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The Fierce and Brilliant Elsa Peretti
AKA: Lessons in How to be a Fierce and Brilliant Woman.
In learning more about the iconic jewelry designer Elsa Peretti through the Netflix series “Halston” I feel that I have made a new friend. I am SO very inspired by her life as a member of an aristocratic wealthy Italian family that, in her words, she “escaped” from — briefly worked as a model and then later became a muse for the designer Halston, who then helped to launch her massively successful and influential jewelry line at Tiffany’s — what a life!
In this wonderful interview from Vogue, Elsa talks about her life and the importance of being independent, not only from her family, but perhaps most importantly, as a woman — defying the cultural ideals of what she refers to as “the fairytale” — marriage and motherhood, she chose instead, herself. She followed her heart, listened to her instinct, and indulged her passions. We should all be so fortunate. I think especially for women, there is so much to be learned from her life: Elsa outlived everyone, it seems, when her own path could have so easily diverged into something far less notable, and again, there is a very important lesson to be learned from this — she not only survived but really truly THRIVED, especially at a time when a single successful woman was NOT the norm, and sadly, I think this is often still very true, it seems.
