As I sniff my way through a new array of ten fragrances from Balenciaga, there’s an image I can’t get out of my head.
It’s a famous black-and-white photograph by Richard Avedon titled “Elise Daniels with Street Performers,” taken in 1948. You know the one. In it, Daniels, who was an iconic fashion model of the era, stands in the middle of a street, surrounded by what appears to be a circus troupe. On a table in front of her, a contortionist is enacting a backbend so extreme his head is popping out from between his shins. But Daniels, coolly nonchalant and perfectly poised in a wasp-waisted Balenciaga jacket and skirt, isn’t looking at him—she’s gazing off into the distance. She may be a participant in this tableau (for what is fashion but performance?), but her innate elegance elevates her somewhere above and beyond it.
