Inspired By ... Jodie Foster's "Taxi Driver" Wedges

These Karen Elson for Nine West wedges remind me so much of the killer platforms Jodie wears as Iris, the hooker with style in spades, in Taxi Driver. The perfect mix of trendiness and retro-mindedness in design, I am so drawn to these shoes (also available in midnight blue and black here) for their vintage appeal that I have already ordered them! Actually I recommend you check out Karen's entire collection for Nine West while you still can - pieces are going fast and items are already on sale!

i'm going on down to yasgur's farm, i'm gonna join in a rock and roll band, i'm gonna camp out on the land, i'm gonna set my soul free

Spring is officially here. According to the calendar, not according to the patches of snow outside of my window. It's an annual thing for me - with the start of warm weather comes my desire for fabulously bright prints, psychedelic swirls, and light layers of fabrics so long they graze the grass that my bare feet are walking through.
And for once, I'm not the only one getting back hooked on hippie garb. After quitting cold turkey during the winter months - wearing nothing but leather, black and beige - I've seen a lot of people gettin' high on hippy dippy trippy threads.
To make it even more official, the fashion kings and queens have decreed that Seventies fashion (think Stevie Nicks gypsy skirts and piano shawls, and Farrah Fawcett's bell-bottomed jeans and simple unfussy blouses) will reign this season. Instead of washed-out denims and white eyelet dresses, I am more in the mood for dresses in ethnic prints done in traffic-stopping colors, weighed down heavily by beading, fringing, embroidery, and other embellishments so much that you can feel through your outfit every breath you take.

France Gall gets into the gypsy spirit (and her dog seems to dig it, too!) 

Jane Birkin, in a Celia Birtwell print outfit, a film known by many names (but has something to do with Katmandu), and in a frock from the legendary Wonderwall

With or without Mick by her side, Marianne never looked incomplete in her stunning threads

I have an odd jealousy of Jodie Foster's kid prostitute character in Taxi Driver - putting aside the fact that she had to sell her body at 12-years-old

California queen (and former Mrs. Ryan O'Neal) Leigh Taylor-Young looks contemplative while posing in this hippie caftan (maybe she's wondering how she can look that amazing?)

Claudia Cardinale poses alongside (apparent) friend Frank Zappa, in a photo shoot for a 1967 issue of Epoca Magazine

Anita Pallenberg never fails to amaze in her signature gypsy-rocker style

Pattie Boyd joins two models in modeling designs by The Fool, to promote Apple Boutique 

Brigitte Bardot was a true bohemian bombshell - still retaining her sex kitten charm while in ruffled maxidresses, embroidered caftans, and her various floral minidresses 

Posing in front of a wall with that many colors, Britt Ekland wisely chooses and outfit to match

Penelope Tree (thanks to Youthquaker for the bottom scans!) 

Diane von Furstenberg embodies the idea of gypsy jetset luxury

Ewa Aulin (I'm trying really hard to not make an 'I Want Candy' joke) 

Though still sporting her Bonnie bob, Faye Dunaway trades her 1930s threads for a gorge paisley blouse

Frida Kahlo

I love candid photos of young people during the sixties - it's always interesting to see how their generation dressed themselves, beyond the limited view that celebrities and magazines from that time show us

How could I have done a post about opulent gypsy clothes without mentioning my dear Janis? 

Jean Shrimpton tries bright patterns to varying degrees, with bold color-blocked minidresses, embroidered caftan tops, and flowing maxidresses 

Pamela Courson and Jim Morrison hanging out at Pam's boutique Themis 

Luaren Hutton is one of my all-time favorites, and not just because she can pull off virtually any look (seriously - how can someone look that good in a tight high-necked hood?)

It's sometimes hard to stand out in a crowd - but in a bright green patterned dress, with a matching bejeweled turban, it's easy

BFFs and costars in the Swingin' London spoof Smashing Time, Lynn Redgrave and Rita Tushingham, poke more fun at London's overwhelming obsession with the hippie trend 

Pattie, Jane Asher, Cyn Lennon (and their respective Beatle boys) pose with Mike Love, Mia Farrow, Donovan, and the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in Rishikesh

Marisa Berenson, dubbed a "Euroglam gypsy" by the fab Simon Doonan, poses in a variety of brightly colored dresses, on the island of Mauritius, in the pages of Vogue, and in a 1969 campaign for Halston photographed by Clarke Henry

With a voice even more incredible than that lace dress, singer-songwriter Melanie Safka proves that she was a wise addition to the Woodstock lineup many years ago

Whether in Pucci or Gernreich, these models had an easy job making these clothes look cool

Pattie and George hang out outside of Kinfauns (with a mysterious puppet alongside them)

With her carefree style and stunning looks, it's easy to see why men like Roman Polanski, Rob Lowe, and Quincy Jones fell for Nastassja Kinski 

Photographer, Laurel Canyon resident, and Monkee baby mama Nurit Wilde was just as beautiful as the photographs she took

Peggy Moffitt is always perfection

The glowing and glorious Sharon Tate rockin' a dashiki 

Miss Pamela and the rest of the GTOs take the flower child look to California

Well, I'd be in the mood too if I saw a boy wearing hot pink floral pants...

These models show that bold prints can be worn in a sophisticated way

The Beatles - they may have been the 'walrus', but they were also psychedelic style stars

Always a favorite at DRG, Veruschka rocks frocks from designers as diverse as Pucci and Hutzler's, but with a common theme: stripes and swirls in electric hues 

Title: from "Woodstock" (Joni Mitchell)

Top Ten "Jailbait" Movies

In order to sound like as little of a creep as possible, let me put into context how I thought of making this list. When I was in my young teens (mostly between the ages of 14-17) I had several encounters with men who would somehow make a Lolita inference during our conversation. I always thought this was equal parts disturbing and flattering. It was sometimes nice to know that my crushes on inappropriately older gentlemen weren't always entirely one-sided. For any gal who has every been "Hot for Teacher" or longed for a pair of heart-shaped sunglasses, this list is for you.

So to start off the list, I give you the girl who started it all...

Dolores 'Lolita' Haze (Sue Lyon) in Lolita, 1962

I've never seen the remake with Dominique Swain in the title role, but I'm still going to say that this is my preferred version. I love Sue Lyon's portrayal of the flirtatious fourteen-year-old - especially in those moments where she's allowed to be a little bit darker than what the censors would normally allow and explore more of the depth to this character. Plastic heart-shaped sunglasses have become a little bit less childish since this movie's release. Fun fact: Though she was the star of the film, Sue wasn't allowed into the premiere of Lolita because she was a few months shy of her sixteenth birthday (16 being the minimum age required to enter the screening).

Mathilda Lando (Natalie Portman) in Léon: The Professional, 1994

In the film, Portman plays the twelve-year-old neighbor of a hitman in Little Italy named Léon. After her family is murdered, including her four-year-old brother (the only one in the family she actually loved, she says), Mathilda begs Léon to teach her his skills so that she can avenge her family's murders. Natalie Portman looked badass in her big black boots, choker necklaces, striped tee shirts, and her sleek bob that could put Mia Wallace to shame.

Iris 'Easy' Steensma (Jodie Foster) in Taxi Driver, 1976

Never before this movie did I ever say "Gee, I wish I were a twelve-year-old prostitute." As Iris, a New York 'lady of the streets', Jodie Foster got to wear some of the most killer seventies clothing. I'd die for the dusty pink hot pants and red suede wedges she wears when she meets Travis Bickle (Robert de Niro). Though she's onscreen for only a fraction of the movie, Foster's role as Iris and her relationship with Bickle drives the second half of the narrative.

Tracy (Mariel Hemingway) in Manhattan, 1979

As Tracy, the seventeen-year-old love of Woody Allen's philandering 42-year-old Isaac Davis, Mariel Hemingway earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. And with good reason. Giving the most soft, subtle performance in a film of neurotic characters, Hemingway's Tracy comes off as the most intelligent and mature of the whole lot. She also gets to utter one of the famous last lines, "Not everyone gets corrupted ... you have to have a little faith in people."

Violet (Brooke Shields) in Pretty Baby, 1978

Perhaps the jailbait actress of the century, practically anything from her early career could have made this list (The Blue Lagoon, Endless Love, her Calvin Klein ads), but here is Brooke in her first major (and most jailbait-iest) film role. The film is set in 1917 New Orleans during the last months of legal prostitution. Brooke plays Violet, the twelve-year-old daughter of a prostitute (Susan Sarandon being gorgeous, as per usual), whose virginity is auctioned off by her mother's madame. A photographer by the name of Ernest J. Bellocq is fascinated by Violet's beauty and youth, and marries the girl. Although Brooke is undoubtedly gorgeous, there is still something I find so unsettling about seeing such a young girl painted with makeup and made to be so overtly sexualized ... especially when you consider that this was partially a true story.

Charlotte Goodall (Sue Lyon) in The Night of the Iguana, 1964

Sue Lyon really made a career out of playing over-sexualized teenage girls. Here our little Lolita travels to Puerto Vallarta to pursue the affections of Richard Burton, but she faces some stiff competition from Deborah Kerr and Ava Gardner. Fun fact: Although director John Huston did not have a problem with the international ruckus that Burton and his lover Elizabeth Taylor were causing on the Puerto Vallarta set, Huston banned Sue Lyon's fiance from the set after interfering with film production too many times.

Angela Hayes (Mena Suvari) in American Beauty, 1999

Mena Suvari kind of ruined the entire idea of red rose petals for me, but it was still a stellar film.

Ivy (Drew Barrymore) in Poison Ivy, 1992

After befriending schoolmate Sylvie Cooper, Ivy - a seductive scholarship student at an exclusive Beverly Hills prep school - makes designs on Sylvie's father. Ivy is a calculating young girl who was ready and willing to do anything to get something she wanted. Drew Barrymore's fifteen-year-old femme fatale is far and away the most dangerous girl on this list.

Baby Doll Meighan (Carroll Baker) in Baby Doll, 1956

In this Elia Kazan picture, Baker plays "Baby Doll," the sweetly uneducated teenage bride of Karl Malden. In order to compound this fact, Baker sucks her thumb a lot. The film was widely condemned upon its release, with Time Magazine saying in its review at the time that it was the "dirtiest American-made motion picture that had ever been legally exhibited." The Legion of Decency even succeeded in getting the film withdrawn from theatres because of it's "immoral content." Fun fact: Despite being thirty-years-old at the time, Marilyn Monroe was chosen by Tennessee Williams personally to star in the film. Monroe, who wanted the role badly, was finishing up her year-long exile from Hollywood to improve her acting talent and almost got the role. Kazan ultimately went with film newcomer Carroll Baker, who had worked together at the Actor's Studio.

Jenny Mellor (Carey Mulligan) in An Education, 2009

In 1961 England, sixteen-year-old schoolgirl Jenny is swept up in a romance with the charming and sophisticated David, who is over twice her age. With Mulligan racking up the awards this past year, it goes without saying that her portrayal of the young, impressionable schoolgirl was a hit among critics and audiences alike. The film is set in the same year as Kubrick was filming his version of Lolita, so I think that completes a beautiful circle there, doesn't it?