Carmen Dell'Orifice
Photographer: Ruven Afanador
Vanity Fair Italia, March 2011 issue
Carmen is proof positive that beauty exists at every age. She's been a supermodel since the age of 15 and has been the muse to iconic artists and fashion designers including Salvador Dali and Louis Dell'Olio formerly of Anne Klein. Carmen was just recently working the catwalk, modeling for none other than Alberta Ferretti.
Carmen Dell'Orefice for Alberta Ferretti
Carmen Dell'Orifice has been through a lot in her long career and life, having been married 3 times, losing all of her life savings twice: the first time to the stock market in the '80's and 1990's and the second time to Bernard Madoff's ponzi scheme. She landed her first Vogue magazine cover at the tender age of 15 - one of the youngest Vogue cover models ever and has been photographed by almost every luminary photographer in the business including, Irving Penn, Gleb Durujinsky, Francesco Scavullo, Melvin Sokolsky, Norman Parkinson and Richard Avedon. Carmen, I have a lot of respect for you as a Mistress of Beauty and Glamour as well as an icon of beauty, fashion and fortitude! You are truly an amazing woman and have more than 9 lives just like I do!
After learning more about Carmen Dell'Orefice and her legacy, I have vowed that I will no longer treat my birthday as a reason to be sad or even celebrate it for a week like some Mistresses do. I vow to make this birthday my Birthday Year -- by celebrating life every day and making the most of even the most difficult situations!
Which brings me to my latest jaunt in Manhattan through what we in the business call the "Garment Center", also known as the Fashion District in Midtown Manhattan. I was catting around on the street one day and happened upon the most fantastic and provocative T-Shirt that said, "Spank Me...It's My Birthday!" It's a bit more fashionable than the one that's pictured here, but you get the point! This one is a recession friendly $16 available here:
Spank Me It's My Birthday Wife Beater T-Shirt
And speaking of spanking, did you know that some pussycats enjoy this very thing? There's a whole phenomenon of cats and Masters and Mistresses who truly enjoy doing this sort of thing to their cats and even to themselves! And it doesn't even need to be their birthdays or their pussycat's birthdays either!
Kitty Spanking Video
The place that my Mistress of Beauty and Adventure loves and that I love too is Kiki de Montparnasse located at 79 Greene Street in SOHO and 8280 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles. She likes their lingerie and luxury lifestyle products very much. However, my Mistress of Beauty and Adventure doesn't subscribe to kitten spanking or the other kind either. Considering how much that pussycat loved it, I feel like I'm missing out on something! I'll have to ask her about that!
The luxury lifestyle and lingerie emporium, Kiki de Montparnasse, is inspired by the life of Alice Ernestine Prin (2 October 1901 – 29 April 1953), nicknamed Queen of Montparnasse, known as Kiki de Montparnasse in art circles. According to Wikipedia, she was a French artist, artist's model, nightclub singer, actress, memoirist, and painter. She flourished in, and helped define, the liberated, early 1920s culture of Paris. Adopting a single name, "Kiki", she became a fixture in the Montparnasse social scene and a popular artist model, posing for dozens of artists, including Chaim Soutine,Jean Cocteau, Arno Breker, Alexander Calder, Per Krohg, Hermine David, Pablo Gargallo, Mayo, and Tono Salazar.
Le Violon d'Ingres by Man Ray
Kiki's companion for most of the 1920s was Man Ray, who made hundreds of portraits of her. She is the subject of some of his best-known images, including the notable surrealist image Le Violon d'Ingres pictured above and Noire et Blanche, pictured below.
Noire et Blanche photograph by Man Ray
Kiki de Montparnasse, was created by designer Jennifer Zuccarini and co-founded by Andrew Pollard - the man who re-energized Miss Sixty, Energie, Killah and Sixty clothing brands in the U.S . Kiki de Montparnasse, the luxury fashion and lifestyle brand has garnered widespread recognition and insider fashion acclaim and has freestanding stores in the US an international wholesale business and a successful online store. Kiki de Montparnasse is also a personal favorite of Hollywood celebrities Dita Von Teese, Amy Sacco and Jessica Simpson! To learn more about the brand, read here!
Dita Von Teese
Mistress of Seduction and Modern Burlesque Performance
Here are some of my favorite looks from the Kiki de Montparnasse collection
Kiki "Muse" Satin Brassiere
Kiki de Montparnasse Ingenue Corset pant available on sale here!
Kiki de Montparnasse's classic and elegant, "French Maid"
And speaking of maids, have you heard of the scandal that Dominique Strauss Kahn, the now former President of the International Monetary Fund and French presidential hopeful was involved in?
Dominique Strauss-Kahn
Former Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund
and Former French Presidential Hopeful
According to today's New York Post, Dominique refused to pay his "lady of the night" for services rendered and that's what the brouhaha was all about. The chambermaid secretly performed extra services in addition to room cleaning through her local Union at the Sofitel hotel in midtown Manhattan and then went to the police accusing DSK of rape. DSK has spent over $250,000 on security and rent to stay at a luxury townhouse in Tribeca to be kept under house arrest. Now Cyrus Vance Jr., the NYC's District Attorney has released him on $1M bail but his case is falling apart by the second.
I don't know pussycats, but this story gets more intriguing and comical by the moment. My thoughts are that Masters of the Universe who are "happily" married to heiress wives and work in public positions should think twice about using an immigrant chambermaid from Guinea who lives in AIDS housing for free as an escort. Beyond that, perhaps, these Masters of the Universe shouldn't be married at all if their wives aren't wearing Kiki De Montparnasse lingerie and satisfying them at home!
In order to get yourself and possibly your partner excited if you have one with a pulse, or, to simply get the look of an upscale french chambermaid, unlike Dominique Strauss Kahn's, please visit the Kiki De Montparnasse store at 79 Greene Street in Manhattan or in Los Angeles at 8580 Melrose Avenue and tell them Natasha Finkel sent you! For hours, call 212- 965-8070 in New York or 323-951-9545. See you later pussycats. Now on to July 4th celebrations in the Hamptons! Purrs 'n Kisses and happy Independence Day! Meow!
