1-900-Very-Famous: Mall Smoothies and Glamorous History
Hello Sweethearts of the World!
Below is 1-900-Very-Famous, the internet’s favorite party line for things fun and glamorous. Usually, this comes in newsletter form (subscribe here!) but today, it felt like something to share below. The history lessons we learned thanks to some folks on Instagram inspired a new Very Famous column: Glamorous History. It will be a record of the shimmering moments that we might have missed. Be on the lookout for the first one soon!
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🌴 Google Image Search of the Week: “Mall Smoothie Shop” 🌴
📹 The Very Famous Five 📹
1. LA historian Alison Martino gave us an elegant history lesson about Paul Revere Williams, designer of that luxurious dream logo Beverly Hills Hotel and much, much more. From a February 2020 Fast Company article: “Sadly, and impressively, Williams developed a style of drawing his design sketches in an inverted fashion, because it allowed him to sit across from his white clients, knowing they’d prefer to not sit next to him.”
Can you imagine creating a dream world in spite of those horrifying circumstances?
Watch the PBS documentary on Paul R. Williams here!
2. Another history lesson came to our attention courtesy of @nikkilipstick. The legendary Playboy bunny costume was designed by Zelda Wynn Valdes, a designer who owned Chez Zelda (glamour name!), the first Black-owned business on Broadway. She designed dresses for opera icon Jessye Norman, movie star Dorothy Dandridge, and the “Empress of Soul” Gladys Knight. Zelda also had a long-distance design relationship with Ella Fitzgerald, fitting her only once in 12 years and dreaming up most of the gowns based off her imagination.
3. 💚 Neon Cowboys, Neon Cowprint! 💚
https://www.instagram.com/p/CBMYYvvhlup/
4. Rest in peace, Bonnie Pointer. One of the founding Pointer Sisters died on Monday in LA at 69. After describing Bonnie’s “essential but hard to pinpoint” voice, her sister Anita Pointer said, “Bonnie was that magic note that no one could ever find.”
5. ☎️ Summer of ‘69 ☎️ Photo by: Vernon Merritt III/Time Life Pictures
Blingee Museum Entry of the Week: “Beautiful Louisiana #2” by rainbowgyrl
