Homemade Tarts/ Juul Haalmeyer Designs
38 Camden St. M5V 1V1 Toronto, ON, Canada

Model is wearing oversized faux pearls in pink, mulberry and fuschia by Evelyne Desbruéres for Jean Patou. Photo by Hiro for Vogue UK, November 1965. Pinterest

Ava Gardner had always been one of the -if not the most -beautiful women in the world. But with Joseph Mankiewicz’s absorbingly trashy, lurid melodrama the Bare...foot Contessa (1954), she truly became iconic, billed as she was by a genius publicity campaign as the world’s most beautiful animal. Her role as Maria Vargas, originally planned by Joseph Mankiewicz for his erstwhile lover Linda Darnell, gloriously elevated to movie goddess up from the dirt of a humble Spanish background, sort of paralleled Gardner’s own Southern country girl rise to stardom, and she became as universally desired and identified with this movie as much as Rita Hayworth was with Gilda or Gene Tierney as Laura. Germane to the building of her myth was the contribution of the Italian design firm Sorella Fontana, the sisters who became her go-to designers, who executed her magnificent wardrobe, clothes which took your breath away by their opulence of fabric, almost barbarically bold ornamentation and Renaissance rich hue and the way they sensually framed her nigh-surreal, ripe gorgeousness, at its absolute height in 1954.

Your crown, in case you were looking for it! Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom's Brazilian Aquamarine Tiara - This tiara was made in 1957 by Garrard to a...ccompany the aquamarine jewellery given to Queen Elizabeth II from the President and People of Brazil on the occasion of her 1953 coronation. The large central aquamarine was originally a pendant on the Brazilian necklace. In 1971, the tiara was adapted to include four scroll ornaments taken from a piece of jewellery given to Queen Elizabeth II by the Governor of Sao Paulo in 1968. See more

Left: Gold lace evening dress in a blossom and frond pattern, ca.1925. Right: Gold lace evening dress with green and gold beaded serpentine patterns to the torso and at the hem tabs, ca.1926. Has a T-strap back. Bottom: Original underslip from dress number one. From Augusta Auctions.

Model in blue evening dress of tulle over satin by Nina Ricci, photo by Philippe Pottier, 1961

After all, it's only money. Antique diamond and enamel peacock brooch - Rose-cut diamonds, enamel, 18k gold, c. 1905, by Mellerio dit Meller. Sold at Christie's for a MERE $735,000

Since it is October and Halloween is approaching it is only fitting to start adding some costumes into the mix. This one is a fancy dress costume for the polis...h Opera Singer, Ganna Walska made for her in 1926 by the House of Lanvin for a costume ball where she was dressing as Pauline de Borghese (Pauline Bonaparte). Made of silk velvet, gold lamé, and silk jersey, the costume is also extensively embellished with metal-work embroidery. Walska, born Hanna Paucz on 26 June 1887, was not really much of an opera singer, but her six successive husbands helped to promote her career, most especially hubby #4, Harold Fowler McCormick. The vigor of his promotion of her inspired certain aspects of the screenplay of Citizen Kane. She is ultimately most remembered for her gardens at the estate in Montecito, California, Lotusland. Collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Anna May Wong in an Edith Head gown.

Elsa Schiaparelli 1930's sweaters

Elsa Schiaparelli presented this design in New York in 1952

Woman's Veil, Elsa Schiaparelli Spring 1938 - Made in Paris Cotton net with glass bugle beads

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