Modern Muse: Rossy de Palma

Rossy de Palma (born Rosa Elena García Echave; 16 September 1964) is a Spanish actress.

Described by many as a Picasso come-to-life, de Palma broke the rules of beauty in 1988 when she starred in Pedro Almodóvar’s Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown and became a model and muse for designers like Jean-Paul Gaultier, Thierry Mugler, and Sybilla. Her status as an iconic fashion character was further cemented with her role in Robert Altman’s 1994 satirical fashion film Prêt-à-Porter. Today, she is a theater actress, charity spokesperson for the Ghanian Charity OrphanAid Africa, and the face of luxury ad campaigns.

Born in Palma de Mallorca, she was originally a singer and dancer for the band Peor Imposible before being discovered by filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar at a café in Madrid in 1986. He cast her in roles based on her unique, Picassoesque appearance. She is best known for her roles in Almodóvar films like La ley del deseo (Law of Desire), Kika, Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown) and La flor de mi secreto (The Flower of My Secret).

She acts in France and does modeling. She appeared in Robert Altman's Prêt-à-Porter as Pilar. In 2007, she released a perfume line under her name through the French cosmetics company Etat Libre d'Orange. In 2009, she posed nude in an information campaign on breast cancer for the magazine Marie-Claire. She currently lives in France with her two sons.

She was selected to be on the jury for the main competition section of the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.

 

via Wikipedia

Much like Federico Fellini, I have always been fascinated and inspired by faces. Increasingly I feel that society is directing us to become more homogenized through the way we dress and how we decide to express our beauty. I personally see absolutely no redeeming value in spending $200 for sloppy looking jeans and designer t-shirts, spending hours a month keeping up my faux tan (because how dare you think your natural skin color is socially acceptable!), and spending hours and countless $$$ on makeup that gives you that "no make-up" look. It baffles the mind. Because of my dark features and naturally pale skin, when I slick on a deep merlot or blood red lipstick, people automatically assume that it took me an hour to get ready in the morning. I've had people comment on how high maintenance I must be because I wear saturated colors. Honestly, I spend less than twenty minutes a day on my makeup, and I rarely ever go shopping for makeup. In fact, I despise shopping, it drains me. I choose saturated colors because 1) my dark features demand contrast, and 2) I don't see the redeeming qualities of spending valuable time and $$$ on contouring my face (one of the most ridiculous things to do in daily life, in my opinion), bronzing and highlighting, painting on my eyebrows (because, you know, your natural eyebrows aren't socially acceptable either), applying false eyelashes, and using lip colors that look "my lips but better". Its all so pointless. If I take the time out of my day to apply makeup, it might as well be something noticeable!

 Unlike so many blogs these days, this one will not be dedicated to how to be more Parisian, how to perfect contouring your face, or how to perfect that effortlessly unkempt look that is de rigueur. This blog is primarily written for my pleasure, but it is also dedicated to women who love glamour and who are looking for something a little different.The content here will never be neat and sterile, in fact, it may be ugly sometimes. I am not afraid of ugly, because in ugliness there is truth.

Back to Rossy de Palma. I love that she is described as "Picasso come-to-life" - is there any greater achievement than appearing as a living, breathing work of art? Perfect symmetry is often extremely boring. It deeply bothers me that in the society that we live in, if you don't get your teeth fixed, if you feel perfectly adequate with your small breasts, or if you leave the house without a full face of makeup that you are considered "brave". To be an original like Rossy de Palma - isn't that the epitome of beauty?

Comrade Von Pussycat