"The More It Changes The More It Stays The Same!"

I often wonder how fashion houses like Zara and H&M, the number 1 and 2 in the world of pret-à-porter, are able to make almost every season a new collection. Not an easy feat but inspiration has to come from somewhere so when the flow of inspiration is runnning low or even has dried up there is always the past to copy or take as a basis for your next collection! That is what H & M has done in recent past with their spring/summer collection. They copied the flower power style of the end of the 60's and gave it a modern twist. Since a few years H & M has decided for the presentation of their collections to work with the Ukrainian model Daria Werbowy. Personally I do not like her face or body but that is a question of taste! Marisa Mell was photographed by the famous Italian photographer to the stars Angelo Frontoni in the spring of 1969 in Rome, Italy. This picture of Marisa Mell became quite famous and was often used as magazine covers around the world.

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Thanks to Marisa Mell fan Gerald S. from Krefeld (Germany) for sending me these pictures and pointing this one out!

Tee with Marisa Mell at Zara's in Graz!

Although Marisa Mell left us almost 20 years ago, and not being that famous like other actresses like Marilyn Monroe who have also gone to the other side, she is still, as I have often written, very present in the conscience of a group of people, mostly those who are fascinated with Eurocult movies, especially the Italian ones or who are working in the creative business like movies, television, art or... in this case the fashion industry. So it was nice to see that the global Spanish fashion house "Zara" sold this spring 2011 in her stores a black T-shirt with the image of Marisa Mell on front of it.

The image on the T-shirt comes from the 1969 giallo movie "Una Sull' Altra" directed by cult director Lucio Fulci with Jean Sorel and Elsa Martinelli as the other protagonists next to Marisa Mell. As you can imagine the image of a kneeling Marisa Mell in front of Jean Sorel trying to open his trousers' zipper to have oral sex was, and still is, one of the most shocking images to be seen in this movie, lobby card or billboard even at the end of the 60's when the sexual liberation in the Western world was in full swing. It was not a sight that was often seen in a movie at that time even in any kind of movie! You had to wait untill the 1972 X-movie "Deep Throat" with Linda Lovelace to take it to a new level in oral erotica on the silver screen.

So powerfull was this image that the American distributor of the movie changed the title into "Perversion Story" to accommodate the image with a appropriate titel. Thus making this film look like a very sleazy movie. Everything for the box office!

With or without a sleazy title the movie did very well in the world and is now regarded among giallo fans as one of the top 10 movies of the genre!

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Thanks to Jochen from Graz for pointing this one out in his home town. Jochen is a big Eurocult fan covering every aspect of the genre. He is also closely connected to a phantastic site called:

www.deliria-italiano.de

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The image of Marisa Mell on the tram was not in Graz but was a photo composition made by me with a tram photographed in Amsterdam.

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The photo of Marisa Mell used on the tram to make the photo composition was sent to me by André Schneider from Berlin! Thanks buddy!