In celebration of the Halloween holiday weekend, Ms. Jeannie thought it would be fun to bring you part two of the celebrity doppelganger series – this time featuring famous modern-day celebrities who bare an eerie resemblance to portrait paintings that were created centuries ago. If ever these celebrities needed a creative costume for Halloween happenings then this would be their ticket to something dramatically different…(or should we say dramatically similiar!) …
Actor Tom Goodman Hill (from the PBS tv show Mr. Selfridge) and Vincent Van Gogh’s self portrait while painted in asylum in 1889Actress Christina Hendricks of most recent Mad Men fame and Francisco de Goya’s portrait of Esabel de Porcel painted in 1805.Actor Stanley Tucci and the portrait of Cardinal Don Fernando Nino de Guevara painted by Greek artist El Greco in 1600No bustle needed for curvy Kim Kardashian when it comes to mirroring George Seurat’s A Sunday Afternoon on La Grande Jatte painted in 1884!Film and television actor Amy Brennaman and the artistic muse Jane Burden featured here in Dante Gabriel Rosetti’s Day Dream painted in 1880Ethereal Actress Tilda Swinton and Joos Van Gent’s Adoration of the Maji painted in 1465Actor John Slattery (also of Mad Men fame) and Frank Blackwell Meyer’s 1858 painting titled Independence.Actress Saoirse Ronan and John Honore Fragonard’s The Billet Doux (meaning the love letter) painted in the 1770’sActor Jared Leto and Rembrandt’s portrait entitled The Head of Christ painted in 1648Back in the Kardashian camp, mom Kris Jenner and George Lepape’s fashion illustration for Paul Poiret titled Lassitude Dinner Dress was sketched and painted in the 1920’sRounding out the list is Michael Douglas and Giovanni Bellini’s portrait of Doge Leonardo Loredon painted in 1501
Looking for more celebrity doppelganger photos? Check out Ms. Jeannie’s modern day actors vs. vintage authors post here for more fun look-a-likes! In the meantime however (and whomever!) you choose to dress up as this Halloween, Ms. Jeannie hopes you take first prize in the costume contest:)
The countdown has begun! Season 5 of Mad Men is almost here and for a vintage lover like Ms. Jeannie it couldn’t get here faster.
Thrilled to see the new poster in her email box, Ms. Jeannie was a little taken aghast at the naked mannequin – but after all it is fitting for both the time period and Don Draper’s state of affairs (no pun intended!).
Ms. Jeannie’s friend, Thom, was visiting from L.A. where he said the city is braced for Mad Men fever. Buildings are dressed in giant size billboards throughout the city in this image:
Which we both agreed was fantastic advertising because, no where does it say Mad Men anywhere on the sign but fans would recognize the iconic silhouette and the simple font anywhere. Simplicity and subsequent notoriety like this is a marketing team’s dream!
A favorite ad campaign clip from the show is when Don Draper pitches the Kodak Carousel.
If you get nostolgic yourself for a vintage Kodak Carousel you can purchase one on Etsy. This one below even comes with an instruction manual!
Vintage Kodak Slide Carousel from Lyneas Vintage
Ms. Jeannie will be posting several 1950’s-1960’s era Life magazines in her shop soon. They are full of great retro ads that I’m sure Don Draper would have loved to concept.
If Ms. Jeannie could step back in time during this period she would choose Peggy’s role, played by Elizabeth Moss, since Peggy is determined to be on the same playing field as the ad guys and won’t let things like female discrimination, office politics and pre-conceived notions get in her way. She’s a woman with ambition, that Peggy Olson is, yet she’s not willing to sacrifice her humanity in order to reach that golden ring. She’s flawed like all the others but she’s also the character who is most aware of her own short sightedness. She strives to be good, and in that simple act of trying, she sort of is good.
Peggy Olson played by Elizabeth Moss
That said, Ms. Jeannie wouldn’t mind having the wardrobe and (hair color!) of Joan:
Michelle Williams recently did an interview on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross about her portrayal of Marilyn Monroe in the movie My Week with Marilyn. She had some really interesting things to say about studying for the role of Marilyn, what it was like to be a woman in the 1950’s & 60’s and what it must have been like to be Marilyn specifically in that time period.
Etsy has an extensive listing for retro etiquette books, but this one stood out among all the others. It’s fascinating to see how women’s roles have changed over the course of just a few decades. Reading books like this sort of hits you like a ton of bricks:
Etiquette for Young Moderns from Lexis Finds
Life for a dreamer like Ms. Jeannie would have been tough. But thanks to the mindset of gals like Peggy, Ms. Jeannie would have made it through and probably done something remarkable in the process.
In the Vintage Kitchen: Where History Comes To Eat 