Monday 2 May 2011

Style Crush: Anna Karina






Danish actress Anna Karina was the darling of French New Wave cinema, and the muse of one of it's foremost directors Jean-Luc Godard. Karina was 17 when she arrived in Paris, and unable to speak French. Living off the streets she got a break while sitting at the cafe Les Deux Magots. She was approached by a woman from an advertisement agency who asked her to do some photos. She soon became a successful fashion model and Coco Chanel helped her come up with the name Anna Karina.

It was through modelling that Godard first set eyes on her.
She wore quite simple clothes, in a slightly dishevelled way and could look both cute and dangerous simultaneously.

Sun-Drenched Grass Banks

We go on a pilgrimage to the country with baskets of food and blankets and honey wine
to lay out and worship the sun and capture her light in our glasses
grass between our toes and river waterfallen on our legs
temporarily forgetting reality and heartbreak (perhaps)
we are drunk on summer and our skin is toffee-coloured
the sweet and bitter skin of fruits in our teeth, seeds, hands and mouths stained by berries
fumbling hands that wander further over and under
broderie anglaise glimpses unseen skin
we are blinded by white light and each other
spilling amber liquid on clavicles and ankles by accident so that it bubbles and froths and cools
we stay in the forest clearing by the waterfall until the shadows stretch over us and the heat fades and brings goose pimples and shivers (of lust or of cold?)
then everything is packed away and shoved into the car, including us
as we crank up the stereo of lazy voices and guitars and silently reflect on our lives