Week 17: Rita Hayworth is a Babe. Her Life and Seductive Style.

Rita Hayworth is one of Old Hollywood's most seductive actresses. Her iconic performance of “Put the Blame on Mame" in Gilda (1946) and improvised quick single-glove striptease is 10 times more erotic than any 50 Shades of Grey scene. Rita wears a long, strapless, black satin gown, with a side-slit and big flirty bow at the hip. And of course, the gown is paired with classic long black gloves. The Independent lists this scene in their Ten Best Fashion Moments in Film.

From film You Were Never Lovelier Columbia Picture (1942) Director: William A. Seiter Screenplay: Michael Fessier, Ernest Songs: by Jerome Kern and Johnny You Were Never Lovelier was Rita's third and last film released in 1942 and her second time as Fred Astaire's dancing partner.

Margarita Cansino before and Rita Hayworth after. What a transformation!

Rita started her life as Margarita Carmen Cansino. Her family had a strong background in professional dance, and so her Spanish father pushed young Margarita to dance and she was featured in several films as a dancer. Her first roles were small ones as pretty exotic dancers with no lines. After playing the same kinds of roles as Argentinian, Egyptian and Russian dancers, Margarita decided to change her fate and took on her mother's Irish-English maiden name Hayworth in order to appeal to Americans. That was followed with shortening her name to Rita, changing her Mediterranean hairline with a painful electrolysis procedure, and dying her black hair to, the now iconic, ginger red colour. After that, Rita's career was on the rise.

Rita acted opposite such stars as Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire and Cary Grant. For three years, beginning in 1944, Rita was named one of the top movie box-office attractions in the world. Hayworth was adept in ballet, tap dance, ballroom, and Spanish routines.

Unfortunately, despite her successful acting career, her love life was a mess. She married and divorced 5 times. Rita's most famous marriages were to Orson Welles and to Prince Aly Khan, which actually made Rita, and not Grace Kelly, the first movie star to become a princess. 

“Rita once revealed with some bitterness that “Men go to bed with Gilda, but wake up with me.””

 

She might have been a femme fatale on the screen, but in real life Rita was a shy and gentle person and suffered from an inferiority complex. However, her image as a sultry fiery beauty inspired creation of hundreds of characters, including Jessica Rabbit in Who Framed Roger Rabbit and beauty looks and styles of millions of women across the globe.

Want to steal Rita's Seductive Style?

I picked three timeless trends and selected the best items online for you. Put that glam on and "Gilda" yourself up!

1. SLIP Dress Trend 

2. long FITTED gown

3. Bedazzling sequins

Week 17: Rita Hayworth Is a Babe. 40s Style Goddess.

When I received this polka dot top from Shein I tried it on with jeans and denim shorts first, and it looked really fun and cute. But I just knew I had to create a vintage inspired look when I saw how beautiful the top looked paired with my favourite ball gown skirt (similar here).

This outfit combo reminds me of Christian Dior's New Look from the 1940s and of stunning Old Hollywood actresses, especially Rita Hayworth who, in my opinion, deserves more recognition. Therefore, I am dedicating this Theme Week to 40s babe, Rita Hayworth! 

I first saw Rita in Gilda and she stole my heart. I will talk more about her and her style in one of my posts later this week, but today I am sharing my “40s Style Goddess” outfit inspired by a few of Rita's signature looks. Today’s look was shot in Soho by the amazing photographer DCP New York.

Top - Shein, Skirt - old, but found similar on Shein, shoes - Christian Louboutin, Bag - Kenzo (similar).

Hello, World!

Week 16: I am BLONDE! Très Chic on Minetta Lane

I have been extremely busy the last few days with new collaborations, meetings and, to be perfectly honest, a few escapes to the beach (yes, they have amazing ones in NYC!). So even though I am dying to take a nap right now, today I am sharing my new, highly anticipated look with you.

I am wearing this GORGEOUS embroidered top by Walter Baker (it is on 50% SALE here and I also love this top), white Topshop jeans, Dior mirrored sunglasses, Michael Kors bag (similar here and here), and Steve Madden heels. I have linked more similar items that I like at the end of this post.

Do you like this beautiful powder blue wall too? It is located on Minetta Lane and it is one of the trendiest spots for a quick Instagram photo in Soho. 

All photos were taken by an extremely talented and intelligent (he earned his Masters degree from Yale!) photographer - Dennis. Check out his website DCP New York and his Instagram page @dcpnyc.

There were so many amazing shots that I had a really hard time picking just a few, so I am posting a little bit more than usual :)

MY LOOK & FAVOURITES:

Week 16: I am BLONDE! Themed Shop

Every Theme Week on Pastiche.Today has its own SHOP (click here to see them all) and I am BLONDE Week is not an exception!

I thought it would be fitting for the Blonde Week to highlight the prettiest pink and turquoise coloured items. (How cute are these notebooks?! And all the bikinis!) Check the actual SHOP page later as I will be adding more interesting items for you.

Week 16: I am BLONDE! Haircare tips and my blonde experience.

I promised I would write about my first dyeing experience and share some hair beauty secrets, and here is the awaited post! I also wrote about my favourite makeup and fashion finds in July in the Insta-Shop section.

As I mentioned in this post, my new blonde look is a masterpiece created by NYC based Turkish hairstylist @asilsmsk, who currently works at the Val El Salon and Spa. I was afraid my blonde ombre would look too yellow-ish or that a dye would damage my hair, but so far my hair is super soft and the colour is perfect. It is noteworthy that I showed Asil a few different photos of what I liked and he came up with something that suited my vision, while also complimenting my feautures. As a side note, this post IS NOT promoted in any way and I am just genuinely recommending Asil to any woman who finds herself in NYC. Since I did not work with any other stylists or have any other services done, I can't specifically recommend anything else at the salon.

I have always loved my long light brown hair and I was terrified to dye it or cut it short. During hot summers my hair would also get really beautiful natural highlights. Oftentimes it looked like I dyed my hair even though I did not, and people would ask me the name of my colour. However, in the last few months I have started to crave a new look, and I am happy I finally gave in.

In this post I will sharea few of my favourite hair products, both for coloured and "virgin" hair, so everyone can benefit from this article.

1. My miracle Coconut Oil and Manuka Honey mask. 

This mask is seriously my secret weapon. I am too lazy to apply the coconut oil /manuka honey mask often, but whenever I do, my hair feels incredibly soft, shiny, and healthy afterwards.

Here is the recipe:

1 Tablespoon of Raw Manuka Honey (I also love this shampoo with Manuka)

3 Tablespoon of Coconut Oil (I use cold pressed coconut oil and 3 tablespoons because my hair is quite long)

Slowly heat honey and coconut oil in a small pan and stir it before it forms into a mass. Do not raise the temperature as you melt your mask! It is important to keep the heat low at all times  in order to preserve the nutrition in the manuka. After it's all melted, wait a little bit for it to slightly cool down (but make sure it is still warm!) and apply to your wet or dry hair. Massage into your roots and make sure you apply the mask generously on your split ends as well. 

Many people suggest that you keep the mask on for half an hour, but I usually tie my hair up, cover it with a plastic bag (don't laugh! :)), wear an old scarf on top (any beanie hat you are not afraid to ruin works as well) and wait at least 3 hours before I wash it out. Make sure you wash your hair thoroughly as it will naturally be very oily. It feels super gross while you have this mask on, but afterwards you will enjoy the results.

Don't do it when your boyfriend/husband is around. I usually wait until I am home alone. ;)

2. It's getting hot in here.

Never forget to protect your hair from your blowdryer and irons. I haven't found my one holy grail heat protection product, but currently I am protecting my hair with:

TRESemme Thermal Creations Heat Tamer Protective Spray
 

JOHN FRIEDA Frizz Ease serum that I apply only on wet hair.

3. Jose Eber Curling Iron

I get asked all the time about how I curl my hair. My hair is naturally straight, so when I was a teenager I used rollers overnight to wake up to perfect curls. I think that saved my hair from a lot of damage since irons can really destroy your hair. But a few years ago I found a Jose Eber curling iron in Selfridges (London, UK) and I cannot live without it now!

I believe the Jose Eber iron is one of the safest and fastest at curling on the market. It usually takes me no more than 10 minutes to style my hair. My mum and auntie also use Jose Eber straighteners and they are amazing. I cannot wait to get a straightener for myself too as it makes hair look sleeker and shinier.

4. Favourite Hairbrush

I am a loyal user of Tangle Teezer. Nothing compares to this wonderful hairbrush! 

5. What do I wash my hair with?

I like Bumble and Bumble hair products even though they are relatively pricey. However, after I dyed my hair I switched to an Australian brand Evo (this and this one in particular).

6. Volume up!

My hair often lacks volume, therefore I consider myself somewhat of an expert in volumizing products. I used the Got2B powder that everyone raves about for a couple of years, but now I have switched to the John Frieda spray and a volumizing dry shampoo by Sexy Hair. I feel the Got2B powder works really well, but I had a problem distributing it evenly over my hair and felt like sometimes it gave me a white-ish “covered with flour" look.

Dry shampoo works so much better for me and gives my hair a really impressive boost in volume. :) I have this limited Marilyn Monroe edition, but I think there is no difference in the formula if you buy a regular volumizing dry shampoo by Sexy Hair. 

You can see in this photo that my hair had natural ombre highlights. It was beautiful, but I am still happy with my new look! Changes are always fun.

Last summer my hair was super long! 

Please let me know if you have any questions or if you want more product recommendations! I am happy to help and will always answer your requests and questions on our Facebook Page.