Ugly Betty

Image via WikipediaImagine if Cinderella was a girl who worked in the office of a publishing magazine, forever waiting for her fairy godmother and her chance to meet prince charming.

That may be the gist of Ugly Betty, but its true beauty lies beneath its surface. Starring newcomer America Ferrera (from the The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants) as the title character Betty Suárez, the show sets itself apart from other shows by displaying an extremely broad sense of humour. But this is more of a dramedy than it is comedy, as Betty soon realises that she is in a difficult and testing world, being surrounded by chic, self-declared style gurus.

She may not live up to their standards of beauty, but as a person she may be the fairest in the land. This fact is discovered by her boss, editor-in-chief of MODE Magazine, Daniel Meade (played by Eric Mabius) who initially dismissed Betty as a nobody. But soon he begins to see her worth and decides to keep her around anyways. But not everyone takes a liking to Betty so easily, as is the case of receptionist and prankster Amanda Sommers (Becki Newton) and Marc St. James (Michael Urie), who try their best to humiliate Betty every chance they get.

The show is not an original, in fact it is adapted from a popular Columbian TV show, called “Yo soy Betty, la fea (I Am Betty, The Ugly One)”. The show has also been adapted as an Indian soap, “Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin” which also saw some success with our audiences.

Whatever the version, Ugly Betty is comedy show with an acute sense of humour laced with drama that will surely touch everyone’s hearts. Season one and two are now out on DVD but currently only the first season is available with special features.

(This review was published in the 12th June, 2008, edition of Dawn, The Review)

YSL in Film...

Fashion giant Yves Saint Laurent passed away on June 2, 2008. Yves may not be with us today, but his influence will continue to live on. Not just through his work for the masses but also in the people, music and movies that have been influenced by him.

Yves Saint Laurent, a shy introverted person, brought about an extroverted change in the very weave of the fabric and the cut of the costume. Yves believed that the actor was the soul of the character that he or she portrayed and the costume its vessel or body. It played as much a part in creating that sense of belief for the audience as the actor did. At the age thirteen he attended a performance of L'Ecole des femme staged by Louis Jouvet and with sets and costumes by Christian Berard, the young French designer’s fascination began. The door to his future had been opened.

Count Hubert de Givenchy had already treaded onto the silver screen earlier with the 1954 romantic comedy, Sabrina. Though Givenchy would establish Audrey Hepburn in the now classic film as a sort of unearthly and unattainable beauty, Yves Saint Laurent would bring that fleeting sense of beauty within the reach of every woman.

His tryst with the silver screen began in 1963 with Blake Edward’s The Pink Panther. Yves Saint Laurent was hired to create wardrobes for the beautiful Claudia Cardinale and Capucine, and his designs impressed critics and audiences. Though the general audience may have overlooked the designs and wardrobe, the fashion world stood up and took notice.

He was 17 when he started working for a fashion house and at 24, still at House Dior, he started designing costumes for movies. It was however with The Pink Panther that he truly branched out with his own name and flair. He would go on to design fabulous wardrobes for Leslie Caron in A Very Special Favor and Jean Seberg in Moment to Moment.

In 1966, Spanish director Luis Buñuel hired Yves Saint Laurent for his motion picture Belle de Jour. In it Yves found his muse in the form of actress Catherine Deneuve. The friendship they formed on the set of the film was to last a lifetime, Deneuve would go on to model for the designer and her physical demeanor became the base of all his designs. In turn, the actress insisted on wearing only Yves Saint Laurent dresses for her movies, she would don his creations in such films as La Chamade, Mississippi Mermaid, Liza, Un flic and The Hunger. Yves Saint Laurent’s distinct fashion sense and Deneuve’s sense of character complemented each other in a marriage of beauty and temperament.

However, it is not just the world of cinema, music and fashion that have felt his influence. His largest influence has brought women onto the same level of power as men. Women like Hillary Clinton, for example, exude a sense of confidence and power that is helping them to possibly become the single most powerful person on the planet. What has given her that sense of power and prestige? Her trademark business suit. In actuality, it wasn’t even Yves Saint Laurent that brought the suit to the women, it was Coco Chanel. Yves Saint Laurent made the suit an every woman’s suit.

So whether it’s the business woman walking down the street or the lavish design in a motion picture, the legacy of Yves Saint Laurent continues to live on.

The Fashionable Algerian: The Man Who Knew What Women Wanted.

Designs in fashion come and go. Like the passing of a season, when the colors of nature change, so do the colors of fashion in the changing of trends. The industry and the nature of fashion itself are so volatile that the change can be either a slight tremor which overwhelms the present or a violent tsunami that erodes the landscape of fashion.

Through it all, there are very few constants. Fashion giant Yves Saint Laurent is such a constant. No matter how far the industry expands, such is the scope of his work that it will never escape his shadow or legacy.

The son of an insurance company president, Yves Henri Donat Dave Mathieu-Saint-Laurent left home at the age of 17 and found his calling in the world of fashion. He arrived in Paris with a portfolio of design sketches which was quickly swept up by Vogue editor Michel de Brunoff. The editor published the sketches and recommended the young Algerian to Christian Dior who ultimately hired him as an assistant.

His tenure at Dior was to weave his future in fashion, almost immediately after the death of Dior in 1957; a young Yves was put in charge of the faltering fashion house. With his flair for the excess and bravado, Yves managed to please and outrage House Dior during his short tenure there. Ages before John Galliano and Alexander McQueen he was considered fashion’s enfant terrible and years before designers like Calvin Klein and Tom Ford pushed the envelope between fashion and obscenity, Yves was shaking the sensibilities of the fashion world.

In 1960, things took a drastic turn and Yves was drafted into the French Army. Though his time there was short, it was excruciating painful for the shy Algerian, and his comrades in the army looked for every excuse to torture and tease him.

Two months later, having suffered a mental break down, Yves returned to fashion and it would be this stretch between the 60s and the 70s that he would truly leave his mark. Fashion historian Valerie Steele commented, “Most people would be lucky enough to leave a single contribution.” Yves’ contributions would literally shape the history of modern fashion. He went on to popularize a sensibility that was bohemian-chic, ultimately giving way for the hippie aesthetic that would come later on.

He drew inspiration from cultures around the world, welcoming such vastly different influences such as the traditional prints of Africa to Russian folkloric costumes. It wasn’t just culture and influence that he welcomed, Yves broke boundaries in all aspects of fashion. The designer was the first to use colored models on his runway, not as a gimmick but symbolizing them as unattainable beauty, valid and as enticing as any other. This move was bold and audacious, considering the times.

Yves was part of a quartet of designers, along with Christian Dior, "Coco" Chanel and Paul Poiret, who revolutionized, revitalized and reshaped the word of fashion. Without Yves ready to wear would not be what it is today.

Perhaps the single most powerful expression as a result of that is the woman’s suit. Of course the most Iconic of these is the Le Smoking tuxedo suit. Created in 1966, the suit established a minimalist, almost androgynous, style for women which put them on the same level of power as men.

His epitaph will not be written in stone or in words. Though the tributes are pouring in from all walks of life, from politicians to fashion gurus and from the world of music and film, none of these will do his work any justice. Instead his epitaph will be the dresses that fill the closets around the world and the stride put into the step of every woman through his designs. Yves Saint Laurent’s fashion gave freedom to women and it was Yves Saint Laurent himself who gave them the power to express that freedom.

The designer retired from the industry in 2002 and expressed his alienation at the current trends and industry. At the same time he fought a personal battle with depression and prescription drugs, which he came out of stating, "I've known fear and terrible solitude. Tranquilisers and drugs, those phony friends. The prison of depression and hospitals. I've emerged from all this, dazzled but sober.''

Yves Saint Laurent, one the top designers of the 20th century, died on June 2, 2008 in Paris.

(This Obit was originally published in the June 8th, 2008 edition of DAWN, Images.)