Great Women of Soaps

[SFK]

She looks great, kinda sleek, kinda chic, but nothing sensational. The fabric of that dress would look better as a man's overcoat. The shape of the dress is great on her sexy body but the fabric is a little bulky (and yes I know it's probably colder but she is sleeveless afterall). She'd have really wowed them in a lighter, slinkier fabric and bright coat of the same material that she flung off after a half hour, and photo op round two...

Joan's style is still very much alive in this country, chiefly on Sunday mornings in African-American churches.

[Cat]

I'm biased (being half-Frenchie and all) but I love that sheath dress Carla is wearing and the way the fabric curls from her collarbone to her hip (it is very cold and rainy in London right now, so...). Her hair also looks incredible, with a hint of red.

This is probably best reserved for another thread, but Carla Bruni has had an astonishing amount of cosmetic surgery done. However, most of it has been excellent in terms of preserving her overall looks. And she still has the best legs in the business.

[Sylph]

You are both correct! SFK in saying she looks sleek, she looks chic, but nothing sensational. That is the key: understated sophistication and elegance. Just fabulous. It's all Dior, the dress and the bag, shoes are Louboutin's (as The Daily Mail report says).

And I have to agree with Cat, I just love the fabric.

And, Cat, I think her hair stylist is Madeleine Cofano, but I think she was also a client of Guy Kremer once. Antoine Brechu is "inspired" by her looks.

[SFK]

Overall, it's an appropriate statement for a first lady who is attractive and has the goods to pull it off and shouldn't be concealed in smart St. John suits all the time. I think her look jives with what we'd like to think the first lady of Frahnce looks like, she's hot.

[DRW50]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1311426/Olivia-Havilland-Joan-Fontaine-Their-decade-feud.html

[SFK]

"Olivia, as the editor of a school magazine, set a competition for the best last will and testament of her fellow pupils. She won her own competition with the words: ‘I bequeath to my sister the ability to win boys’ hearts, which she does not have at present’."

FTW!

WOW. What a great read. Thanks carl. I confess, I really don't know anything about these ladies though I have seen Rebecca, never seen GWTW, I know I know. But I find it amazing that two sisters so close in age both found such fame, and the acrimony, well, fiction ain't got nothin' on real life. I guess it's easy for me and my family members to say that we could NEVER imagine having such an awful relationship with a sibling because we've been blessed with great relationships, but having said that, I still find this so very odd and foreign a concept.

[DRW50]

I know much less about Joan than about Olivia -- aside from some of her biggest movies I only know Joan from her Ryan's Hope run. Olivia I know mostly from GWTW, where she made an unplayable role into the heart of the picture, but mostly I'm more interested in her offcamera life, like her long, arduous strike and campaign against being used and abused by the studio system.

I'd known about their feud but not in this much detail. I know siblings with such ugly feuds but still, wow. At 92 and 94. Some live based on that pain and hurt -- maybe they are among them.

[Cat]

Wow. That is some FEUD!

I love Old Hollywood legend like this. Nowadays a feud like that would be so managed and swept under the carpet. Only fake feuds designed to raise the profile of some starlet are allowed to play out in front of the media glare.

Apparently Hitchcock gave the role of Mrs. de Winter to Joan Fontaine because he asked her at a dinner who did she think should play the part and she went through lists and lists of actresses who might be suitable. Hitchcock decided Joan was self-effacing enough to play the role.

I think that Rebecca and GWTW are the only movie versions to actually live up to the books from which they were adapted.

[Sylph]

LOL! I was just reading about this rivalry the other day:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Fontaine#Sibling_rivalry

[DRW50]

Even in Old Hollywood a lot of feuds and rivalries were manufactured, the best were the ones you didn't hear about. The press hyped up a feud between Garbo and Dietrich while they didn't talk as much about Joan Crawford bitching at Garbo and Shearer (and playing Dietrich records on the set of Grand Hotel).

[Bright Eyes]

OT: Grand Hotel was a fabulous film

[DaytimeFan]

Attention anyone whose in the UK!

This week's HELLO! magazine has a mega layout of our Joanie in her luxe Belgravia mansion flat. It's the first time the place has ever been photographed. I am stunned at the opulence of it, it's in Knightsbridge and HUGE, it occurs to me now that I've actually walked right past it. What that place must be worth now must be bone chilling, she bought it more than 20 years ago with her Dynasty pennies.

Don't let the preview picture below fool you, the place is amazing:

[DRW50]

It looks beautiful, the couch looks comfortable, and love the fresh flowers. And the light fixtures. I'm not as sure about her dress or the wig.

Is Rob Schneider in the background?

[DaytimeFan]

And that's only the 'lounging' couch. Seriously. There are 2 more couches on the other side of the room.

The dress looks much better in the magazine, ditto the wig. She parades about in a number of outfits and hairpieces, including one without ANY wig.

Rob Schneider, err I mean Percy Gibson, also looks better too.

The most relevant soap quote from the interview: "I don't often like to watch myself, but I think as Alexis I was rather fabulous."

[SFK]

Yes she was.

Carl, you crack me up.

A friend of mine has recently begun a business association with JC. Now I'm two degrees. I know you've met her before DaytimeFan. I'd love to see spreads of all of her homes. I think it was you who mentioned that there was a layout of her villa in the South of France.