Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination at the Met through October 8, 2018  John Galliano for The House of Dior 2005  Photo courtesy of Michael Anderson.

I have always loved angels and cherubs, in fact I collect Christmas angels, I did a post on them, as well as cherubs.  I have a stunning hand-colored photograph of a cemetery angel, one of my favorite fashion show make-up artists gave me when she moved from Chicago (unfortunately too high on my wall to get a good photo to share). Somehow I don’t think of them as religious symbols but rather beautiful uplifting forms.

i was visiting my friend, Barbara Varro, for Memorial Day weekend. She wanted to place flowers on the resting places of her family and I, of course, went with her. Holy Cross Cemetery in Calumet City dates from the late 1890’s and has many amazing monuments.  I have wanted to do a post on Angel Monuments for a long time actually since my trips to Russia and Paris, where I stupidly didn’t take any photos in their renowned cemeteries.  We went to the oldest section of Holy Cross and I found several that caught my interest. Here are a few of them all, as usual, taken with my iPhone.

In addition, I found many images in my Pinterest search that I wanted to include. Photo credits unknown.

The carving is exquisite on each. I could fill pages with these beauties, but let’s explore more.

You knew I’d find a book on the subject here you go, this looks interesting.

An Art Deco figure on the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York.

An Art Deco Cadillac hood ornament…why don’t the cars of today have style!!!!!an An Erte piece an Art Deco angel

Even angel wings on buildings which are showing up on a zillion Instagram selfies. Charming!!!!

I just found this artist on Pinterest and I am obsessed with her work, the detail, the color, the technique….love it all. The artist is Olga Suvorova.

More pieces in the Met exhibition taken by Michael Anderson. The exhibit is in the Met proper, in many galleries, it is the largest Fashion exhibition they have mounted, and at The Clositers.  I hate to say brilliant marketing but I must do so.  To drive the visitor through parts of the Museum they might otherwise neglect is an act of genius and the Met has been doing this with the annual Costume Collection exhibition in various galleries for years.  This is the first time it has taken pieces to The Cloisters…if you haven’t  been there it is a must see with or without fashion….the views are extraordinary and, of course, the perfect setting for the exhibition’s theme.

Thierry Mugler 1984.

Tom + Lorenzo

A digitized scan of the Galliano for Dior gown, the cover of the slip case for the exhibition catalog set.

Katy Perry in Versace at the Met Gala 2018.

Angel fragrance by Thierry Mugler launched in 1992.

One of my all time favorite films the 1996 Michael  with John Travolta, charming and a tear jerker.

Of course, I have to mention Angels in America, the powerful Tony Kushner landmark play first performed in 1991, became a HBO event in 2003 and just won several Tony awards this year for the revival.  Always relevant and particularly so  during Pride Month.  It is an extremely important part of our theater history and when presented during two totally different eras, I think even more thought provoking  I saw the original, devastating, the HBO film, well done but, in my opinion, you need to see the play live, and now the revival with its stellar cast, it has to be amazing.  Times have changed, AIDS no longer the stigma it was….I, like everyone, long for the day when it will be eradicated!

I leave you with The Winged Victory at the Louvre.  Breathtakingly beautiful…..