Sighs and Whispers

Barbara Nessim is an artist, teacher, and creative visionary. She joins host Laura McLaws Helms to discuss all aspects of her life, work and creative process. From the personal—her childhood in a Jewish neighborhood in the 1940 and 50s, through life as a single woman making her way in New York in the 60s and 70s, a later marriage and her decision not to have children—to the artistic—her inspirations, mentors, how she developed her unique and instantly recognizable style, her early adoption of computer art and more.

For full show notes, episode resources and a slideshow of photographs, head to https://sighswhispers.com/ episode-21-barbara-nessim

Produced and hosted by Laura McLaws Helms

Featured Guest Barbara Nessim

This week on LADY’s After Hours, fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms meets with dancer, choreographer and director Martha Clarke—known for transcending dance and theater to make deeply evocative moving spectacles of beauty steeped in history. After studying at Julliard, dancing with Anna Sokolow’s company, having a baby and moving to Rome, Clarke became a founding member of the highly innovative dance troupe Pilobolus in 1971. Her own work from 1980 on was noted for its dreamlike quality—nonlinear, they invite the viewer into an illusory world of fantasy. The most famous of her works is 1984's The Garden of Earthly Delights. A wonderful introduction to Martha Clarke as well as an in-depth exploration into her remarkable life and oeuvre. Marriage, love, children, family, friendships, and collaborative working relationships—she speaks openly about all of these subjects, in addition to elucidating her creative process and the meanings behind her works.

For full show notes, video clips, episode resources and a slideshow of photographs, head to ladyworld.tv/after-hours-martha-clarke

Produced and hosted by Laura McLaws Helms

Featured Guest Martha Clarke

This week on LADY’s After Hours, fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms meets with Veronica Vera. Opening up about her multifaceted career as a sex journalist, porn star, erotic model, prostitutes’ rights activist, co-founder of the first porn star support group, and the head of the world’s first cross-dressing academy, Veronica is incredibly insightful about the effect that her sexual awakening had on her life and choices. This intimate conversation covers everything—love, sex, porn, the creative process, writing, art, New York from the 1960s to now, AIDs, death and friendship.

For full show notes, episode resources and a slideshow of photographs, head to https://ladyworld.tv/after-hours-veronica-vera

Produced and hosted by Laura McLaws Helms

Featured Guest Veronica Vera

This week on LADY’s After Hours, fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms meets with photographer and filmmaker Robert Farber. Rising to prominence as a nude and fashion photographer in the mid-to-late 1970s, Farber is known for his signature soft focus aesthetic which he developed by experimenting with different films, filters and development processes with the goal of creating a painterly effect on film. With an innovative approach that produced atmospheric images tinged with nostalgia, since 1976 Farber has balanced highly successful careers in both the fine art and commercial photography worlds. A must listen for anyone interested in photography, Robert shares openly about his life, creative process and the many paths his career has taken.

For full show notes, episode resources and a slideshow of images, head to https://ladyworld.tv/after-hours-robert-farber

Produced and hosted by Laura McLaws Helms

Featured Guest Robert Farber

This week on LADY’s After Hours, fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms meets with makeup artist, hairstylist, interior decorator and gallery owner Rick Gillette. Passionate about beauty and transformation, Rick arrived in NYC in the late 1960s. In great detail, Rick vividly brings to life the many worlds of New York—from downtown hip salons to luxury fashion magazines to the gay scene. Soon a star makeup artist and hairstylist, Rick was a favorite with famous photographers like Richard Avedon and Irving Penn. In the late 1980s he shifted his career to photography, before later focusing on interior design. Since 2013 he has run a gallery in the town of Hudson in upstate New York, which combines fine art, lighting, and furniture in a light-filled 3000 sq. foot space, perfectly curated by Rick. A must listen for anyone interested in the fashion world of the 1960s through 90s, and for anyone interested in beauty (in all of its manifestations).

For full show notes, episode resources and a slideshow of images, head to https://ladyworld.tv/after-hours-rick-gillette

Produced and hosted by Laura McLaws Helms

Featured Guest Rick Gillette

This week on LADY’s After Hours, fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms meets with illustrator and doll creator Mel Odom. An acclaimed illustrator known for utterly captivating and totally unique drawings suffused with a beauty and mystery that were unmatched, Mel worked extensively in the 1970s and 1980s for publications like Playboy, Time, Viva, OMNI, and Blue Boy. In 1995 he launched his labor of love—Gene Marshall, a fashion doll based on classic Hollywood starlets, who took the toy world by storm. Now focused primarily on painting, Mel is a total Southern gentleman and a joy to speak with. A must listen for anyone interested in art, New York in the 1970s and 80s, the gay experience during the early years of AIDs, and dolls.

For full show notes, episode resources and a slideshow of images, head to https://ladyworld.tv/after-hours-mel-odom

Produced and hosted by Laura McLaws Helms

Featured Guest Mel Odom

This week on LADY’s After Hours, fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms meets with photographer and filmmaker Willie Christie. A wonderfully gossipy conversation, Willie discusses his career from photo assistant to photographer to commercial director to screenwriter to today. Full of interesting stories and memories about his time as a fashion photographer in the 1970s when he was married to Grace Coddington and shooting primarily for British Vogue, Willie then went on to direct videos for Pink Floyd and have a highly successful commercial directing career that spanned decades.

For full show notes, episode resources and a slideshow of images, head to https://ladyworld.tv/after-hours-willie-christie

Produced and hosted by Laura McLaws Helms

Featured Guest Willie Christie

This week on LADY’s After Hours, fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms meets with make-up artist Barbara Daly.

Barbara’s long and illustrious career includes working with such photographic greats as Helmut Newton, Barry Lategan and Norman Parkinson, in addition to designing the makeup looks for two of Stanley Kubrick’s films, ‘A Clockwork Orange’ and ‘Barry Lyndon.’ She then went on to found her own beauty school and launch two cosmetics brands, but her most famous work was doing Princess Diana’s make-up on her wedding day in 1981.

For full show notes, episode resources and a slideshow of images, head to https://ladyworld.tv/after-hours-barbara-daly

Produced and hosted by Laura McLaws Helms

Featured Guest Barbara Daly

This week on LADY’s After Hours, fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms meets with acclaimed photographer Tony Vaccaro.

Now 96, Tony Vaccaro is a legend in the photography world. Drafted into WWII at age 20, he brought his 35 mm camera with him to the frontlines in Europe—vividly capturing all aspects of an infantryman’s life: the chaos, the boredom, the destruction, the death. Tony stayed on in Europe after the war, documenting the reconstruction, before returning to New York where he established himself as a very in-demand fashion and celebrity photographer for Life and Look magazines. To all of his work he brought a love of symmetry and a deep humanity.

For full show notes, episode resources and a slideshow of images, head to https://ladyworld.tv/after-hours-tony-vaccaro

Produced and hosted by Laura McLaws Helms

Featured Guest Tony Vaccaro

This week on LADY’s After Hours, fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms meets with acclaimed fashion journalist Marylou Luther. Opening up about her seven decades writing about fashion, Marylou discusses her leap from small-town Nebraska to covering fashion for the Des Moines Register, the Chicago Tribune, the LA Times and McCall’s, meeting Christian Dior, her friendship with Edith Head, and how she balanced a strong family life with a fast-paced career.

For full show notes, episode resources and more about Marylou, head to https://ladyworld.tv/after-hours-marylou-luther

Produced and hosted by Laura McLaws Helms

Featured Guest Marylou Luther