Tuesday 28 August 2012

Early Influences

   As I am sure all of the Freud followers will agree upon, a lot of who we are today comes from the influences of our youth. I may not remember what I had for breakfast yesterday or the name of my doctor but there are images from my youth that are forever ingrained in my memory. I know a lot of other tgirls that have stories of sneaking into their mothers drawers and closets. This is where so many fell in love with nylon stockings. One of my earliest memories of my scared youth was a Playboy magazine that was not hid at all. It wasn't the nude models that first attracted me but a cartoon. It took me a while to find it again in my adult life, but 40 years later, I had no trouble identifying it. It was a Richard Sokol pinup but I didn't know that until I saw it years later.....

This could help to explain my love of redheads and fishnets and high heel boots. It could also explain my leaning toward strong women. When it comes to celebrities, we all have our favourites too. I still favour the divas of the 60's and 70's. It doesn't mean that I don't like the modern women but I just don't follow so many of them as I did the classics. My list of early influences included Marilyn Monroe, of course. Who's doesn't?
But ahead of MM were a few others that have left their mark in my memory as the ideal women. Jane Fonda, not the aerobics Jane of the 80's but the soft sex kitten of the sixties Jane Fonda as in Barbarella, and Cat Ballou. Then there was Anne Margret, redheaded and bodacious with a soft delicate voice in Kitten with a Whip and Murders Row. Rachael Welch was the bombshell of the day. I loved her in those speghetti westerns. I also loved Natalie Wood. She had a wonderful appeal much like Anne Margret. One of my favourites was Sharon Tate who I best remember in the Wrecking Crew. Sadly was taken away in the Healter Skelter murders. Then of course there was the Batman TV series. Julie Newmar was sex on a stick and Yvonne Creig as Batgirl still drives me wild. My ideal woman is a hybrid cross of all these divas. Other greats from that era were Elkie Sommers, Barbara Eden, Elizabeth Montgomery, and Jane Seymour. My makeup, style and dressing preferences are derived from this era. Later in the late 70's, it was all about Farrah Fawcett, Lynda Carter and Catherine Bach on TV. It was however, those icons of the 60s and early 70s that top my lists.

Marilyn Monroe in Niagara
Marilyn Monroe
Jane Fonda in Cat Ballou
Jane Fonda as Barberella
Anne Margret

Anne Margret in Murders Row
Rachael Welch
Rachael Welch
Natalie Wood
Young Natalie Wood

Sharon Tate

Sharon Tate
Julie Newmar
Yvonne Creig as Batgirl




































So who are your influences?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I too agree that early jane fonda is sexy and arotic i also like diana riggs,linda carter and whjo could forget suzi quatro on happy days as leather tuscadaro

Pat Scales said...

An excellent selection. All could be influences on my style of dressing. They were almost always well dressed for their roles and wore hosiery. Women of today seem to eschew wearing hose.
Pat

Mary-Margret Callahan said...

Diana Riggs was awesome. I was a big fan of Lynda Carter too. I was glued to the TV when Wonder Woman was on. I almost forgot about Suzi on Happy Days. She inspired Joan Jett with that character I think. Good choices.

Mary-Margret Callahan said...

I agree. I think the appeal of the actresses back then was the pure femininity. The hair was long. They wore makeup. They were always in dresses and skirts and usually stockings. It may be that so many males crossdress more nowadays is due to the lack of women who use all of these feminine lures to their full potential. We are trying to preserve a great thing.