The Power of Marilyn Part 2

This ceramic Monroe (available at FuntoCollect.com) doesn't embody the force.

So the question remains, if Marilyn Monroe exists more of a force or embodiment of sex, (a powerful, playful sex), than how do you harness that force to resuscitate your home decor the same way that Lindsay Lohan (and countless others) used it to resuscitate their careers?

The way to bring Marilyn into your decor is not through literal interpretation (i.e. velvet paintings, figurines, posters, dolls, keychains). Madonna and Anna Nicole hit us over the head with their comparisons as if to say, "It's me, Marilyn." But while they nailed the look (again, Musto did a pretty good job, so it's not difficult), they missed the essence.


Velvet paintings are very popular in some areas of the country and in certain populations . . . kind of like MRSA. This one is available at www.velvetpaintings.com.


This painting, by Robin Cheers, is beautiful but I don't think it's meant to embody Marilyn's force as much as to contemplate it. Cheer's beautiful work is available at http://www.dailypainter.com.

Lohan's recent portrayal for New York magazine is more effective because she does seem to become Monroe, while maintaining her own identity. It's artful, an homage, simultaneously more obvious and more subtle than "Material Girl."

Instead, build your room around one piece de resistance, something that embodies the Marilyn force. From there, things will just fall into place; you'll know what to do next.

My suggestion:


Happy Birthday, Mr. President. The dress Marilyn wore that evening.

This lamp, from Baker's Barbara Barry collection, is Marilyn incarnate. I recently spotted it in the Michael Mina, the restaurant at San Francisco's oldest hotel, the Westin St. Francis. Two of them flank the maitre' d stand, which sits at the top of a flight of stairs. The placement of the lamps make you work a little bit. Like Marilyn, the St. Francis is both old-fashioned and breathtakingly modern, sexy and classic. Build your room around this lamp (or one like it). Or make your own.

How would you capture Marilyn's essence? What piece would you build your room around? Email them to me, and I'll spotlight them in an upcoming post.


Michael Mina in San Francisco's Westin St. Francis.

The Power of Marilyn

Marilyn Monroe in "Last Sitting" photos.

Marilyn Monroe continues to create publicity waves and resuscitate careers decades after her death. Lindsay Lohan's recent embodiment of Marilyn's "Last Sitting" for a New York Magazine photo shoot generated a round of generally positive press; even the negative press seems positive when you replace words like "jail" "crack" and "rehab" with "Marilyn" "classic" and "airbru . . . " Um . . . Got it, "sex".

Unlike many young starlets, Lohan's got a certain spark, and if she can ever pull it together, she, of all the bratty tabloid gals, might be a real actor.



Lindsay Lohan channels Marilyn for New York's 2008 fashion issue.

Although her photo shoot was just released a few weeks ago, Lohan is not even the most recent celebrity to follow in Madonna and Anna Nicole Smith's footsteps. The Village Voice's Michael Musto, always a good sport, recently stepped into the role (and quite gracefully I might add). Who channels Monroe's essence more convincingly, Lohan or Musto?

Michael Musto does it best? This guy's got guts (and publicity smarts). See the gallery at the Village Voice.

Marilyn Monroe, long a drag queen icon, is suprisingly easy to mimic, more a character or force than a real and vulnerable young woman (and indeed, she was a creation superimposed onto the very real Norma Jean).

So the question is, if Marilyn exists as a force, can it resuscitate your decor the way it does Hollywood careers? I say yes; the question is how? Velvet paintings just won't cut it.

To be continued . . .


Anna Nicole Smith as Marilyn