Stella

by Marc Parent

ipso facto, 192 pp., $44.95

Stella is a photographic portfolio recording the years 1952-55 in the life of a haute couture model during couture’s heyday in Paris, “a reminder of an era when, for a brief, blissful time, clothing design raised worship of classic female beauty to unprecedented heights.” Most accurately, Stella is a tender love letter to the author’s mother — the magical, mystical Stella herself. She reigned during a period when a high-fashion model was a different animal than she is today. “We looked like we couldn’t say ‘shit,'” a contemporary of Stella’s said. “We were snotty, cold. You couldn’t speak to us.” But even within the framework of the period, Stella emanated something special — a feeling that underneath the glacier burned a fire of passion and sensuality, combined with a look that was basically very American. Sort of a haughty Grace Kelly, if you will. This made her a favorite of designers on both continents, as well as photographers the world over, but she was a particular favorite of French designer Jacques Fath, the extraordinary couturier whose clothes she wears through a large portion of the book. Stella’s star burned brightly only for a short time — she retired early to raise her children, but she never forgot her moments of glory and safeguarded her treasured mementos of it. “And thus her legacyí” her son says, “is to keep me forever in her thrall.” And us, too.

This article appears in December 22 • 2000.

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