Style Icon: Amelia Earhart
30/11/2011 § 8 Comments
“The best things of mankind are as useless as Amelia Earhart’s adventure. Such persons…prove that man is no mere creature of his habits, no mere automaton, no mere cog in the collective machine but that in the dust of which he is made there is also fire, lighted now and then by great winds from the sky.” –Walter Lippmann
“Please know that I am aware of the hazards. I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be a challenge to others.” –Amelia Earhart
Amelia Earhart (July 24, 1897 – disappeared in 1937) is arguably the most famous aviatrix in history. The first woman to cross the Atlantic solo, and only the second person to do it successfully, the notoriety from Earhart’s many feats in the air were trumped only by the mystery surrounding the loss of her plane while she attempted to circumnavigate the globe in 1937. (You can read the article about her disappearance that ran in the July 19, 1937 issue of LIFE Magazine here, it also has a great photo-log of the trip. It’s been my goal to find this issue to add to my collection, but no such luck yet.)
I have long been an admirer of Earhart’s adventuresome spirit, tenacity and courage — and also her wardrobe. Her staples: a perfect pleated trouser, a crisp dress shirt, a pretty scarf, a well-worn bomber jacket and hardworking boots. Her signature elements: a bit of tousled hair, a scrubbed-clean face, a devil-may-care attitude, and an endearingly scrunched-up Mona Lisa smile.
“Adventure is worthwhile in itself.” –Amelia Earhart
Smithsonian curator Dorothy Cochrane and aircraft restorer Karl Heinzel discuss early aviation, aeronautical technology and Earhart’s Lockheed Vega, the plane she crossed the Atlantic in, which is on display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
Quite Continental 
Hi, I was wondering if you could tell me where you found the third picture from the bottom please?
Hi Sean, unfortunately I don’t have the source for that photo, as the images were from a collection I’ve been keeping for some time.
[…] on quitecontinental.net Share this:TwitterFacebookLike this:LikeBe the first to like […]
Mariah, Are you thinking of making a picture book of your photos and possible stories you have found about Amelia. I think it would be wonderful…..a coffee table book perhaps. Thank you – these are wonderful, she was a great treasure, a super woman.
Hi Ted! I agree, that would be so much fun to work on!
[…] Source […]
[…] Amelia Earhart via Quite Continental […]
[…] via quitecontinental.net […]