SKI !

Carson Pirie Scott & Co., Chicago
Harper's Bazaar December 1941
Photography: Toni Frissell

EMBA MINK - THE WORLD'S MOST GIFTED FUR

All I Want For Christmas ...

Laurence Kaye Furs, Seventh Avenue New York

Vogue  December, 1965

COCA-COLA CHRISTMAS 1948

ONLY THE FLAVOR TOUCHES YOUR LIFE

EERO SAARINEN PEDESTAL CHAIR 1968

OLEG CASSINI LOIEWSKI 1913 - 2009

Oleg Cassini

Photography: Timothy Galfas

In May of 1950, Oleg Cassini presented his first eponymous fall fashion collection developed with the help of a one-hundred thousand dollar loan acquired from the millionaire boyfriend of a friend, the model Barbara Dunne.

A connoisseur of  women as well as fashion, Cassini played escort to a string of American beauties before and during his successful career as a designer.  He also wed a few. His first wife, Merry Fahrney, was an heiress who inherited millions from a cough syrup patent developed by her grandfather,  Dr. Parker Fahrney, of Chicago. His next wife was the actress Gene Tierney. His most reported romance was with Grace Kelly. They become engaged just prior to her leaving New York for the French Riviera to film To Catch A Thief  and her subsequent fateful meeting with  Prince Ranier. 

The gossip columnists Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons wrote endless words of distaste for the proposed union of Cassini and Kelly. Hedda Hopper wondered in print, "Why, with all the good-looking men around, has Grace Kelly chosen Oleg Cassini?" Concluded Hopper, "It must be the mustache."

This prompted Cassini to send her a telegram. "Okay, Hedda, I give up. I'll shave mine if you shave yours."

Beth Arrison - The Stocking Song

Cassini and Carroll Baker

Cassini and Carol Channing

Cassini and Suzy Parker

Cassini and Elizabeth Ashley

Cassini Amidst Mid-Sixties Legs

Where's Waldo?

"One day a real estate agent called and said, '"Mr. Cassini, I think I have the house for you, but you will have to use your imagination."' She took me to Gramercy Park. I walked into the foyer, and fell in love. It was a place unlike any other in New York, a sixteenth-century Dutch house transported brick by brick from Europe by the Wells Fargo family in the early twentieth century."

"It was completely bare, there was no furniture and it was dusty, dirty. It needed a coat of paint. I was reminded of a beautiful girl who needed only a different hairstyle or dress, to shine."

"This inspired me in business too. I organized a coordinated sales theme for the fifteen franchises I held at the time: The Renaissance Look from the House of Cassini. The advertising campaign featured a photograph of me standing in the window of my new home, with Renaissance-inspired dresses, men's wear, gloves, shoes, jewelry, furs, hosiery, lingerie."

"And so, franchising blossomed."

 In My Own Fashion Oleg Cassini

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DEATH OF THE CADILLAC

SWEET

1964 Cadillac Coupe de Ville

Mink Deville - Cadillac Walk

1954

The Cadillac automobile was named after the 17th-century French explorer Antoine Laumet de la Mothe, Sieur de Cadillac, who founded Detroit in 1701.

1956

From its earliest years Cadillac represented precision engineering and a stylish luxury that ranked amongst the finest of the American automobile industry.

1958 

Fleetwood

Oleg Cassini Fashion

1961

In 1959 the Cadillac, designed by Peter Hodak, was the epitome of the tailfin craze, with the most recognizable tailfins of any production automobile

1962

1963

1964

The first fully automatic heater - air conditioning system was introduced in 1964

1965

1966

In 1966, Cadillac marked its best annual sales yet -  over 192,000 units

1969

The onset of the seventies OPEC oil crisis saw the demise of the luxury American Car ... a trimmer look in the American automobile industry replaced the opulence that personified "Cadillac."

... more's the pity

Cadillac "Who's Who" of the Highway!

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... the car as hero at vintimage.ca