Inspirational Icon Monday: Ginger Rogers

As a child, I took dance with Maureen Haley (she was a back-up dancer for Bobby Brown) at the YMCA in Palo Alto with the intention of someday being able to float across the dance floor a la Ginger Rogers. I probably saw every Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers movie she had ever done and was always mesmerized by what appeared to be effortless skill. Effortless it was not. Fred Astaire said, "Ginger had never danced with a partner before. She faked it an awful lot. She couldn't tap and she couldn't do this and that...but Ginger had style and talent and improved as she went along. She got so that after awhile everyone else who danced with me looked wrong." Astaire, her dance partner of 10 1930's films, choreographed each dance routine and required a grueling rehearsal schedule from Ginger. With a little bit of hard work and a lucky break at age 19 (she was cast in her break-out role in Girl Crazy), Ginger was able to fake her way into stardom. Never did she have to fake style though. She had a look that was both elegant and innocent...one that I love to this day.

My version of Ginger Roger's big bow tie look--I did mine by tying a long vintage scarf into a bow. It makes for an interesting alternative to the everyday necklace.