Thursday, March 22, 2012

Isabella Rossellini



I watched a program today that featured Isabella Rossellini, wow... there she was as she is, with no artifice. Intelligent, elegant, gracious, warm and beautiful, no plastic surgery, every line on her face clear to see.  I decided she is someone who comes across as a beautiful person on the inside as well as the outside, this is a woman of substance and style.  I feel like I grew up with her, I suspect many people feel the same way.  In the eighties it was hard to open a magazine without seeing her image, there were her edgy film choices, she was unforgettable in Blue Velvet and then there was the Lancôme campaign which she fronted for so many years before being dropped by Lancôme in her forties for being deemed too old.

Here in France, we hardly see or hear of her any more, she has never gone out of her way to court the limelight, one gets the impression she makes her choices on her own terms, things she really believes in.  As a woman wearing casual clothes and no make up she is a natural beauty, when she turns up the volume with make up, signature dark red lipstick and jewellery (this is a lady who knows how to wear jewellery).  She blows others out of the water.  Isabella is a lady growing older gracefully, she is a true icon and she was there all along.

With her Mother, screen legend Ingrid Bergman (Isabella's resemblance to her Mother is uncanny)

Even at a young age her signature style is evident, simple lines and great jewellery









With David Lynch, Helmut Newton
























Stills from Death Becomes Her








As Marella Agnelli in Infamous







As well as her acting and modelling career Isabella is also a writer, film-maker, Mother and Philanthropist, she is on the board of Wildlife Conservation Network, she is also involved with training guide dogs for the blind and president and director of the Howard Gilman Foundation, a leading institution focused on the preservation of wildlife, arts, photography and dance.

Her latest acting roll is playing Gabriella Guglielmi-Valentino in 'Silent Life' a silent film based on the life of Rudolph Valentino which will be released later this year, below is the trailer.



More Pictures and quotes from Isabella here:
 

19 comments:

  1. I loved how you ran through these images in chronological order. It felt like I was reading her life story through her pictures. And yes, couldn't agree more. Natural beauty is the only kind!

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  2. Oh my.....SHE is one STUNNING woman.

    Jo

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  3. Is that Crusoe with her? Wonderful photos of a lovely woman.

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  4. Wow, she's gorgeous in a white tee shirt and Ray-Bans,,,thanks for the post, one of my favorite actresses.

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  5. Welcome back Dash, and what a come back it is! Great lady you picked today. Loved seeing all these pictures. What a beautiful woman she was/is! The apple did not fall far from the tree, of course. Mom was a beauty in her time too. Hope you are well and have found a way to solve your tricky... ahem... situation. Veronique (French Girl in Seattle)

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  6. First things first, I have subscribed via email because I CAN NOT afford to lose another of your posts because of blooger (yes, thats right) being finicky.

    As an ex-NYer, I am especially fond of her. She loves that town so much and was especially vocal just after 9/11. What a woman. I so wish that I could remember a quote that she said that really marked me, heavily. It was in an interview and she said that she was wandering through an antique store (in Venice? Rome?) and she saw a lovely, fascinating woman on the other side of the room. As she approached, she realized that this elegant, older woman was herself! It sounds odd in my retelling! Oh! I tell you, it is something that I have aspired towards...
    Bisous,
    H

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  7. many thanks for this post
    she is lovely

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  8. She lives in the next town over from me, here on Long Island. I was fortunate enough to be her waitress at a local Italian restaurant two years ago. She ordered a small salad, and for her entree she ate a calamari appetizer (this was one seriously huge platter of calamari!). She was a regular patron of this restaurant, but I only got to serve her once. As she left, I stopped her and told her that I was honored, and how much I loved hers and her mother's work. She was very gracious and shook my hand. I was so excited that I bought a bottle of her perfume, "Manifesto" and wore it every day after that.

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  9. I forgot to mention - you haven't lived until you've seen Ms. Rossellini's videos called "Green Porno"! Hysterical AND informative!

    http://www.sundancechannel.com/greenporno/

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  10. I love Isabella R. She's so regal and refined and such a natural beauty. I first saw her on an episode of Friends and I had to find out more about her

    http://kittyonadumpster.blogspot.co.uk/

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  11. I stopped buying Lancome after they fired her. She's so cool and always has been.

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  12. Gorgeous. I wonder how her sister must feel about her inheriting their mother's beauty.

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  13. she is a very inspriring woman :)

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