Argyll as bridesmaid for Cecil Beaton's sister Nancy's wedding. Photo by Cecil Beaton, January 1933.

[boxcarwild]

Portraits of Cecil Beaton and Edith Maude Olivier by Rex Whistler (24 June 1905-18 July 1944). Whistler was a British artist, who painted murals and society portraits, and designed theatrical costumes.

He was killed in Normandy on 18 July 1944, killed by a mortar bomb after he left his tank to go to the aid of other men in his unit. His body now lies in Banneville-la-Campagne War Cemetery, 10 kilometres east of Caen. Reportedly, The Times newspaper received more letters about Whistler's death than for any other war victim.

Afterwards, Sir John Gielgud wrote to the actor Alec Guinness, telling him that “Whistler's death is a major tragedy” adding that “He wanted to prove that 'artists can be tough' and alas, he has done so - but the world is greatly the poorer for his sacrifice”.