Occupy This Vogue

On the left, the Donald Trump Plutocracy - Rich and Wrong

On the right, Luxury for Everyone

Kind of odd to advertise a private plane in a fashion magazine.  In a brief wikisearch, I find that Beechcraft manufactured 128 Travel Air models in 1959.   Were even one of them sold because a woman flipped through Vogue, saw this ad, thus choosing Beechcraft over Piper or Cherokee?  Or bought a plane at all?

The verbiage:  Round the clock, she must always appear at her best. . . she's a cause celebre. . . (In what way?  What did she do? I don't think this phrase means what you think it means.) recognized from coast to coast.  Each costume must be chosen with care.  Everything about her must meet her standards of quality and distinction.  (Why? Oddly reductive.)  That's why she chose the Beechcraft Travel Air for her private aircraft.  What an elegant servant it is.  (What an odd sentence this is.) Smooth, quiet, efficient.  It's always at her beck and call.  (She just whistles and up it bounds.  Really irritating copy - convenience of getting to plane hardly a quality of the plane itself.  Is Beechcraft slack in other ways, too?  Does raise the question.)  The Travel Air is her own private sky chariot . . where she can relax and luxuriate in tastefully appointed surroundings, far above the tumult (that would be us).  If privacy, beauty, luxury, spaciousness is important to you, then Beechcraft is your plane.

Safety?  So prole.

Seriously, if I were shopping for a plane in 1959, I'd get something else.  And this lack of logic at Beechcraft continues to this day, or at least to October 11, 2011.  (Link to full article.)

"Bill Boisture, the chief executive of Hawker Beechcraft, set a dour tone early Sunday morning when he lamented the “inconsistencies” in the market outlook. He also denounced the Obama administration and some Democrats in Congress for being “nothing short of irresponsible” because they had uttered the words “corporate jet” with populist disdain, while calling for measures like reducing certain tax benefits for using private planes.

The industry correctly points out that it accounts for a large number of domestic jobs — 120,000 in manufacturing, down 20,000 since 2008 — and a healthy chunk of the American export trade. But while he railed against Washington, Mr. Boisture was also thrown a bit on the defensive at a news conference when it was noted that Hawker had closed one of its Kansas plants and outsourced jobs abroad. “We felt American industry was playing on an unlevel playing field,” he responded."   

Bill Boisture

Back to 1959 --  See the coat?

Somailand cheetah.  Designed by Sarmi, or Count Fernando Sarmi, designer for Pat Nixon.

Now, I find this an odd choice for the woman of luxury.  There is something a bit skimpy about cheetah fur.   A comparison of leopard and cheetah skins:

(I think this picture is from somebody's vacation in Namibia, of all places -- third reference I've come across this month.   Leopard is on the left - rings, plusher.  Cheetah has dots.)

There's just something cheap looking about that coat.  I'm sure we'll run into Count Sarmi later.  Let's move on.

Usually the golden era of something is the opposite of Futurama anything.  Especially if the golden era is here again, which puts Futurama in the past . . oh, forget it.

"The elegance of metal compacts returns!" Are they really that elegant?  The ad is pretty nifty - embossed, texturized, shiny.  But what does the Van Cleef & Arpels angle add?  Seems unnecessary.

I do like the enthusiasm of this ad: Gold!  Eiffel Tower!  Paris!  Van Cleef & Arpels!  Luxury for The Tumult! ! !

This was an expensive ad for Revlon.  They had to buy the back, too:

In 2011 dollars, these compacts cost about $23.00 to $44.00.  Kind of an odd price point - hard to pay $23 for a drugstore compact; hard to imagine a drugstore compact designed by Van Cleef & Arpels.   And why so cheap?  They'd squeeze out a lot more now.

I can easily imagine Chanel or Lancome selling a fancy compact.  Or, further down the scale - Estee Lauder.  Right now, you can get a pretty nice metal compact for $28.  The limited edition compacts go up to $75.00.

But where is Chanel, Lancome or Estee Lauder in 1959?  We haven't seen what we would consider today a department store brand.  So, was Revlon sold in department stores?  No idea.

Here is the entire spread:

And the page mate, again, quite well chosen.

"The very essence of opulence."  EMBA mink again; mutation mink again; autumn haze again; Virginia Thoren photographer again.

I do like the way the black gathers at the bottom, like smoke.  This woman looks more than ready to step into a private plane.


This Week at the Movies:

*  In 1929, two musicians join an all-girl band after witnessing the St. Valentine's Day-esque massacre.
*  Tony Curtis good; Jack Lemmon actually believable and affecting as Daphne; Marilyn Monroe is Marilyn Monroe.
*  Exceptionally well put together, and funny, but nothing really lingered.