Tuesday, May 6, 2008

The Duchess of Windsor's Wild Animals.






In my view, there are two types of people: people who are fans & people who are not fans. I fall into the first catagory. When I admire something, I automatically become a fan. My first outward demonstration of fanhood was in 1964 when, aged 11, I covered my bedroom walls with hundreds of pictures of The Beatles, mainly John, who I imagined marrying some day. Thank God I didn't because now I'd be a widow.
I have always been a fan of The Duchess of Windsor (top photo). The Duchess was enormously stylish & Cartier made all these wonderful wild animal brooches for her, the most famous being The Panther brooch (next photo). She famously said, "You can never be too rich or too thin". Unfortunately, I am neither, so am reduced to buying v. cheap copies of her wild animals at junk shops & markets. I've got a small collection now - an elephant brooch & two panthers that I wear mainly in winter on coat lapels. I'm sure the Duchess would approve. I've photographed them on top of pages from vintage World War 2 British Vogue Magazines that Mr. Middleaged bought in an expensive shop in London recently.

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