Glamour

According to the Oxford and Webster’s dictionaries, the term glamour means charm, prestige, thus a “glamorous” person is fascinating, enchanting, and attractive. The word derives from the Scottish term gramarye, which means magic. Nowadays it is the synonym for style and seduction, it is reminiscent of someone who shines from his own light without excesses. Beauty helps, but an ‘ugly’ person can also have glamour. Above all it is a matter of personality. Obviously the eye and culture of who’s looking and judging never gives a unique response. Marilyn Monroe was, for some, sexy but not glamorous. For others, she matched both ‘virtues’. Just a few divas meet everyone’s agreement. For example, Gene Tierney. Looking at the 20th century, some writers and artists can be considered rather glamorous, for example Francis Scott Fitzgerald, Man Ray, and André Breton. In the 1950s and 1960s Franµoise Sagan and Georges Simenon, in the 1980s Andy Warhol and Richard Avedon. If glamour accompanies elegance, then the following can be added to the group: Marlene Dietrich, Louise Brooks, Wallis Simpson, Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Ali Khan, Paloma Picasso, Lady Diana, and Gianni Agnelli. Many Hollywood personalities, especially from some films that are now part of history, belong to the ‘glamorous’ category: Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca (1942), Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), Ava Gardner in The Barefoot Countess (1954), Grace Kelly in A Perfect Murder (1954), Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman in Cat on the Tin Roof (1958), Marilyn Manson in Let’s Make Love (1960), and Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast At Tiffany’s (1961). The following European performers should be mentioned: Brigitte Bardot in Et Dieu créa la femme (1956), Jean-Paul Belmondo in A bout de soufflé (1960), Alain Delon in Gattopardo (1963). Characters can also be glamorous off the set, such as Jack Nicholson, Sean Connery, Marcello Mastroianni, Robert Redford, Harrison Ford, and George Clooney. For the females: Catherine Deneuve, Claudia Cardinale, Sharon Stone, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Nicole Kidman. Some top models have glamour, such as Naomi Campbell, Elle MacPherson, Linda Evangelista, and Carla Bruni. Finally, some sport personalities can be added to this curious list: Tazio Nuvolari, Michel Platini, Vitas Gerulaitis, John McEnroe, Michael Jordan, and Zinedine Zidane.