Not long ago, Shu saw a piece of news that the well-known American non-fiction writer Joan Didion died at the age of 87 at his home in Manhattan, New York.
The woman, who won the National Medal for arts and humanities, is free, lonely, alienated, and cold.
Throughout his life, he has worked as a fashion magazine editor, film screenwriter and non-fiction writer, and has had a profound impact on American cultural society and even the fashion industry.
She wrote about the restlessness and demise of hippies, about california's drug culture, about the Cuban outcasts of Miami, about politics and society, and about how she survived the pain of losing her husband and daughter.
Not only is she known for her detached writing style, strong personal style and unique fashion taste, but she was also invited to become the Céline brand spokesperson during the reign of Phoebe Philo at the age of 80.
The collision between the literary world and luxury brands, because of the incomparable style and perfect interpretation of each other, is still talked about by the fashion industry.
Uncle today to talk about, like Didion céline girl, what charm can make people so fascinated? How should you achieve such a free-spirited Céline girl?
01
Joan Didion's Fashion Classic
British fashion writer Trinity Newman has published a book called "Famous Writers and Their Wardrobes", which documents the tastes of well-known writers such as Proust, Mark Twain, Susan Sontag and their influence on fashion trends.
The cover girl is none other than Didion.
This photograph was taken in 1968.
That year, Didion's first nonfiction work, Trek to Bethlehem, was published, a literary rising star rose on the southwest coast of the United States, and Time magazine commissioned photographer Julian Vassell to Travel to California to take the series of photographs for her.
She wears a long-sleeved, ankle-length robe-style dress without any pattern, with a loose silhouette and a thin body.
A pair of flip-flops are on his feet, cigarettes in his hands, and his back is against the Corvette Stingray Convertible.
Long hair was casually draped over his shoulders, a face was plain, not even a smile, only a smoke ring spit out between breaths.
Remembering Xiao Quan's easy to know and difficult to shoot, China in the 80s, the same black and white photos with smoke, but bring people a completely different style feeling, one is the subtle and delicate softness of the Eastern way, and the other is the laziness and casualness of the Western way.
"The dress of writers is the public expression of their words."
As did Didion's calm style, her style of dressing was another special presence in the American society of the seventies, which was popular in the fitted slim-waisted A-line suit skirt and bohemian hippie style.
Céline was popular in the minimalist style of Kochi women decades later, and she was already proficient in the essence at that time, conveying high quality in plain colors and creating an uninhibited atmosphere.
But this is a California girl, and in addition to the minimalist cold, she has the hot wildness engraved in her bones by the hot summer.
In 1977, at the age of 42, Didion spoke to the Paris Review about the impact of climate on her writing:
"I grew up in a dangerous natural environment and I think the environment and climate affect people beyond their imagination ... These extreme conditions affect the way you treat the world. ”
In the way of dealing with the world, dressing is one of the most straightforward languages.
In 2017, in her solo documentary Joan Didion: The Center Is Hard to Maintain, she wore a white hair in her 80s, a loose sleeveless knitted vest with white wide-leg pants, and a flying jacket knight boots with a floral skirt.
Be true to yourself until the last moment of your life.
What is so fascinating about her? I think it's a laid-back and sober self-gesture, and that's the key to Céline's aesthetic.
02
The women who wear the Céline
Invited to endorse Céline in 2015 along with Didion were French "Queen of Dance" ballet artists Marie-Agnès Gillot and Marie-Agnès Gijou.
Left: Gijo Right: Didion
Unlike the talented ballet masters who have a history of dance, Giyo is tall, has thick bones, and suffers from double scoliosis, which is not suitable for dance.
But this "Ballet's most unlikely star", after 14 years of dancing in all the main roles, finally won the title of the highest dancer awarded by the Paris Opera for the first time in a modern dance role.
In the days of Céline, led by Phoebe Philo, almost every year an advertising album was accompanied by a familiar face:
Known as the last supermodel god of war of the millennium, Dalia Werbowy.
A Céline advertising photo in tribute to the 1968 Didion series of photographs
He entered the industry at the age of 20, won the PRADA solo endorsement and the July cover of the Italian version of "VOGUE" in his first year, and was promoted to the international supermodel icon in four years at rocket speed, and won all six blue-blooded endorsements.
Then, if you don't play, you won't play.
Not to marry a rich man, nor to change careers to suck money, but to run to sail alone, daily low-key to almost disappear into the public eye.
Talking about Céline girls, the most indispensable and most emblematic of the spirit of Céline is actually the designer Who has created the most exciting decade of the brand, Phoebe Philo himself.
Phoebe was born in Paris in 1973, and her mother, Celia Philo, single-handedly designed the famous cover lightning makeup for David Bowie's 1973 album Aladdin Sane.
After graduating from Central Saint Martins in London, Phoebe worked for Chloé for nearly a decade, and after successfully establishing the brand positioning for Chloé, she retired and returned home without nostalgia to concentrate on being a mother.
It was not until 2008 that he was invited by the LVMH Group to re-emerge as Creative Director of Céline.
The Spring/Summer 2010 collection was her debut at Céline, where the model's makeup is uninhibited, and the choice of materials for clothing, tailoring design and bright transitions in color all reflect her simple and practical design style.
Wide-leg pants of various materials, loose and thick sweaters with high necks, clothing bags with almost no Logo print...
In her representative piece, less is more's purpose runs throughout. This is the restrained, gritty and modern romantic feminine force, never say much, do it for you to see.
Some people describe this style as an urban fairy, which I don't think is very appropriate.
Phoebe's high cold minimalism, not ten fingers do not stain the spring water and do not eat the fairy qi of human fireworks, but carelessly but ready to fight with this world at any time.
Céline girls' faces are usually not feminine, with angular cheekbones and small blemishes on their skin that even comes with a toughness.
But they both had clear, bright, insightful eyes and thin but powerful bodies.
Whether it is a young woman, an intellectual, or a modern independent woman, I think any kind of group positioning word is not enough to fully describe the temperament of the Céline girls.
They are a combination of coldness and enthusiasm, loose posture, strong aura, enthusiasm for paying attention to society and coldness to examine the outside world.
Alienated, niche, maverick on the outside, but hot and passionate on the inside, this is the embodiment of their penetrating humanity and their observation of the world at a distance.
In addition, they are self-determined, have the ability to think independently and adhere to the rules of life, and are highly loyal to themselves and are not afraid to reveal.
I enjoyed looking into the eyes of the Céline girls, all of whom looked fearlessly into the camera, where there was a sea, deep, fearless, blunt and sharp, as hard and powerful as Céline's clothes.
03
If you want to be a Céline girl, how should you wear it?
1. Minimalist dressing rules
Céline minimalism is reflected in the style and specific details.
Most of the clothing types are simple solid color basic models, shirts, trench coats, suits, knitted sweaters, wide-leg pants... It can be combined in repeatable loops.
There is little printing, no emphasis on the brand LOGO, loose and comfortable silhouettes without deliberately highlighting curves, and the charm naturally emanates without showing off and pleasing.
Compared with popular elements, it pays more attention to whether the fabric texture is soft and sophisticated, emphasizing the neat cut and drape, and occasionally embellishing it with sunglasses, small square silk scarves and brass jewelry.
Céline-style fashion is not to catch up with the fashion, never chase the fashion style, only loyal to the own style. The charm of the basic model is that looking back twenty or even fifty years later, it still does not feel outdated.
2. What matters more than dressing is posture
To be a Céline girl, dressing is only one of them, and more importantly, the maverick, self-focused energy.
At the end of the runway, Phoebe and Sister-in-law Victoria can make a comparison, both like the combination of high-necked loose sweaters, wide-leg pants and small white shoes, but the two wear a completely different feeling.
Left: Victoria Right: Phoebe
What's the difference?
Sister-in-law's posture is tense, because she is more susceptible to external evaluation, and Phoebe is much more relaxed in comparison.
Phoebe once had a sentence that impressed her uncle, she said that women don't have to love themselves, and it's okay to hate themselves appropriately.
This sentence may seem a little out of place in the context of advocating women's self-love, but this is where Phoebe is strong and true, because she has crossed the stage where repeated emphasis and self-suggestion are needed to cheer herself up.
Now she can truly reveal and examine herself, and then gently turn this page of life and continue to move forward.
Who says dressing doesn't reflect an attitude towards life?
We can find some common qualities in these big women with strong personalities:
Determination that will not easily change the goal for anyone or thing, restraint and clarity in the midst of chaos and pain, and reap all the sufferings, never allow confusion to emerge, and never show weakness to fate.
They are bright, calm, alert, profound, and relaxed and careless, never stopping to think and accumulate internal strength, truly cool to old age.
Finally, Shu would like to use a confession from Didion in the documentary to encourage you.
In the new year, don't let yourself down.