This is not just any Autumn/Winter’13 campaign... This is an M&S Autumn/Winter’13 campaign. Goodbye lovely Twiggy and sweet Myleene, step forward Marks and Sparks’s latest line up of successful, creative and independent ladies (*insert preferred Beyonce song whilst reading); Helen Mirren, Grace Coddington, Ellie Goulding, Karen Elson, Darcey Bussell, Katie Piper, Helen Allen, Nicola Adams, Laura Myula, Monica Ali and a very miserable, almost pained, looking Tracey Emin (well, she is more used to mostly wearing Vivienne Westwood after all!) Shot by photographer Annie Leibovitz in various dramatic locations, including on a boat at Tower Bridge (above), this ‘womanist’ (ew!) campaign must have cost a fortune to put together. I can’t help but wonder if something a bit simpler (and maybe a bit smilier?!) may have been more cost effective.
Movie Moment: 'My Week with Marilyn'
In the early summer of 1956, 23 year-old Colin Clark, a movie enthusiast worked as an assistant on the set of 'The Prince and the Showgirl', the film that famously, and turbulently, united Sir Laurence Olivier and Marilyn Monroe. Olivier had hoped this collaboration would help him become a Hollywood movie star, and Marilyn hoped to become taken seriously as an actress.
An insight into a vanished era of filmmaking and the clash that ensued between the two actors was well documented nearly 40 years later in Colin’s diary account, ‘The Prince, the Showgirl and Me,’ but its author purposefully omitted one week’s production... This missing chapter was eventually published some years later as ‘My Week with Marilyn,’ and this film chronicles Colin's life changing week and near affair with the star.
Released on November 25th, the film stars Eddie Redmayne, Kenneth Branagh, Judi Dench, Julia Ormond and Emma Watson - but its main attraction is undeniably Michelle Williams, who according to Vogue ‘brings Monroe to life with heartbreaking delicacy and precision without resorting to impersonation or cliché.’
Below: The trailer for 'My Week with Marilyn'
Michelle spent six months immersing herself in all things Marilyn Monroe; reading biographies, diaries, letters, poems, and notes, studying photographs, listening to recordings and watching her movies. Michelle also trained hard to transform her usually gamine body to achieve that infamous Marilyn wiggle...
Below: The original trailer for 'The Prince and The Showgirl'
Annie Leibovitz shot a stunning set of Marilyn Monroe inspired photographs of Oscar-nominee Michelle Williams for the October issue of US Vogue.
Styled by Tonne Goodman, Michelle wore a retro wardrobe from Donna Karan, Michael Kors, Ralph Lauren and J. Crew.
The actress revealed, “as soon as I finished the script, I knew that I wanted to do it, and then I spent six months trying to talk myself out of it... But I always knew that I never really had a choice... I’ve started to believe that you get the piece of material that you were ready for.”
“I wish that I could play her for the rest of my life...”