THE BIG ANNOUNCEMENT....

HAPPY 107th BIRTHDAY ELEANOR LAMBERT!

Today I have a big announcement to make... I have been excited to share the news for a few days now but strangely enough... everything did not fall into place officially until just a few hours ago... right before the clock ticked to August 10th which is Miss Lambert's 107th birthday! For those of you new to the EMPRESS of FASHION blog, scroll down and read the very first post and learn all about Miss Lambert's belief in the number 7....

I have been working to produce an online documentary that will give an in-depth look at the incredible life of Eleanor Lambert and today I am excited to announce that the Eleanor Lambert: Empress of Fashion pilot episode has been funded! We immediately start pre-production this week and will be filming during New York Fashion Week this September!

I want to thank Lidia Jimenez-Vilabella for kindly underwriting our initial pilot! Muchas Gracias Lidia!

In the days and weeks to follow I will be introducing you to the whole team - that is the Brainchild Films production team -- headed up by award-winning director Robert Jason. The team and their list of projects and awards is truly impressive -- but more importantly they share my incredible passion to tell Miss Lambert's story.

In the next few days I will be posting the preview trailer of the project, so keep checking back! And as always, I look forward to your comments and feedback!!

I would also like to thank my friend Andy Morris for suggesting that I blog and of course Eleanor Lambert who showed me that persistence does pay off. Unfortunately, Andy and Miss Lambert never met, but I am sure she would have approved of his advice as well as his chic art-filled offices!

A DIAMOND OR A YACHT?

"The Mouna" - the world's largest yellow diamond

Imagine having a diamond named after you – but not just any diamond – how about the world’s largest yellow diamond! Well, that is exactly what Mouna Ayoub had…

The Mouna Diamond is a 112.53-carat, intense yellow diamond. Since November 1995, it was the largest yellow diamond ever to have been graded by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA). This cushion-shaped stone measures 26 mm in diameter and was set by Bulgari in a baguette-cut mount.

It is still called the Mouna Diamond, even though it was sold by Christie's in Geneva for $3.2 million in 1998.

And just what did Mouna do with those proceeds from the sale of her diamond?

The Phocea

Phocea on the high seas

Mouna Ayoub bought a yacht... but not just any yacht -- Phocea was the world’s largest sailing yacht until 2004. Mouna spent over $24 million transforming it -- including major interior and exterior upgrading throughout. The interior contains living and accommodation areas with wood paneling, and some furniture by Viscount David Linley.

What would you rather have -- a diamond or a yacht?

MORE MOUNA....

Mouna Ayoub

The beginning of Mouna Ayoub's story sounds happy enough. But as she goes on to write in her book -- La Vérité, or The Truth (Publisher Michel Lafon), an autobiography that shot to the top of France's bestseller lists in 2000, her 18-year marriage to a Middle Eastern billionaire was no fairy tale. It was a juicy picture of Saudi Arabia's super-rich oil sheiks, she recounts how she was seduced by all the baubles that money could buy, only to discover herself living in a gilded cage, trapped by a male-dominated desert society with zero tolerance for modern women. Her complaints — which she made public during a bitter divorce dispute — may not surprise anyone familiar with Saudi customs that, for example, require women to be veiled from head to toe and forbid them from driving cars. But seldom have outsiders been treated to such a scathing, firsthand account of Arabia's unhappy wives.

Ayoub acknowledges that she owes her extravagant lifestyle in part to the wealth of her husband, whom she gives the pseudonym Amir Al-Tharik in the book. He made a fortune building hotels, conference centers and mosques on government contracts.

French Best-Seller Le Verite by Mouna Ayoub

But if her tale provides a rare look at the extravagance often wrought by unimagined wealth, it also serves as a disturbing manifesto against the extreme restrictions imposed on women by some ultraconservative Arab societies.

Soon after they wed, she says, her husband overheard her laughing with foreign male guests at a dinner party in Saudi Arabia. From across the room, according to Ayoub, he thundered, "Shut up!" Sometimes Ayoub's attempts to circumvent the traditions that keep Saudi women wrapped up were comical: once, in Tunisia, she disobeyed her husband's edict not to leave the hotel, only to run into him at a china shop, where his colleagues did not recognize her because they had never seen her unveiled before. During summers on the family yacht, she would venture ashore disguised as a member of the crew.

From the Article in TIME EUROPE, July 31, 2000 "What Money Can't Buy" By Scoot Macleod

COUTURE! COUTURE!

Mouna Ayoub, LIFE Magazine

When Miss Lambert arrived in Paris, she joined up with her friend Mouna Ayoub...

Mouna Ayoub's interesting story starts off like this:

A beautiful young woman goes from her life in Lebanon to Paris, the city of romance. Soon she meets a tall, dark, handsome and wealthy man who, professes undying love and devotion. Soon she is swept away to live in a far-off land (Saudia Arabia), lavished with the most amazing jewels (the world's biggest jewels), surrounded by servants and blessed with children.

Well, that is how the story starts....

COUTURE!

YSL Couture, July 1995

YSL archives

I thought this image was so incredible... that it could completely stand alone.

Miss Lambert was in Paris to attend the Couture shows taking place in July.

More to come on the Paris Couture... including Miss Lambert's new friend who joined her in Paris...

TO PARIS...

I promise to have a few more dedicated posts about the amazing Sybil Connolly.

After Dublin, Miss Lambert headed to PARIS.

Can anyone take a guess what Miss Lambert did in Paris??

OFFICIAL WHITE HOUSE PORTRAIT

First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy

Official White House Portrait

Dress by Sybil Connolly