Femme Fatale [antikvár]

Who is a Femme Fatale? A woman of elusive power swathed in glamour—and always fabulous hair. Some would call her a woman of the past. In this book, Serge Normant makes the case that the great beauties of today exude a new glamour, one as intriguing as ttiat of their predecessors. Times have changed and women along with them, but not the innate ability to charm. Our lives are different now, more complicated in some ways, but necessarily simpler in others. While women once devoted countless hours to their beauty regimens, today's time scarcity makes that impossible. In addition, our society increasingly lauds the mundane at the expense of the extraordinary. As a result, women in general, especially celebrities, often reject overt expressions of glamour Their hair, makeup and clothes reflect the modern need for simplified style. Femme Fatale is Normant's thesis that women today are as alluring as ever; paring down does not neutralize a woman's glamour He starts with a single premise: by changing her hair, a woman can unlock latent aspects of her personality. He collaborates with a broad range of actresses and models, casting them as they might have been at different moments of the twentieth century. Along the way they give in to whimsy and style fantasies, adapting an elaborate up-do, a sleek bob or masses of curls as their own. Time and again these women wear the trappings of history, and its countless coifflires, beautifully, while never losing their own unique personalities within the guise. Ultmately, Normant celebrates the beauty of his subjects' diversity. He makes the case that all women should wear their hair as a wonderful expression of their individuality, and that by daring to change it, they may reveal hidden aspects of their own uniqueness. I love many historical periods tor many different reasons but it's hard not to be in awe of the twentieth century as it was the most remarlable time for women: We got the vote, we got well-paid jobs and we got reliable birth control. This book is fascinating because it's a wonderful visual exploration of how women have changed physically throughout the last century It was'quite enlightening to inhabit the looks of our great grandmothers, our grandmothers and our mothers for a day, I frequently imagine myself living in another time and, if it were to be in the twentieth century, would have loved to have had my hey-day in the 1960s. It was such a blossoming period where everything changed so fast. Fashion altered radically and the hair was the sexiest ever. Brigitte Bardot, Jean Shrimpton, Prisoilla Presley—they all had the most unbelievable hair which was such a major part of their images. The photograph of me with the gun is one of my favorites. The hair was a real "Serge Special"—I think he used about three hairpieces. It's impossible not to feel sexy with all that hair and. sadly, equally impossible not to feel drab when it's taken off. Hair makes a massive difference to the way a woman feels. It's difficult to feel good with a head of lank, greasy hair full of split ends. But if I'm feeling depressed and Serge cuts and styles my hair for me, I'm shallow enough to feel much better for a while! I spent my entire youth with long hair parted in the center, so the 1970s nudes are really an homage to that. 1 can't wear my hair like that now as it really only suits young girls, but it always looks gorgeous if people have good, thick hair (which I don't, but Serge can make it appear that I dol). Wearing a wig for a whole movie is a nightmare as it's usually stuck on with a vile smelling wig glue and by the end of the day you're demented with desire to rip it off and violently scratch your scalp. However, for a photoshoot it's heavenly and the one Serge made for the Josephine Baker picture was amazing. I've never had very short hair and I found it strangely liberating, which is how I imagine women felt in the late 1920s when they all cut off their hair for the first time. It was considered frightfully shocking at first and only the "fast" women did it, but, after a while, it became the norm and only the old maids and bores kept their hair long. Since the sixties, of course, any hair has been acceptable and 1 couldn't be happier Gone are the days when every woman in the Western world had a permed bob, ringlets, or, nastiest of all, a low neat bun with a lethally severe center parting. Anything goes hair-wise nowadays; short, long, straight, curly, platinum, pink or bald. Women are finally freed from spending hours daily torturing their hair into something completely inappropriate for their hair type, unless they want to, of course. I have to confess that I frequently do want to and, when I'm in that mood, there is no one I want to help me more than Serge. He is a master hairdresser as well as being one of my best friends, and has put together a fabulous book to illustrate his love for his craft and for the women who have inspired him. Je t'adore. Serge. Long may you wield your hair dryer and your curling irons. —Elizabeth Hurley foreword