In this edition of Vive La Femme, we ask hat designer Gladys Tamez which woman inspires her and why.
Gladys Tamez: I’m inspired by the artist Lee Miller because she was fearless in all that she did. She was courageous and undeterred artistically, socially and professionally.
A leader in the pre war avant-garde with diverse, stimulating and creative friends like Jean Cocteau, Picasso, Man Ray and Paul Eluard. She was at the vanguard of paradigm shifting ideas like surrealism and modernism
As a war corespondent and photographer for Vogue she traveled with Allied soldiers for four years as they liberated Europe and her beloved Paris. During these years she witnessed horrible things but always brought a formal appeal to her images that engaged the viewer and preserved the humanity and dignity in her subjects.
She also transcended what it meant to be feminine and could embrace her masculinity without ever losing her glamour. She could get dirty and make cleaning up an iconic event.
She was both a muse and an artistic giant in her own right who refused to be put in box by anybody. She was true to herself and her own definition of what it means to be a woman all the while never losing her sense of humor and passion for beauty.
These pillars of wisdom: beauty, work and love are the three legs of the stool that inform and inspire me as person and as a designer. Lee Miller is an icon for the ages.