Brigitte Bardot has long been one of my style icons… 1. apply heavy mascara, kohl liner, and add wings with liquid liner. 2. smear on chapstick mixed with a dab of creme foundation. 3. Pull back hair and twist into a bun while wet. shake loose when dry and toulouse freely with extra finesse at your crown. 4. pout.
She started as a brunette modeling in 1950s France and rose to fame as the ideal symbol of the 60s sex kitten. Her cinematic sex romps like Et Dieu Crea la Femme (And God Created Woman 1957) made her an instant It-girl. She cemented her icon status in the dance sequence– noted as the sexiest moment in all of film history, where the frustrated girl lets out her angst in a cafe, mambo-ing all over the place:
The film had style and sex appeal but not much substance, unfortunately like Bardot herself. While she reshaped the vixen archetype of the late 50s-early 60s, she made pitiful failed attempts (see video below— a deliciously campy creation of the fake-hippy scene) to connect with the burgeoning bohemian culture and eventually fizzled.
la bises aux hippies:
Today we are more intensely reminded of Bardot’s fleeting beauty. She has a long, long history of spouting anti-gay, anti-muslim, and anti-black rhetoric and was recently fined in France for racist comments about French-Muslims destroying France. I’ll leave you with this blog entry, complete with Bardot’s before-and-after, titled: “the effects of racism” (ouch). Maybe it was just all that sun bathing?…
Filed under: muse | Tagged: 60s, 60s girls, 60s icons, 60s it girls, art, bridget bardot, brigitte bardot, classic film
