Friday, July 22, 2011

CHARLOTTE AND THE BROUGH

Charlotte Poutrel models RL on a Brough Superior SS101 'TE Lawrence Replica'

Last November, French actress Charlotte Poutrel made her acquaintance with a new Brough Superior SS101 at Pinup Studios, Paris, during a photo session with NewYorkParis director Yves J Hayat.  It was a natural moment to borrow a Brough, immediately after the Men's File/Ralph Lauren party at the flagship RL store on Blvd St Germain, and RL provided Charlotte's wardrobe for the shoot.  Certainly, the two beauties complemented each other on the rotating turntable, strobes flashing, portending future papparazzi as Charlotte's star begins to rise. 

Ms Poutrel makes her US screen début in 'Sarah's Key', a film based on Tatiana de Rosnay's novel about the roundup of Parisian Jews in 1942, not by the Gestapo, but by the French police, who herded thousands into the Vel' d'Hiv cycledrome (think post-Katrina New Orleans Superdome, with a far more sinister outcome).  Its a disturbing and little-known piece of French history, and the popular book became a film by Gilles Paquet-Brenner, with a US release this week (I saw the film in Paris months ago).  Charlotte plays the adult Sarah, tragically unable to release her past and family....and of course, she's luminous on screen (and charming in person). You've seen her before on The Vintagent, as she was the mystery muse in my 'Chained Love' poem last February.

Top photo c.2010 NewYorkParis