TMI

Tonight:  Not What You Wanted to Know About Christian Dior

Still tweeting Duke Ellington, "Tymperturbably Blue."

She looks so teeth-achingly coy.  Daisies and a Yorkie.  I almost bought a jacket just like that last year at the Nordstrom sale.  Surprisingly becoming, but those sleeves really do need gloves and who's going to wear them unless it is freezing?   Blurbage:  "The Unexpected Jacket.  Suit with a surprise -- the topping of a wool flannel dress with a squarish jacket in camel-coloured wool; the sleeves short.  By Maurice Rentner."  Maurice Rentner, the "Napoleon of Seventh Avenue" died in 1958.  We looked at his obit last issue:  ambitious young immigrant, jobber, discovered fashionable dresses sold better, went to France, learned to produce "quietly expensive" dressmaker suits, spent years in lawsuits to protect his  - and others - designs from cheap knockoffs.  Very worthy, but kind of dull.

The little hat is by Christian Dior.  What an elegant name that is!  How startling it is to learn that he couldn't keep lovers because he was too plain and liked to chase down a hearty meal with five hot dogs and plenty of mustard.

The normal American of 1959 would have seen some of these photos in Life:

Tomorrow:  the mysteries of Monte-Sano Pruzan.