the story-tellers, part 29

nancy cunard by man ray, paris, ca. 1925

margo lion

(she was a german chanson, parodist, cabaret singer and actress....she hung out with marlene dietrich & they sang together & she is amazing! beyond love)

 marquise luisa casati by baron adolf de meyer, ca. 1912

reneé perle by jacques henri lartigue, ca. 1930

gia carangi wearing robert lee morris bracelets by albert watson, 1981

coco chanel concocting jewelry in her paris atelier by mark shaw, 1957

suzy solidor wearing chanel bracelets by man ray, 1920s

elizabeth taylor

les femmes de jacques henri-lartigue - renée perle

"around her" lartigue wrote "i see a halo of light." lartigue met the gorgeous renée perle on the rue de le pompe in 1930 and wrote in his diary shortly after "she is beautiful. the small mouth with full painted lips! the ebony black eyes. from under a fur coat comes a warmth of perfume. her head looks petite on her long neck." she became his lover and muse for the next 2 years as they played in cannes, juan-les-pins and biarritz. she was a romanian jewish girl who had moved to paris and modeled for dress-maker doeuillet. she painted naive self-portraits of herself. these are the only details that remain of her life. i wonder what happened to her? everything i've read alludes to the fact that she was a professional model but other than the lartigue photographs i can find nothing else. she died in paris in 1977, age unknown. but, wow, what a spectacular beauty with amazing style. she has inspired designers, including galliano as well as many editorials.