The whole
image shows a scene of pure angelic elegance. Without the back story of the
image you’d think it could be a fashion press shot, which conveys the famous
lobster dress created by Salvador Dali and Elsa Schiaparelli. But as you look deeper
into the history of the image, the model and the location, you become engrossed
by the real story this image conveys.
The
photograph was set up by Wallis Simpson as an attempt to convey a more innocent
appearance toward the public. During the time she was considered a controlling
woman, which I learnt after watching “Wallis and Edward”, a documentary made in
2005 showing the ins and outs of Wallis Simpson’s and King Edward VIII’s
relationship. In the image everything is placed purposely to convey the angelic
icon, that she wanted to show the public she was just a woman in love. She is
holding the pussy willow, which could be a metaphor for the British wildlife
and flowers, as she needed the public not to think of her as a “Tacky” American
but as a “Classy” English woman.
The image
contrasts the combination of the surroundings with her choice of dress. This
dress was created by Elsa Schiaparelli, but the lobster motif was painted by
Salvador Dali. He thought of this as an approach he called “Critical Paranoia”,
symbolically he had thought that this lobster could have represented an
aphrodisiac or a cannibalistic woman, like a “Man Eater”. So as Wallis attempts
to depict this innocent angelic appearance, her dress, much to her blind eye,
conveys a much more sexual message and as a result it slightly defeats the
images purpose, as the lobster is much like a fig leaf reaching up to the
precise part of her anatomy which caused the abdication crisis which came to
head on the 11th of December 1936. They then married in 1937, which
is the same year that this photograph appeared in Vogue, who dedicated an eight
page spread to the photographs.
During the
time they would not have had retouching of photos available so instead of
retouching photos afterwards, they set them up right down to the finest detail
and this is an example of one of them. Her facial expression seems to express a
slight sadness in these images, as if looking into the distance asking for
empathy and an insight into her private life with the King, desperately hoping
for acceptance from both the Royal family and the nation. During the beginnings
of their affair Wallis was married to Ernest Simpson. When King George V passed
away, this gave the throne to Edward, suddenly thrusting them both into the
public eye even more than they already were, thus resulting in newspaper
reports claiming an affair. At the time Wallis’s husband was also having an
affair, which made the decline of her marriage and divorces an “easy” decision
for both parties.
After
reading into and learning about Wallis Simpson, I can understand why she would
want to portray this pure appearance to the public. During the time she spent
running away from the press she received bags of hate letters from the public; women
hated her because of their jealously and men because of her “stealing the King”.
It was seen as an outrage that Edward was to love someone who was not English or
upper class, which to me seems unfair and cruel. In the film, it is asked “Can’t
a man marry whoever he loves?” and the response is “He is not a man, he is the King
“. I have lot of respect for Wallis and Edward after reading into this
photograph. When the photo’s where published in Vogue, they were accompanied by
this quote, “Since I can’t be pretty, I try to look sophisticated”. Vogue
continued to celebrate her style into the Sixties. So although the photo contradicts itself and
did not mend public relations as intended, it is a beautiful portrayal of a woman’s
love that was stronger than any money or power and of a fashion icon.
Poppy xxx
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