A Book Review, Kind Of

Back in 1989 my dear friend Debra and I each bought a copy of The Andy Warhol Diaries. She, being an artist, was a fan of his work. I was aware of who he was and trusted Debra's taste. We read it then. I don't remember a lot about my thoughts from that time. I'm sure I was shocked at all of the talk of drugs. I was probably more interested in his friendship with Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran. Well, I pulled the book out early in December to reread since I've been in a 1970s state of mind. This time through I've noticed so much. He talks a LOT about drugs in the 70s. Did any of the celebrities get angry and try to file lawsuits? I don't know that I'd want the world knowing that I did all sort of substances in front of my kids, for example. He didn't go into detail about the rumored debauchery at Studio 54, probably because the person he was talking to already knew all about it. I would like to hear more, though, being a bit curious as to how bad it really could have been. Andy worked so much. His work days seem to be twelve or more hours a day, sometimes even on Sundays. I've seen pictures of lots of his paintings, but there must be hundreds more for me to see, not including the private portraits that he did. I'll have to check the local library for some books of his art collections. After working until nine or so he'd go out with his friends for dinner and clubbing until the early morning and the get up and do it again. He must have been used to it, having lived that life for twenty-some years. There are some people, like Bianca Jagger, who are in the entirety of the diaries. He talked of a different group of people as he got more into the Eighties. Up-and-coming stars must have sought him out for publicity since he knew so many people and was seen everywhere. He seemed lonely, though. There are several entries where he spoke of wanting a romance. I imagine his schedule made having a boyfriend difficult, especially in those days of hedonism. I was very aware, this time through, of how many people died from AIDS. Living in the middle of nowhere, we didn't get too much news of AIDS until later in the Eighties. Andy starts talking about it in about 1982, although he referred to it as "gay cancer" because it didn't have a name yet. He was really worried about it, even without a lover. I wonder if people wouldn't give permission to have their pictures in the book. There are two sections of photos, but they're both small and the pictures are kind of blah. Andy talked about having a camera with him all the time. What happened to all of those pictures? Maybe they're all in another book somewhere. I guess the review part is this - it's an interesting book, especially if you're a fan of that era (mid-Seventies to 1987) or are a Warhol fan. The editor claims to have left it mostly intact, so if that's true it's a close look into the mind of an artist and celebrity. It's made me wonder, of course, what he would have thought of today. A person can become famous for a picture on Instagram. The internet has created a new world of celebrities. And reality television...Warhol's movies Eat and Sleep kind of started the "reality" genre in a way. I'm sure all of the Real Housewives would have loved having portraits painted by the same man who painted Jerry Hall and Liza Minnelli. Now I need to decide what to read next. Should I hit the library for a biography of one of the Studio 54 crowd? Maybe back to Sherlock Holmes? Dragons and wizards? I always have a tough time deciding. A final note for today...yesterday I was browsing CVS while waiting for a prescription refill and saw, in the Valentine's Day section, a gift set of Halston cologne and body lotion for $14.99. I wonder if it smells the same as it did when it was new. I let Eric know that I'd like to get it. It's a bit sad, though, that Halston is on the shelf while Coty Musk is locked up. Okay, that's all for today. No pictures, sorry. I'll share some knitting next time as soon as I get this project finished.

An Early Gift

A couple of weeks ago I got an email from etsy showing things I might be interested in. I get them from ebay all the time but don't open them to avoid temptation, but I was curious. It contained something I was very interested in - a vintage Halston ultrasuede shirt dress in my size. I closed the screen and pouted because, well, I'm broke and shouldn't have looked in the first place. A few days later Kerry and I ware chatting about random things and I told him about the dress. He said I should order it and it would be his Christmas present to me. A relative had given me some money (not through Go Fund Me, that's for the kids), so I ordered it. It came Saturday. I opened it with careful excitement - this is the dress that Halston sold 60,000 of for around two hundred dollars in the early 70s. I couldn't wait to see what vintage high-end looked like!

It's beautiful. The color isn't something I would normally get, but it will go with everything. The ultrasuede fabric is dreamy - soft and smooth. It looks like this dress wasn't worn much - no areas that are aged-looking. The tag was unattached on one side, as the listing said, but that's okay and easily fixable.

I was eager to see what the inside of this baby looked like. Right away I saw that the buttons are the cheap plastic kind. Kind of surprising. They're backed, though, unlike something I'd get new. When I got to the seams, though, I wondered if perhaps I was duped.

It looks like something I would make. I know the ultrasuede doesn't fray, but I was expecting something more - and the obvious notches really made me think that this had been handmade by someone and a label sewn in - some older patterns sometimes included a label. But! I came across these tags

that confirmed to me that this is, in fact, a real Halston dress. According to the union tag it's from after 1974. I was about 5 when this dress was made! One of the things that I really like is the attached belt

that won't get lost...although I had thought of wearing the dress with a cardigan over it and using the belt around both. Oh, well. Why are there no pictures of me modeling it? Well, it's a bit snug. I had hoped to wear it to my court appointment on Wednesday, but now I'll work on wearing it on my birthday in three weeks. I'll just exercise a bit more and eat less homemade toffee (yum!). I will wear the heck out of this dress! I did a bit of looking around for fabric to make some more versions. Holy cow can it be expensive! I found some on that's affordable and comes in some great colors. Maybe with some birthday money I can order a few yards. I need to learn how to copy this dress, though. anyone want to come teach me? I think that, with this style and my wrap dress, I can party like it's 1975 every day! On a related note, I've watched American Hustle so many times just for the clothes. I don't even pay attention to the story. It's all about the dresses, baby! Have you seen it? Okay, that's all for today. I have some gift knitting to finish that I'll show you later this week - and court to psych myself up for. Wish me luck!