Best known for his role as the “good” brother in Elia Kazan’s classic 1955 American drama “East of Eden” co-starring the one and only rebel king, James Dean! His handsome face and perfectly coiffed hair rival the iconic mens style idol himself. . .
You can also spot Davalos as Blind Dick in the Paul Newman classic “Cool Hand Luke”. So, lets celebrate some of the classic cool styles he has donned, and his impenetrable friendship with the greatest mens style icon of all time.
“Twenty years after he played Aron to Jimmy’s Cal, Dick Davalos seemed unable to shake off the effects of his contact with Jimmy. In 1973, after interviewing Davalos for The Mutant King, I casually walked him to his car. With terrifying suddenness he turned and shouted at the top of his voice: “YOU FINISHED?” ….It was only later that I realized it was a line from East of Eden, and Davalos was still playing Aron; two decades later he was still delivering that line with the same suppressed fury he’s unleashed on James Dean before Jimmy would knock him to the ground. What a blow that phantom dealt him!“
I learned long ago that when someone asks you to pull looks for a vaudeville circus inspired shoot, you do so!
Granted, I’ve never been asked to in this life, but something just tells you to jump at the opportunity when its right. We didn’t even have to question whether or not we wanted to be a part of this when the beautiful, and lovely (don’t forget talented) Jessica Panetta asked if we’d want to work together, and pull some looks to bring to a shoot for the city’s finest up-and-coming folk band, Orchards.
Orchards comprises of Anthony William Wallace (violin, banjo), Daniel John Taylor (bass, guitar, ukulele), and Gabrielle Sylvane Charron-Merritt (trumpet, guitar) who are all uber-talented, fun, and highly multi-disciplinary artists who dove right into every scenario with gusto and poise.
Couldn’t have done it without my wardrobe partner, Heather English, who had a great eye for colour and detail (heart!) .
Their music is haunting and eloquent with captivating melodies that evoke lost memories from deep within our collective consciousness. The songs are classic and utterly timeless bringing a modern twist to classic folk sounds. Needless to say, their music was the perfect inspiration for the shoot.
We played off the softness and decadent dishevelling of men and women seen in vintage photographs for the quieter moments, and looked for bold and intriguing colour and graphic combinations to complete the circus vibe.
All in all, I think the look completed is a nod to the past, but is completely reinvented – just like Orchard’s own music, which ultimately is the element we all hoped to showcase.
Each shot is so great to look back on, as you remember it all happening – when it was moving, and there were sounds, and laughter, and distraction; not with a photograph. These are magic moments here, captured throughout.
Please enjoy the photographs, and definitely dive into the track below entitled “Oh,Sister” by Orchards for a true escape from the everyday . . .
We were so lucky to have such a talented team of individuals who all came together in symbiosis to make this vision come to life! Very proud to have been a part of it, and looking forward to what the future has in store . . .
Hunter S. Thompson {circa 1960s} at his typewriter with pipe and wicked graphic surf shorts!
Greetings friends, fans, and followers . . .
The holiday season has come and gone, and we are back to the writing desk, much like our good friend Hunter S. Thompson up there. We thought this was a great image to welcome ourselves back on, as it reminds us all that style is something we take everywhere we go; It is a reflection, a representation, of one’s own unique persona.
Even putting himself up to the grind and working away, a man like Hunter S. Thompson (and like so many other great writers) only needs to rely on his supernatural sensibility of self to carry him through the long hours of the day. While I’m sure he never envisioned himself as a style guru of any sort, this man is looked at time and time again for his bad ass All-American jamboree of pattern and real casual cool.
Myths and legends die hard in America. We love them for the extra dimension they provide, the illusion of near-infinite possibility to erase the narrow confines of most men’s reality. Weird heroes and mould-breaking champions exist as living proff to those who need it that the tyranny of “the rat race” is not yet final.
-Hunter S. Thompson
All it takes is letting go a little . . .
We hope to help you with these, and other dilemmas and mysteries of style and self in the coming New Year! Just keep it cool, OK?!
This year we hope to divulge in more rebel realities, playboy prophecies, magic America, gothic nuances, and many more vintage memories and musings informing and quickly building tomorrow’s fashion landscape . . .
With the help of {theEye} there’s no going wrong (and no going back, for that matter)!
From a 1970s episode of The Muppets Show, we’ve stumbled onto this clip of the ever so sexy Raquel Welch doing a great choreographed dance number with one of Jim Henson’s more creepy-crawly creations…
Hope everyone is having a great weekend! Enjoy.
The Eye.
We take in the soundtrack of daily life, like it or not. It’s handed out and eaten up. But what we don’t tune out, sometimes can bring us true bliss. We find ourselves groovin’ on this collection of pictures and decided to share our buzz with you. Images through the eras, of music lovers like both you and me.
When I first saw the trailers for “The Artist“, shortly after it’s premier at the Cannes Film Festival that would lead to Jean Dujardin’s Best Actor win at the prestigious art festival, I was not impressed. Silly folly, I thought. Reductive (Thanks, Madonna). Wasted Inspiration. How could this “NEW” silent film set in th 20s really make a splash? There was no way, in my mind, that the audiences of 2011 would really appreciate the novelty…but surprisingly, they did!
Don’t know what it is about this one (as I’m still stubbornly NOT seeing it) that really taps a chord with everyone these days, but one thing is certain we have a hit on our hands! Picking up seven wins at the British Academy Awards last night, the film is continuing it’s unbeatable winning streak all the way to the Oscars.
Granted, the recreation of the 1920s looks great (especially costumes by first-time Academy Award nominee Mark Bridges, who painstakingly recreated designs from the 20s), not to mention Du Jardin’s charisma and winning smile, but there seems to be something so defeatist about watching a silent film made in 2012.
Why do I need to see this? I have seen many silent films, some of which are the most impressive pieces of film making, or dare I say ART, I’ve ever seen: “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” (1920), “Birth of a Nation”(1915) , “Intolerance”(1916), “The Gold Rush”(1925), “Metropolis”(1927), “Voyage to the Moon” (1902), and “Pandora’s Box” (1929) are all some of the most important films ever made, as well as full of some of the most visually arresting images of all time.
All these films were made before sound became an unstoppable force in making movies. Before this time, the power of image and word, and the novelty of the moving image was enough to begin a revolution that would become Hollywood. And don’t think that because these films were made without sound that they are PG fair, because most silent classics are full of adultery, scandal, ghosts, vampires, drugs, sex, violence, and witches- all the things we love at The Eye of Faith, minus the rock n’ roll!
Watching the films of that time are magical in itself, as it’s probablly the closest any of us could ever get to time travel in our lifetime. It’s fascinating getting lost in Louise Miller’s beautiful bow lips, or catching Valentino’s devilish gaze- these celluloid dreams are the closest thing we have to these faded idols of yesteryear and their long lonst lost time. Having been made on film, we are getting a literal imprint of a moment in time playing out before our eyes. Absolute magic!
Back in those days, they didn’t have any of the technology we have today to make movies- all you had was a team full of people and a whole lot of passion to try to tell your story. Even “The Artist” couldn’t escape from having the shoot the film first in Colour, to then digitally manipulate the film to the lauded black and white photogrpahy being praised today.
Back in the 1920s, there is no way they would have shot a film only to have to redo it completely somewhere else; if time meant money now, time really meant money in those days- but today in 2012, I’m afraid that time for these jewels only means edging closer and closer to obscurity.
Ultimately, it’s about love for movies in general. I cannot fault director Michel Hazanavicius’ vision, bringing his ode to Silent Era to the masses, and hopefully with it’s growing popularity the film can also bring some love to the real classics of the 1910s and 1920s. However, I can’t help but think “The Artist” may even further dampened our view of the true days of Hollywood Babylon. Reductive.
Many people, like myself, see all the promos for “The Artist” and can’t see past the gimmick of it all. (I mean, REALLY?!!) Hopefully this doesn’t taint the idea of watching a real classic- seeing as you can watch a “NEW” one. Or maybe I’m being much too cynical and everything is jolly! It’s great to see so much love for the past, in general though. Perhaps simply, the time of nostalgia has really struck.
Throughout the years, silent films have provided an endless source of inspiration. Luckily, many silent films are being restored and archived so future generations can enjoy the magic of the past. Watching a silent film, you can almost feel lucky, as if somehow you have found a hidden doorway to the past, and luckily you can stay there (at least for an hour or two).
Lest we forget from whence we came, and enjoy a piece of the puzzle today!
We’ve included a scene from 1928’s “The Laughing Man” (a precursor to Batman’s iconic villain The Joker) for your viewing pleasure.
[And if you have a lot of time on your hand OpenFlix on Youtube has a ton of Full Length classic films for Free including the 1922 Swedish Documentary HAXAN on the History of Witchcraft!!! Silent and Spooky. Click Here.]
{LIFE Magazine Mathmatics in the 1950s}
