photographed by nina leen from the life magazine archives
life magazine
lipstick
remember that scene early on in the first season of mad men where the secretaries get to try out lipstick colours and joan shows off her derrière in the two-way mirror? of course you do. god, i miss mad men. anyway – perhaps the show’s writers found inspiration from these photos. i love this stern little man – he’s either super serious about his job, or really hates lipstick. or he’s super serious about lipstick.
source: life magazine archives
i had a dream the other night that christy turlington was working at my local pharmacy and she helped me pick out a new lipstick colour. it was a really dark plum colour. i woke up thinking – what are you trying to tell me, christy?
Princeton, 1969
It was in 1969 that Princeton University first admitted women as undergraduates. 148 women, consisting of 100 freshwomen and transfer students of other years, entered Princeton on September 6, 1969 amidst a frenzy of media ogling and ribbing. Scores of women’s papers and magazines, like Woman’s Wear Daily, featured articles on what the stylish Princeton freshwoman wore on campus, and practically every woman student was featured in her hometown newspaper.
These photographs were taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt for Life Magazine . Story here.
sadie north
i browse the life archives a bit everyday, and usually find something magical. here is 77 year old sadie north doing a variety of robust activities. women like this symbolise everything that’s good about the world.
sadie riding her bicycle
sadie teaching swimming & first aid
sadie making tapestries (!) & babysitting
sadie playing violin (she also plays the organ) & singing in her church choir
sadie mowing her own flipping lawn.
all images courtesy of the life magazine archives
tennis star
at school we had to do some kind of sport as an extra-curricular activity, as well as regularly playing different sports during PE classes. man. i HATED it… because i was so incredibly terrible at it. i would say things like, “i don’t see the sporty kids being forced to do art!” which obviously didn’t help anything, but as a kid i wanted to exercise my right to complain and winge. now of course i would tell my younger self, “just get on with it. one of these days you’re going to regret not getting all those sporty hours in and building your muscles when you still have the time & energy.”
the only game i was remotely good at was tennis. i actually understood it, and it’s fun to watch. cool uniforms too.
all images courtesy of the life magazine archives
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