July 2019: Model Retrospectives

I probably have no greater fun with my own blog than I do when I look back at particular models with a week's worth of posts, one model per week for a month.  So now, I'm about to do it again, for the simple fact that I have more space than I need to come up with at least twenty new subjects by the time this blog reaches its anniversary date in late September . . . and also because I have plenty of pictures of the models I'm about to revisit!

The four models I have selected represent different types.  The first two come from opposite sides of the same hemisphere, and of different ethnic backgrounds, but both are more famous for their fashion show appearances than for their print work.  The first is Claire Atkinson, from England (you wiseacres who insist that English ethnicity is an oxymoron can shut up and sit down now, thank you very much!), and the second is Anna Bayle of the Philippines.  The third and fourth women are both black American models who have worked mostly in print assignments, but while the third model I will feature for a week is a household name, the fourth is not. The first black model is none other than the legendary Beverly Johnson, and the latter one is a woman by the name of Cynthia King, whom I featured only once before . . . in 2010.

And while Cynthia King may be recognizable, she's most likely known more by sight then by name.  However, I think it's safe to say that she wouldn't have had the career she did had not Beverly Johnson, a trail blazer for black women in modeling, paved the way or her and many others. 

Full disclosure requires me to state that I know Claire Atkinson and Anna Bayle through Facebook, and I also am in contact with Claire Atkinson outside social media despite the act that we live far apart from each other.  I don't know Beverly Johnson - not even through social media - and no one in the modeling profession whom I know seems to have any idea what became of Cynthia King, though I was able to find out a few things about her with a little persistence and a little dumb luck.

So - enough blabbering!  Off we go into a whole month of stunning beauty and elegance! :-)   

A Special Retrospective: Nastasia Urbano

I close June with a post that's a labor of love.

Spain's Nastasia Urbano was homeless in her hometown of Barcelona when 2019 began, but the GoFundMe page started by a friend of hers, which I provided a link to here and which I documented extensively on my other blog, brought in enough money to help her get an apartment outside town and resume her life . . . and her modeling career. 

You've already seen examples of her new work, which I posted in February 2019.  Now here are some examples of her early work to demonstrate what made her such a wonderful model in the first place.

This 1989 photo, which I colorized myself, shows the depth and intensity that Nastasia (she's a friend of mine, remember) brings to the camera.

And this black-and-white photo from 1988 shows that same intensity.

She has always brought those qualities to her more glamorous work, from this low-keyed, elegant photo sporting a basic black ensemble . . .

. . . to this downright sexy pose in a strapless dress and opera gloves! :-O 

Nastasia Urbano is a very special woman and a very dear friend, and I was happy to be part of the effort to help her get back on her feet.

And with that, and the year being half over, I now move to my retrospective feature - four models, a different model each week - for July. 

The Beauty of Retrospect: Linda Tonge

It may be too soon to feature Linda Tonge again, having first featured her just four months previously (February 2019), but these two pictures demand another look at her.  Because these two photos display her in all of her radiant blonde glory.

Below is a picture of Ms. Tonge taken by the great photographer Albert Watson.

   

And while he is a great photographer, it's fair to say that he didn't need to do much more than let the shutter fall on his camera.  Linda Tonge only had to peer into the camera with those soft blue-green eyes of hers, her face lovingly framed by her golden tresses. 

She put her hair to good use in the photo below.

 

The picture is for a Rave hairspray ad.   Well, that makes sense! :-)

The Beauty of Retrospect: Catherine Roberts, Again

Of course, Catherine Roberts' beauty is too splendid to confine to one post, and I have in fact devoted a whole week to her in the past. So why not a second post right here and now?

The above picture is from yet another Charles of the Ritz ad; she did so many of them, and it's ironic that her work for Charles of the Ritz has outlasted the cosmetics brand they were meant for. 

I don't remember what the picture below was taken for, but it was probably for another Charles of the Ritz ad . . . as, like this picture I posted in January 2013,  it features our heroine holding a seashell.

     

Though she obviously doesn't need a prop to look dreamy.

Nor does she need to worry about losing any of her incredible appeal as a model.  Here's a much more recent picture. :-) 

It's from a sample of her later work courtesy of Iconic Focus, the modeling agency representing women who have been in the business longer than the young models of today have been alive. And Catherine Roberts still has more staying power than any of them. :-)

The Beauty of Retrospect: Catherine Roberts

I have planned for July another set of four week-long looks back at four different models that I've featured here before. But as this is still June, I thought I'd take a look back at other models as well . . . starting with an all-time favorite of mine, Catherine Roberts. :-)

Ms. Roberts has been modeling since the seventies, and her career was especially active at the time Jimmy Carter was President.  If you saw President Carter on the evening news, than the commercial break probably included a spot with Ms. Roberts in it - like a commercial for Aqua Velva aftershave featuring her as the woman drawn to an Aqua Velva man.  The picture above is from a still from that commercial.       

Of course, Catherine Roberts is best known for her print work, and here are two wonderful examples of that.  Above is a picture from ad for Charles of the Ritz cosmetics ad, and below is a very sensuous photo from a Bergdorf  Goodman catalog.

Both photos are from 1979.

The Beauty of Anonymity: Unidentified Maybelline Model

This picture is from a Maybelline eye shadow ad that ran in 1977.

And while the beauty from her eye shadow is Maybelline, as far as the rest of her beauty is concerned . . . well, she was definitely born with it. ;-)

I post this photo here because this model is certainly a stunner, but alas, I don't know her name.  Back then, Maybelline ads didn't identify their models like they do now.

As always, anyone who can identify this woman is encouraged to leave a comment here with her name. :-)

Model Veronika Vařeková

Czech it out! :-D

Veronika Vařeková - whose name is sometimes presented as Veronica Varekova - is one of the most successful models of the turn of the millennium. She came to New York to study at the Parsons School of Design, but, as with so many beautiful women who sought to study art and design, she got discovered by a modeling scout and ended up a cover girl for the annual Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue.  Among other publications. 

Her advertising credits include brands such as Gap, Chanel, Escada, Emmanuel Ungaro, and beauty products Nive and Pantene.  Ms. Vařeková has posed for big-name photographers such as Patrick Demarchelier,  Ellen Von Unsworth, and Peter Lindbergh.

Fun fact:  Veronika Vařeková climbed both peaks of Mount Kilimanjaro.  ("I thought there was only one peak, sir!"  Actually ,there is - old Monty Python joke. :-D)  Seriously, folks, she did climb Mount Kilimanjaro, in 2008, and her interest in Africa led her to become a goodwill ambassador for he African Wildlife Foundation.     

PBS newswoman Megan Thompson

If you watch a lot of public television, you've seen a lot of Megan Thompson.

She's best known for anchoring and reporting for weekend editions of the PBS Newshour, but she's also worked on news and documentary programs on PBS such as "Need to Know," "WorldFocus," and the local architectural documentary "Treasures of New York."

Originally from Minnesota, Ms. Thompson started out in research and communications for Congress.  She holds a bachelor's degree from Wellesley College and a master's degree in journalism from New York University.

Model Pia Sorensen

Pia Sorensen is a model from the early 1980s. 

She was represented in London by the Select agency.  Biographical data on her is scant.

TV newswoman Heidi Pryzbyla

Heidi Pryzbyla is a reporter for NBC News and a constant presence on its MSNBC cable news channel.

She has been in journalism since 1997, when she first became a reporter for the Washington Business Journal, before moving on to Bloomberg as a political reporter, where she worked form 1999 to 2015, leaving to join USA Today.

She joined NBC News in 2018, where she offers a bit of commentary with her reporting.  

Model Courtney O'Neil

Courtney O'Neil is a model from the late 1980s.

Versatile in her poses, she could project anything from sultriness . . . 

. . . to subtlety.

She was represented by the HV agency in New York.

TV newswoman Amna Nawaz

Amna Nawaz (her last name is pronounced "Na-VAHS") is the latest person to join the on-air staff of the PBS Newshour.

Ms.  Nawaz set out to be a lawyer but decided to follow in the footsteps of her Pakistani immigrant father, who had been a journalist in Pakistan.  Since she joined the PBS Newshour in April 2018, she's not only led on-air panel discussions and filled in for anchor Judy Woodruff (an earlier honoree on this blog), but she's also done some hard-hitting stories on the immigration crisis affecting the U.S.-Mexico border.

 

She started and ended her career in commercial-television journalism at ABC, having worked for ABC's "Nightline" in the early 2000s and returned there in 2015, but in between she was at NBC News, where she worked on documenatires and "Dateline NBC,"  Ms. Nawaz distinguished herself as a producer on a program investigating the subprime mortgage crisis of 2007.

Amna Nawaz is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, having gotten a bachelor's degree in politics, philosophy, and economics there.  She also earned a master's degree in comparative politics from the London School of Economics. 

Model Julie McClay

Julie McClay is a fashion model from the late 1970s and the early 1980s.

She was represented by Elite agency in New York. 

She certainly has an ability to strike poses that are, well, striking. :-) The picture above was taken by Gordon Munro.

Actress Susan Maris

Susan Maris is an actress based in New York City.  And while she's done some film and television work, her most notable credits are in the theater.

She has played devoted daughter Cordelia in a New York production of King Lear and Princess Katherine of France in New York production of Henry V, as well as Ophelia in a regional production of Hamlet.  Shakespeare is her milieu, I reckon. :-) 

She's also played Mary in a radio version of It's a Wonderful Life - yes, radio plays still happen! - and when she's not on a stage or in a radio studio, she teaches yoga.

Susan Maris is obviously very versatile. :-)   

An Annoucement

I'll get back to my current A-Z round of subjects, but right now, I'd like to make an announcement regarding this blog.

One of the articles of faith that has guided me since I began this blog in September 2006 is that a woman doesn't have to be an entertainer or a model to be beautiful, which is why I've featured women in broadcasting, sports, medicine . . . and politics.  But the political arena has become troublesome as far as this blog is concerned.  It's obvious that, whenever I have offered a post showing a female politician, it's almost always a Democrat.  The exceptions are foreign female politicians, as I am too nauseated by the Republicans to show any women from the GOP.  But with the country becoming more politically polarized, it is becoming obvious that my partisan bias here is showing.

In fact, many of the Democratic female politicians I have shown have ultimately disappointed me.  I found myself attracted to U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), but when she botched the roll-out of the pro-environmentalist Green New Deal program and turned what should have been a Democratic asset into a liability, I lost a lot of respect for her.  And I lost even more respect for an earlier honoree on this blog, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), when she orchestrated and forced the resignation of U.S. Senator Al Franken (D-MN) over minor sexual-harassment allegations before they could be reviewed by the Senate Ethics Committee.  However damning these allegations were, Franken should at least had his case heard out before considering resignation or accepting possible expulsion.  Plus, Senator Gillibrand takes money from unsavory corporate interests.  The simple truth is that female politicians can be just as ultimately disappointing as their male counterparts.

Then there's the Me Too movement. Although the Me Too movement is about fighting unwanted male sexual advances toward women, it's probably a given that female politicians who support this movement emphatically would prefer not to be celebrated at all, not even a little, for their looks.

Bearing all that in mind, I feel that I must have my blog acknowledge and be in tune with these realities.  Therefore . . . I will cease to include female politicians on this blog effective immediately.  However, female politicians I have featured already will remain on this blog.   Please note that the Criteria, Rules and Standards page is to be edited to reflect this. 

I know that some people will find this decision to be rash, but I think it's for the best.  I don't want this blog to be politically partisan, and I don't want to deal with politics on a blog meant to be devoted to something as far removed from politics as possible.  

Back tomorrow with a post paying tribute to an actress - not a politician.