Classiq - An online journal that celebrates cinema, culture, style and storytelling.

10 July 2025

In the outpost of Casablanca, the dress code is white

Photo: Humphrey Bogart in “Casablanca”, 1942, directed by Michael Curtiz. Warner Brothers

Rick never sits with his customers. He never sticks his neck out for everyone. He is intently neutral. He owns a nightclub in Casablanca, the Moroccan seaport that, during the Second World War, becomes part of a treacherous refugee trail, where “the fortunate ones threw money, or influence, or luck, so that they might obtain exit visas and scurry to Lisbon, and from Lisbon to the New World”. Casablanca, a crossroads not just for refuges, but for spies, Nazis and the French Resistance. Seeing Bogart in those opening scenes, cigarette in mouth, striding easily through the club and a corrupt world, acting so well and so long without uttering a word, laconic in conventional breaking Black Tie, is seeing the never-dying attraction of classic cinema. His ivory white dinner jacket is quite possibly the most iconic dinner jacket in the history of cinema and the most famous image associated with Casablanca and Humphrey Bogart’s most romantic character.

Practicing another form of neutrality is Louis Renault (Claude Rains), Rick’s friend, the shamelessly corrupt local chief of police and his most loyal customer. He manages to get by, a day at a time, in this shadowy North African enclave. And then “of all the gin joints of all the towns of all the world”, she walks into his one night. She is Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman), Rick’s former lover in Paris, who abandoned him when they were supposed to escape together when the Germans invaded the city. She’s accompanied by her husband, Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), a hero of the resistance. This time, Rick sits with his new customers and Louis.

Rick and Ilsa’s love reignites, and yet they do not remain together. An unhappy ending after Hollywood standards, for most popular American film made during the war that had begun as just another studio picture, based on a little known play, a love triangle in exotic surroundings with an espionage background. But it is particularly this ending, even more so than the emerging image of Bogart as romantic hero after his tough guy stereotyped roles, even more so than Rick and Ilsa’s love story, that is responsible for the film’s endurance.

Photo: Humphrey Bogart and Claude Rains in “Casablanca”, 1942. Warner Brothers

The costumes, especially Rick’s and Ilsa’s, are another reason for why the film stands the test of time. “Miss Bergman was the most un-actressy of all actresses I have dressed,” costume designer Orry Kelly would remember. “Off the screen she wore simple peasant-style skirts and blouses, and always low heels, even with evening dresses. She wore no make-up; her lovely face didn’t need it. The only request she made was to have her hair dressed on the set. She disliked listening to the make-up in the make-up department.” She mainly wears white in the film, the most remembered costume being the white sleeveless jumper and white French sailor sweater in the film’s casbah scene. It was obsessively copied and put out by the New York fashion houses of the time after the film’s release. The simplicity and timelessness of that look conjures up the elegance of the 1940s. But, as Orry Kelly’s words attest to, much credit goes to Ingrid Bergman. She eschewed made-up glamour. She didn’t want to look like everyone else. “I was very fond of Ingrid,” Cary Grant, her Notorious co-star, confessed. “She was an amazing woman… She used no make-up, not even lip rouge. Why don’t more actresses imitate her instead of going the other way? You can tell how secure a woman is by the amount of makeup she uses.” By Truffaut, she was described as “elegant and agonized with Hitchcock, nervous and without makeup with Rossellini, a voluptuous Venus descended to earth with Renoir”. In Casablanca, she has a luminous natural beauty and it’s not because of the spectacular photography. The camera work merely brought it to light.

Photo: Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid in “Casablanca”, 1942. Warner Brothers

“When she wasn’t attending to details concerning the picture, it was Miss Bergman’s home, and mainly her daughter, that seemed to be her chief interest,” Orry Kelly recalled. “I was putting her into a white dinner dress on the sound stage one day, and checking for last-minute changes – the playback machine was playing ‘As Time Goes By’, Bogart’s voice came on, saying, ‘Play it, Sam’. Then the song came on again: “The world will always welcome lovers…’ I can see the lovely alive face of Miss Bergman now, smiling and saying, ‘What a lovely theme.’ The atmosphere on set was not ideal however. One main reason was that the screenplay was being written as they went along and up until the filming of the last scene, they didn’t know who Ilsa would end up with. “I had no idea how I should play the character,” Bergman would remember. “I kept begging them to give me the ending but they’d say, ‘We haven’t made up our minds. We’ll shoot it both ways.’ We did the first ending and they said, ‘That’s good, we won’t bother with the other.’” It played out for the best, making Ilsa’s emotional confusion very believable.

When Ilsa first comes into Rick’s club, she wears white, a long, straight white skirt paired with a structured shirt-sleeved jacket. It beautifully brings out Ingrid Bergman’s statuesque physique and presence, while refraining from being too dressy and trying to keep it realistic for the occasion – Rick’s café, just as Casablanca, is a place of transit, where refugees, regardless of their name and class, stop in their way to another country. The cast was largely from other countries, too, many of its members genuine refugees from the Nazis, with Bogart and his faithful pianist Dooley Wilson almost the only Americans in the film. Even if the filming took place on the backlot of the Warner studios at Burbank, great attention was given to the look, feel, colours, nuances and costumes, and the atmospheric attraction of the exotic storied location.

Orry Kelly observed how “everyone was going to the movies. Everyone saw Hitler’s marching army in the newsreels, but no one did anything about it. Huge, braided and beaded epaulets adorned women’s evening gowns. Was this a histerical display? Both men and women wore the widest and squares of shoulders – a forerunner, a prediction of the squaring of America’s shoulders for the Second World War.” The designer admitted he didn’t approve of the wide shoulder style, and he used it in moderation, as we can see on Ilsa’s looks in the film, and only when requested to do so.

Ilsa’s darkest, most puzzling and elaborated costume is the paisley patterned blouse, worn with a long black skirt. It appears shortly before she pulls a gun on Rick.

The men’s wardrobes were approached differently and Bogart himself had to provide his film costumes, from his white tuxedo, the trench coat and Borsalino hat – the brand has since created a fedora in homage to the actor, lined in elegant satin with one of Bogart’s best-known expressions exclusively engraved on the black leather Moroccan internal band: “Do everything. One thing may turn out right” – for the train station scene in Paris, to the light suit and Panama hat for the bazaar scene. Bogart made personal style into an art form. He was a very smart and well-read man, he struck a chord with men and women alike and he hated the whole “movie star” thing. He thought he was no better than anyone else and that’s how he lived his life. “A man with a tough shell hiding a fine core. […] By showily neglecting the outward forms of grace, he kept inferior men at a distance,” Alistair Cooke is quoted in the book Bogie: A Celebration of the Life and Films of Humphrey Bogart, by Richard Schickel and George Perry.

By now well into his forties and fresh from The Maltese Falcon (1941) fame, “replete with Bogart’s entire panoply: hat, revolver, cigarette, telephone”, as Truffaut described him, and which has just established Bogart’s iconic image and the quintessence of the film noir private eye, hard boiled, cynical, ruthless, courageous, driven by an ethical code that he alone understands and respects, he emerges as a far from perfect and yet incredibly believable, albeit still timelessly cynical, romantic hero of WWII.

Bergman and Bogart teamed well together on screen, although the Bergman’s imposing silhouette presented problems for the camera department, and they had to make sure she didn’t tower over Bogart. Bogie had to wear lifts on his shoes on camera and Ingrid Bergman wore low-heeled sandals (which she personally preferred anyway both on and off screen) and by his wearing white in the opening of the film and further on when she enters the scene, his look doesn’t look slight at all. In appearance, he was the modern hero alright. But “his morality was classic,” in Truffaut’s words. So is Rick’s.

In the outpost of Casablanca, the dress code is white

“I’m Still Here”: In conversation with cinematographer Adrian Teijido

In conversation with film still photographer JoJo Whilden

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23 June 2025

Our summer manifesto, inspired by the movies

Collage, from top left: 1 – image from “Lords of Dogtown”, 2005. Columbia Pictures| 2,3,4 – Classiq Journal

Some are hilarious, some are emotional, some are adventurous, some instantly make you relive the thrill of watching an entire film, some can serve as life mottos and some bottle up the magic of summer or that special feeling of a childhood summer holiday. These movie lines weave together our summer manifesto.

“This road will never end. It probably goes all around the world.” Mike Waters (River Phoenix), My Own Private Idaho

”You gotta approach every day as if it’s your last!” Skip Engblom (Heath Ledger), Lords of Dogtown

“Where’s the goat?” Lex (Ariana Richards), Jurassic Park

“Try laughing. Then whatever scares you will go away.” Tatsuro, My Neighbour Totoro

“I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was 12. Jesus, does anyone?” The writer, Stand by Me

“All this sunshine, day after day, doesn’t seem natural somehow.” Lucy Drayton (Brenda de Banzie), The Man Who Knew Too Much, 1958

“Here’s looking at you, kid.” Rick (Humphrey Bogart), Casablanca

“You’ll come to see that a man learns nothing from winning. The act of losing, however, can elicit great wisdom. Not least of which is, uh… how much more enjoyable it is to win. It’s inevitable to lose now and again. The trick is not to make a habit of it.” Uncle Henry (Albert Finney), A Good Year

“I prefer watching movies on my own.” Marie (Marion Corillard), Les petits mouchoirs (Little White Lies)

“You’re gonna need a bigger boat!” Chief Brody (Roy Scheider), Jaws

“Today’s temperature’s gonna rise up over 100 degrees, so there’s a Jheri curl alert! That’s right, Jheri curl alert. If you have a Jheri curl, stay in the house or you’ll end up with a permanent black helmet on your head fuh-eva!” Mister Señor Love Daddy (Samuel L. Jackson), Do the Right Thing

“Well, we’re not in the middle of nowhere, but we can see it from here.” Louise (Susan Sarandon), Thelma and Louise

“You know what the best age is? I’ll tell you. The age you are, day by day. Until you croak, of course.” Bruno Cortona (Vittorio Gassman), Il sorpasso

“Let me tell you something kid; Everybody gets one chance to do something great. Most people never take the chance, either because they’re too scared, or they don’t recognize it when it spits on their shoes.” “The Babe” (Art La Fleur), The Sandlot

“- I don’t call what I’ve been doing living.
– And what do you recommend for yourself, doctor?
– A holiday.
– For how long?
– As long as I need.
– You mean just to play?
– No. I’ve been working since I was 10. I want to find out why I’m working. It can’t just be to pay bills and pile up more money. Even if you do, the government’s going to take most of it.
– But what is the answer?
– I don’t know. That’s what I intend to find out. The world’s changing out there. There are a lot of new, exciting ideas running around. Some may be right and some may be cockeyed but they’re affecting all our lives. I want to know how I stand, where I fit in the picture, what it’s all gonna mean to me. I can’t find that out sitting behind some desk in an office, so as soon as I get enough money together, I’m going to knock off for a while.”
Johnny Case (Cary Grant) and Linda Seton (Katharine Hepburn), Holiday

“Wide awake. I don’t remember ever feeling this awake. You know what I mean? Everything looks different. You feel like that, too, like you got something to look forward to?” Thelma (Geena Davis), Thelma and Louise

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19 June 2025

In Marrakech, with Hitchcock and his most free-willed heroine

Photo: Doris Day and James Stewart in “The Man Who Knew Too Much”, 1956, directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Paramount Pictures

Only Alfred Hitchcock could make a remake of one of his own films that is better than the original. He famously told François Truffaut that the original The Man Who Knew Too Much, made in England in 1934, was made by an amateur and the remake by a professional. Hitchcock himself wasn’t keen to make remakes of his movies at all, but he owed Paramount a film and he thought that was the film that could be adapted to the present day. The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) was the only film Hitchcock shot on location outside of Europe or the United States. The second part of the film does indeed take part in London, but in the first part, Hitchcock takes us to Marrakech.

These two parts of the movie feel so different though that I have somehow always felt that they could be two different films. And that works beautifully for the final outcome. Marrakech, the attraction of exotic, sunny, colourful Morroco, in perfect contrast with the grey London and the escalating underlying tension and dark plot that’s about to unfold. “All this sunshine, day after day, doesn’t seem natural somehow,” remarks Lucy Drayton, a key English character in the plot. Almost too good to be true. I’ve come to associate it with the lure of the summer, and, once you get to experience it, with the realisation that there’s no such thing as an endless summer, or a perfect summer. And Hitchcock couldn’t have chosen two more contrasting locations. The difference in scenery is definitely very stark once the story gets to London. The suspense however is there from the very beginning, inserted throughout the entire film where you least expect it, a suspense that was brilliantly relieved now and again through the use of humour. And as soon as the film is over, it only urges me to watch it again. With that whirlwind of Moroccan colours and emotions rolling in again.

Jo and Ben McKenna (Doris Day and James Stewart) are on vacation with their son, Hank, in Marrakech. The mother and son had accompanied Ben, who’s a doctor, to a medical convention in Paris, and then they all three have stayed on as tourists in Europe and now Morocco. What starts as a holiday will end up as a nightmare. After witnessing the death of a man disguised as an Arab who manages to pass on a message to Ben McKenna before his last breath, their son is kidnapped and the McKennas have two choices: either they stay silent about what Bernard told them, saving their son’s life, or they tell the police about the plot to assassinate a statesman and lose their son.

James Stewart was one of Hitchcock’s favourite actors. In an interview about the making of the film, Hitchcock’s daughter remembered that the reason Hitchcock liked so much to work with Jimmy Stewart, who he was also friends with, was that Stewart typified the ordinary man. He reminded Hitchcock of himself, just as he reminded the audience of themselves. James Stewart was also a great actor, and, in Hitchcock’s films, he was always at his best. But it is Doris Day who is a pivotal element in the story here, and although I believe that Tippi Hedren will remain the ultimate Hitchcokian heroine, with Eva Marie Saint’s Eve Kendall in North by Northwest a close runner-up, it is Doris Day about whom we can truly say that she is the furthest away from the typical Hitchcockian blonde. Day’s character of Jo (short from Josephine) McKenna is resourceful, observant, outspoken, funny, self-reliant, grounded, warm. She is an excellent performer. In fact, she takes over the entire film. It is Doris Day who fascinates, beyond Hitchcock’s master mind and masterful skills. Furthermore, she takes action, as she is the one who saves her son in the end. Not only that, but we find out that she gave up her musical career in order to raise her son, a decision she wasn’t forced to but wanted to take, being completely responsible for it. But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t think of going back to singing again or that she isn’t sometimes bickering with her husband about it. When she is asked why she is giving up the stage, she dismisses her husband’s explanations and replies: “What my husband is trying to say is that Broadway musical shows are not produced in Indianapolis, Indiana. Of course, we could live in New York. I hear doctors are not starving there either.”

And it is exactly her singing – of her iconic “Que sera, sera” – that she brilliantly uses to lead her son to safety in the now classic climactic scene at the Albert Hall. In The Man Who Knew Too Much, more than in any other Hitchcock films, music is a character, very scarcely yet skillfully used throughout the film, from the very opening titles, to Doris Day’s singing – her display of human emotion, love, desperation and hope when she realises her missing son might hear her, is mesmerising – to the culminating clash of the cymbals, when music truly becomes the story.

It’s a pleasure to get to know Jo McKenna, starting with her modern look in Marrakesh. Although Doris Day’s wardrobe (designed by Edith Head) also includes the tailored grey suit that would be reproduced and pored over by film historians when Kim Novak wore it in Vertigo two years later, in 1958, the shirt dress look Doris Day wears to the market in Marrakech is worth the focus of our attention. First of all, isn’t it a genius invention? A garment imbued with the insouciance of a man’s shirt, only with more length and polish, and, in this fifties version, a cinched-waist and full structure.

But even in this silhouette and buttoned just to the waist, it still carries a feminine-meets-function-meets-tomboy-charm, perfect for the film location. There is nothing more feminine than a piece of clothing thought to be used in the male universe, that has been reshaped on the body of a woman. And yet, the most interesting part of Jo’s outfit may be the white basket bag. It was 1956, long before Jane Birkin popularised her wicker basket. Once again cinema foresaw fashion, but nobody seemed to take notice of this original piece of accessory before the 1960s.

Another look Jo McKenna is wearing in Marrakesh is the floral-print frock she dresses in for dinner with her husband after she sings “Que sera sera” and dances with her son in their hotel room. In the 50s and 60s, Edith Head didn’t use prints much in her costume designs, because she was worried that the picture could be delayed and the prints would look dated. She had used a print two years before, for Grace Kelly’s floral dress in Rear Window and she did it because it served a certain dramatic purpose. It is a look that makes Lisa “more vulnerable, more natural, more foolhearty,” signaling Jeff’s (James Stewart) realisation of how much he loves Lisa. Doris Day’s dress here has all the femininity, elegance and grace that make such a wonderful team with the strength and determination this mother will show just a little later on.

Photos: “The Man Who Knew Too Much”, 1956, directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Paramount Pictures

Revisiting “North by Northwest” and its costumes

“To Catch a Thief”: A matter of mistaken identity and striped jerseys

Posted by classiq in Film, Film costume | | 2 Comments

3 June 2025

“Life, with all its ups and downs, is what fascinates me”: In conversation with Raluca Harabagiu

Photo: Desene cu lumina

How can I be who I am? There is no single answer to that, just as there is no single way to be happy. But it is a question we all should ask ourselves more often. Raluca Harabagiu has asked herself this question and it’s one of the reasons she is such an inspiration for others and for the community she has created. The kind of communities that are the fuel our world needs right now. Life is a great teacher. But we also need people to teach others by example, by not following the voice of opinion of someone else, by living in accordance with what’s important to yourself, by speaking the truth, by never giving up, by walking with your head high, by living in the moment with an awareness of what the present moment requires, by learning and growing after falling, by inviting more calm and beauty into your life, by being successful while remaining humble, by showing strength and vulnerability, by dreaming big on your own terms.

Raluca Harabagiu is a writer. She is a traveller of outer and inner worlds. She takes family time seriously. She remembers to be, live and work with the pace of nature. She is beautiful inside and out.

In our interview, Raluca and I talk about the children’s book that her daughter inspired her to write and which is being released this month in Spain, about the new life she is building with her family in the countryside of Andalusia, our path forward in a fractured world, the book and film to get lost in and find herself again, the women she looks up to and about the definition of style as a reflection of kindness.

Raluca, you are about to publish a book for children, a subject I myself care deeply about. Congratulations! How did that come to be?

Although it may sound cliché, I wrote this book almost six years ago to help myself recover from profound burnout and depression. My inspiration was my daughter, Rita.

Writing is what I do; actually, at my 1-year-old anniversary, I chose, among other objects, a pen. So when my mind was in this dark place, I returned to what I love the most – writing. I didn’t write these stories to publish them; I wrote them because I wanted to put on paper some of the values I wanted to teach my child about: love, empathy, kindness, friendship, gratitude, love for books and curiosity, always wanting to learn and discover new things.

This book is about one of the most important things in the world – Las cosas más importantes en el mundo – for kids to learn and for adults to remind them. And at the same time, it is a tool that can help parents spend some quality time with their kids. Each story ends with a question related to the value the story talks about. So it invites kids and parents to connect, be vulnerable, and be present.

At that time, when Rita was just over a year old, her favourites were books and small toys featuring animals; this is why I chose animals as the main characters in my book.

And I am the kind of person who truly believes that things don’t just happen and that we do meet people for a reason, so I discovered via Instagram Félicia Burciu Chevalier. And we conducted an interview together on my blog, and it dawned on me – Feli, I wrote these stories for kids; would you like to draw the illustrations? She enthusiastically agreed, stating that it would fulfil her longstanding dream.

So she did it; she created exactly the illustrations I wanted for my stories, on paper, in pencil and then painted as well by hand.

It took me a while to think about publishing the book. I was super low with my self-confidence. Therapy helped me a lot with this issue. And after one year or a bit more, I sent the manuscript to a few publishing houses in Bucharest. I am uncertain about the exact timing, as that period was very difficult for me and lasted a few years in survival mode.

I either got no answer or a no, or they said we are too small to publish more books; one said they loved the book and would send a contract, but they never did. So, for about two years, I gave up.

”Writing is what I do.
So when my mind was in this dark place,
I returned to what I love the most – writing.”

Over the past 3 years, I embarked on an incredible journey of self-confidence, self-love, and self-development, which led me to take control of my life and begin dreaming as well as taking action to transform those dreams into reality.

The book was among these dreams. I started to send the manuscript again to some Romanian publishing houses. Some of them did not reply back; two of them said they don’t take books to publish anymore, but the last one—God—thanks God for this response I got. The lady said that they are a small publishing house and they can’t afford, for the moment, to publish more books, but she did not stop with her answer here. She suggested that before I publish a book; I should attend some creative writing classes and read tonnes of children’s literature.

So I said, “Ok, I can cry and feel bad about myself; I can give up again; or I can try to fulfil this dream, like I never thought I could do.” So I translated the stories in English and Spanish. Translating into English came easily to me, but translating into Spanish proved more challenging due to my limited proficiency in the language. I sent the manuscript in Spanish to a Spanish publishing house.

They called me two days later to explain the entire process in case my book is accepted. This was on Wednesday; on Monday, next week, they called and said they loved the book, the idea, how it is written, and the illustrations. The lady who called explained each of the stories and what they loved most about them.

And next month, in June, the book will be published.

This story is about never giving up on your dreams, working hard, and having confidence, and also about how dreams don’t have a border or a language. We aren’t just Romanians, Spanish, or English people; we are all human beings with dreams to fulfil.

What role have books played in your life?

Like for many other people, books serve as a constant source of escape from reality. They also assisted me in fully embracing life and shaped me into a kind, beautiful, and curious woman. But my favourite of all is Man’s Search for Meaning, by Viktor E. Frankl. I read it three times, in different periods of my life. This book helped me strive, improve, and cultivate gratitude.

Can you tell me about this community of beautiful minds and people you’ve been building?

I’ve always had a thing for exceptional people, for aesthetics, for human beings who strive to do good and be the change they want to see in the world. I adore simplicity. I don’t like owning too many material things, but I also adore quality over quantity when it comes to everything in life, every single aspect.

However, because of my admiration for these exceptional qualities, I have often felt like an outsider. So this is the idea behind my blog, my Instagram account, and my community. I felt alone with what I cherished and admired, so I decided to establish my tribe. It was super, super hard at the beginning because I was so, so ashamed to invite women to conduct interviews together for my blog. I felt like I did not matter. Who would read my blog? Who would want to answer my questions? Anca Lungu – we had three interviews for my blog – was among the first amazing ladies who helped me. She believed in my work and the topics I write about.

My blog serves as an international curatorial space where I promote Romanian brands and small businesses while also conducting interviews with women from Romania and Europe in general I deeply admire – women who perform their magic daily, empowering, inspiring, and helping other females transform their dreams into reality and move mountains in this not-so-healthy and friendly international society for girls and women.

I was never the type of woman who only worked for money or for a salary. What I do must have a meaning, a purpose. Therefore, I am working to create a beneficial lifestyle for myself and my family while also empowering other women.

Among many other activities, I am currently organising workshops for women in our small mountain village, in Genalguacil, Spain. I am planning to extend them on the coast and to enlarge the community of women of various nationalities.

“I felt alone with what I cherished and admired,
so I decided to establish my tribe.”

It’s a beautiful day of summer in a little village in Andalusia. How do you spend it?

From Monday to Friday, we are living as simply and quietly as we can. In the morning, I take Rita to school, 1 km by foot, with the mountains as our view. I come home and work until 2 o’clock when it is time for pick-up from school.

Then lunch, work. Each Thursday I hold a workshop with some of the kids from our international tribe here in the village. Once a month, I organise a workshop for women.

I spend my evenings either with Alex, my husband, and Rita or with some of our friends, but as I mentioned earlier, everything is quiet and at a slower pace of life. I struggle with anxiety and multitasking, making it challenging to pause without feeling guilty.

On Saturday, we are going to the city – Estepona and San Pedro – for groceries, meeting my sister and her family, and beach time during the warm season.

For now, it is a balance we adore.

I am often asked about our life in Spain. No matter where you live, life has its ups and downs, but what truly helps us is the constant presence of beauty around us. We spend most of the week in the mountains, while we enjoy weekends by the sea and also appreciate city life. We couldn’t be happier about the decision we made to move here.

”Everything is quiet and at a slower pace of life.
What truly helps us
is the constant presence of beauty around us.”

Can anyone, do you believe, free oneself from the old patterns in which one is deeply rooted?

YES! It is hard; it is painful, but I really believe that after a certain age – 30 and more – it is our responsibility to break those old patterns. We can’t blame others all of our lives.

And to me, as a mother, it is crucial not to pass on the transgenerational traumas to my daughter. It is essential to grow old in the most beautiful way, to keep on changing and blooming.

And I will give you an example. Until my 30s, I had dealt with so much frustration and insecurity. I was obsessed with being seen, valued, and accepted. I was achieving things not for me but for the others not to think I was stupid. I grew up with all this low self-esteem.

Letting go of these old patterns, such as being a people-pleaser, was very difficult for me because I feared that if I expressed my true self, people would not love or respect me. I carried this burden throughout most of my life due to my relationship with my father.

Photo: Desene cu lumina

“After a certain age, it is our responsibility
to break those old patters. It it is essential to grow old
in the most beautiful way, to keep on changing and blooming.”

Is there any book, movie or trip in particular that informed who you are and what you do today?

I am thinking about the book I mentioned earlier, Man’s Search for Meaning, written by Viktor E. Frankl. The movie that comes to my mind now is A Good Year, featuring Russell Crowe and Marion Cotillard. I used to be a workaholic, obsessed with achieving a successful career, until burnout brought me to my knees. And now I am also dreaming of achieving some goals while enjoying life at a slower pace.

Our year in Cognac, France, when we quit everything and moved there because I felt I couldn’t live the way I was, changed our lives forever. We learnt that, despite loving Romania and having “everything” in Bucharest, we do not belong there. This experience also taught me that I am so much stronger than I could ever think about myself and that I can do good and be valued, seen, and heard in other countries by people of various nationalities and cultures. It showed me that I am so much more than I used to believe after almost 30 years of life.

And one more thing: each of these three – the movie, the book, our French year – they all taught me that I am not the kind of person who is satisfied with living in a comfort zone. I really prefer the failure instead of the what-ifs.

Do people make the place?

Always! In Romania, we each had our own “bubble” — our tribe. The only difference here is that we don’t have Romanian friends, but we do have international friends of Spanish, Colombian, English, German, and other nationalities. We absolutely adore this melting pot, and we feel richer because we learn so much about other cultures; we also realise that we aren’t that different.

The elections in Romania, as well as those in Germany, the USA, and other countries, once again demonstrated that we exist within these bubbles alongside people who share our values, or at least the most significant ones.

When I arrived in this village, many people told me that I would not succeed in achieving any of my goals. I proved them wrong, and I am still proving them wrong. Complaining and blaming others is much easier than taking action, taking responsibility, and working hard.

”I really prefer the failure instead of the what-ifs.”

I like people to get along and to respect other people’s talents and each other. Unfortunately, I think that the world desperately lacks those values right now. Surrounding yourself with people who believe in you is important, wherever you are. How do we cultivate collaboration and respect?

What I am always teaching my daughter and telling other people is that what goes around comes around, and if we want to be treated with kindness and respect, we should deliver these values as well.

For example, I have successfully transformed many of my collaborations into long-term relationships. How? Simple: I only choose to collaborate with people whom I deeply admire. I don’t make compromises for the sake of image or money.

I ask for respect, so I give respect back. This is crucial for me in both my personal and professional lives. In fact, my behaviour at home is the same as it is when I am working. My mom often says that my ethics are not suitable for the reality on the field. But this is who I am, and I will not change again just to be accepted as I did my whole life.

I think that this world desperately needs amazing people, individuals who are changing this society for the better and who keep on evolving. I deeply respect any profession, but I can’t deny that excellence is what the world needs most in any field or industry.

And this is one of the reasons I choose to promote Romanian brands and businesses—mostly free of charge. I have a keen sense of what is beneficial for one’s soul, mind, and body, and I don’t keep it to myself; instead, I disseminate it.

And when it comes to respect, I aim to promote this value regardless of nationality, sexual orientation, religion, colour or any other factor. I am the most tolerant and kind person one can be, but I will not tolerate hatred towards others or any kind of discrimination.

“I deeply respect any profession,
but I can’t deny that excellence is what
the world needs most in any field or industry.”

If we were face to face, I know I would definitely ask you what you were wearing and why, because you have such an authentic style and you are a front-runner for ethical, purposeful brands. What are your thoughts on leadership and the role a brand can play in where the world is going or in making the world a better place?

Thank you for your kind words.

I’ve always had sensitive skin, so I can’t wear clothing made from poor-quality synthetic fabrics. I get pimples immediately. I also enjoy donning simple designs and cuts that may not appeal to everyone. Three years ago, when I discovered the Romanian brands, I was like, WOW! I finally have found clothing I absolutely adore. These brands represent the perfect balance between impeccable aesthetics, quality, ethics, and social and environmental responsibility.

During the past 2 years, I did not purchase almost any new clothing from mass-market brands, except for panties, bras, and socks. I ordered them from an online shop here in Spain, and I am thrilled with this decision. I am not ashamed to wear pre-owned clothing.

As I mentioned before, I love doing everything with a purpose. No one is perfect, we are daily making mistakes, but what truly matters is to at least try every day to do good throughout our most common activities.

So if I own just a few clothing items with the best quality and design, and they are not dyed with chemicals that damage my health but also the environment, while promoting Romanian brands and businesses, I am more than happy.

What I deeply admire about the women entrepreneurs who lead this slow fashion industry in Romania is that besides creating clothes, they succeed so much more: they spread so much beauty through their creations, which society desperately needs in all its forms; they educate the public to choose quality over quantity, be more responsible for their health and the environment, and reduce waste.

These women are also empowering other women with their examples of conducting business and by simply being themselves: strong, yet vulnerable; feminine, yet with tonnes of strength; and successful, but humble.

”I look up to me, for who I chose to become,
despite not having it all, enduring the pain of growth,
repeteadly lifting myself from the ground,
and for finally believing in myself.”

Who would be some of the women (near and far, real and fictional) you look up to the most?

Me, for who I chose to become, despite not having it all, enduring the pain of growth, repeatedly lifting myself from the ground, and for finally believing in myself.

My mother, for never giving up and for constantly striving to begin from scratch so many times.

My friend Iulia Stanescu, for always stepping out of her comfort zone and confronting her fears.

All of my women collaborators, whom I highly recommend on my blog and Instagram, for being extraordinary.

My Colombian friend, Ingrid, who is one of the most incredible women I’ve ever known and who, I hope, will write a book about her incredible life.

From the movie Hidden Figures, inspired by true events: the three female African-American mathematicians: Katherine Goble Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson, who worked at NASA. They endured so much by only being women and African Americans, even if they were remarkable in their jobs. But they did not give up, and they gave hope to other girls and women.

From a book – Viola Davis, Finding Me. She managed to survive an unimaginable childhood and adolescence, filled with severe poverty – going to school smelling of urine and sleeping with the rats inside the apartment, which lacked current water, violence, and sexual abuse – and still living her American dream.

What does style mean to you?

I believe that our attire reflects our individuality. While I understand the importance of not judging a book by its cover, our style often speaks for us before we do. This is one of the tools we use to express ourselves.

For example, the dresses I wear express my embrace of femininity, my love for quality, and my preference for simple cuts. I am at least trying to avoid waste and to harm nature. I don’t like to show off, I prefer the quiet luxury. I hope that my style reflects my kindness before anything else.

”I hope that my style reflects my kindness before anything else.”

It absolutely does. And I do believe that you have to care enough about style in order to have any. What is your idea of beauty? Inside and out. Any tips you’d care to pass along?

I think there are women who are simply beautiful, regardless of the standards and personal taste. And these are beautiful in the simplest and most natural way.

Second, I believe that you can’t be beautiful outside if you are a mean woman. No matter how much makeup or interventions you apply, or how “perfect” your lips, eyes, and cheeks are, your inner ugliness will still be visible.

I prefer the beauty of French women, who appear effortlessly stylish in jeans and a T-shirt or a high-quality dress, with little makeup or none at all.

I don’t agree that we should love ourselves just the way we are – with stretch marks, cellulite, muffin tops, or any other kind of imperfection – if we don’t feel like doing that. I, for instance, don’t hate my body anymore, like I did for ages, but I will never love my cellulite or stretch marks. And I am okay with that, too.

Taking care of yourself, being clean, and caring about your appearance are more important than any body or face flaw. You should care for yourself because it’s beneficial for you, not to impress others. Another goal may be to empower and inspire other women to recognise that they should prioritise loving and caring for themselves first to find happiness for their children, partners, and others.

Photo: Madalina Andronic

”I like being surrounded by people who are smarter than me
but who are also kind.
Intelligence without kindness means nothing.”

In this time and age, what do you wish people appreciated more?

Authenticity. I know, I know, this word is used so many times it became superficial, but I do think that most people lack authenticity. Getting back to the other question about old patterns, well, this is a habit we grew up with, many of us. It doesn’t matter how unhappy you are with your life; don’t let it be seen by others. Fake it. People are still obsessed with impressing others and pretending to be someone they are not, both online and offline. Whoever is fake on the Internet is also fake in his offline life.

I appreciate authenticity, kindness, empathy, and people with wit – the ones who are able to change the world for the better. I like being surrounded by people who are smarter than me but who are also kind. Intelligence without kindness means nothing.

And what is it that still fascinates you?

People from other nationalities and cultures, life stories full of hope and people who, despite their difficult lives, choose every day to remain humble and kind, beauty in all of its forms. Life, with all its ups and downs, is what fascinates me.

Thank you, Raluca, for this honest and thoughtful conversation.

Photos courtesy of Raluca Harabagiu

Community and blog: ralucaharabagiu.com | Instagram: @ralucaharabagiu

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30 May 2025

May Newsletter: A Training School for Elephants and safaris in Bergmanland

”When I was young, I didn’t watch TV,
I watched Fellini.”

Luca Marinelli, Locarno Meets

Film images: Persona, directed by Ingmar Bergman. Svensk Filmindustri. Photos: Classiq Journal

Persona, 1966
Ingmar Bergman

Intensely provocative and clever, with minimalist composition and well defined close-up shootings (has anyone ever done it better? – much credit due to Sven Nykvist), Ingmar Bergman’s Persona is one of the best psychological thrillers in the history of cinema. In this complex depiction of human identity, frailty, cruelty, social, class and power struggle, Alma (Bibi Andersson) is the nurse who is hired to take care of famous actress Elisabet (Liv Ullmann), after she has a breakdown during a performance and suddenly falls silent. They are secluded at Elisabet’s doctor’s island summer house, one remaining silent and closed, the other one voluble and opening up. The relationship between the two grows more intense, the line between reality and dream becomes blurred, their identities seem to gradually merge, or maybe overlap – “Persona”. Costume plays an interesting role in that. The two characters become strikingly alike on the island. Bibi Andersson’s style especially deserves recognition. Her look, except her pixie cut that contrasts Elisabet’s long hair, starts to borrow so much from the other’s – sun hats, simple head-to-toe black, black swimming suit and wayfarer dark sunglasses. Smart, minimalistic and streamlined, not exactly reflecting her personality. Whether she does it consciously or unconsciously, this resemblance is something Alma does finally become aware of and loudly articulates when she smashes her sunglasses, which are in fact Elisabet’s, on the cliffs. Who unmasks whom?

“We were out on Fårö and had sent that bit in – the bit where the dark side of one face is complemented by the light side of the other – to be printed. When the scene came back from the lab, we put it into the Moviola, and I asked the girls to come and see something amusing – a surprise.

We set the machine running, and Liv said, ‘Oh, look, what a horrible picture of Bibi!’ And Bibi said, ‘No, it’s not me, it’s you!’ Then the picture stopped. Everyone’s face has a better or worse side, and the picture is a combination of Bibi’s and Liv’s less attractive sides. At first they were so scared they didn’t even recognise their own faces. What they should have said was: “What the hell have you done to my face?’ But they didn’t! They didn’t recognize their own faces. I find that rather an odd reaction.” These are Ingmar Bergman’s words quoted in the book Ingmar Bergman Archives, from an interview from 1969 with Torsten Manns.

Bergman also admitted that “Today I feel that in Persona – and later in Cries and Whispers – I had gone as far as I could go. And that in these two instances, when working in total freedom, I touched wordless secrets that only the cinema can discover.” And Sven Nykvist related: “This was all very exciting for me as a photographer. This was yet another film about silence in which the visual effects – faces, emotions, and atmosphere – seemed to take precedence. I also had the opportunity to experiment – at the beginning, for instance – with the film in my camera. It was pure visual poetry.”

The film was shot on Fårö island, Bergman’s second one there. In her book Unquiet, Linn Ullmann, the daughter of Ingmar Bergman and Liv Ullmann, recounts how her father decided to make the island his home and build a house there after he and cinematographer Sven Nykvist stumbled upon this place while location scouting. “If one were being pompous, one might say that I had finally come home, and if one were joking one might talk about love at first sight,” were Bergman’s only words he would always use to explain his decision. “I have lived with this account of home and love all my life. He came to a place and claimed it, called it his own,” Ullmann writes. And she does go on to give us her own story of how and why this whole affair with the island began for Bergman: “The place he fell in love with was a deserted stony beach, some gnarled pine trees. He was overcome by the immediate sense of familiarity, he knew this was his place, it echoed his innermost ideas of form, proportion, color, light and horizon. And then there was something about the sounds. […] I picture my father turning to the cinematographer and saying: Listen to how quiet this place is.”

Seemingly therapeutic at first – what both Elisabet and Alma are hoping for, one as the patient looking for healing, the other one as the nurse who wants her patient to get better – the island turns out to be intense and confined, apt not no mend the human mind but acting to fracture it, just as harshly as the sea has carved its rocks.

Today, the island comes alive in summer. The Bergman Center located on the island hosts international and Swedish guests, offers fantastic views of Fårö, safaris in Bergmanland, theater, music, and of course, film, film, film! Viva culture! This year, the Bergman Week will take place on Fårö from June 23-27. So, cinephiles, leave the big festivals for the critics and go for under the radar film events, such as Bergman Week and Il Cinema Ritrovato in Bologna, June 21-29 (“nine magical days of film”). And save a morning for Il Cinema Ritrovato book fair.

Bonjour Tristesse, 1958
Otto Preminger

Every time that a remake of a classic film pops up, I return to the original with a vengeance. They recently did it with Bonjour Tristesse. But who could beat Jean Seberg’s grace and a glint of boyish malice in Preminger’s film? From the masterful use of colour that affords a striking contrast between the sun-drenched hues of summer in the South of France and the present, a Paris shot in a chilly black and white, to Seberg’s sensuous tomboy image, an image easily associated with Françoise Sagan herself, the symbol of teenage rebellion in postwar France, who had an uncanny ability to articulate youth angst with unique style, these are just a few details that attest to the film’s greatness, as I have written here. A remake is nonsense.

It Happened One Night, 1934
Frank Capra

Screwball comedy – a term that, in the golden Hollywood of the 1930s, came to describe a lively battle between classes and sexes, quirky and mad plot twists, rapid-fire dialogue, superb comic timing. Frank Capra’s It Happened One Night has always been a favourite. A great comedy as well as great social commentary. Humour was infectious, and so was life. Between Claudette Colbert’s Ellie Andrews (the runaway daughter of a millionaire who wants to get to New York to reunite with the man she had eloped with) and Clark Gable’s Peter Warne (a newspaper man who helps her out with an agenda of his own) there is an openness to make jokes and take jokes, to speak your mind, to be vulnerable, to be star-crossed. They are both a joy on screen. And I don’t care how many times it has been written about and how many times it has been, always poorly, reciprocated (or even talked about, again poorly) on screen, the scene where Peter fails to get passing cars to stop to give him and Ellie a lift, and Ellie steps into the road, lifts her skirt and flashes her leg, will forever remain memorable and unmatched. As Claudette Colbert said, “I think there was more sex in those old films than in all that thrashing around today.”

The Mackintosh Man, 1973
John Huston

A photo taken by Terry O’Neill on the set of The Mackintosh Man, from the book Paul Newman: Blue-Eyed Cool reminded me that I hadn’t watched the film. O’Neill’s images from the set communicate a sense of pensiveness in the character that Newman portrays. An espionage film, shot on location, in London, Ireland and Malta, and at Pinewood Studios, London, was the fourth film starring Paul Newman that the photographer shot,”bringing a newspaper’s aesthetic of immediacy to so many of his images”. Usually using a Leica M4, a nearly silent camera, when taking photographs on the movie sets, he remained unobtrusive and gained the star actors’ trust. And that’s where the magic happened, attesting that a film star’s image is a combination of “both themselves and the characters they portray”. Paul Newman was one such true movie star. And yet, what I appreciate about The Mackintosh Man, unlike many spy movies, is its realistic attitude and the sense of atmosphere and location. Unfortunately, Maurice Jarre’s music, totally distracting and pulling the film in an entirely wrong direction, almost ruined it for me.

Reading

In A Training School for Elephants, Sophy Roberts’ second book, the author combines history with travel and reportage in telling the story of a forgotten 19th-century colonial expedition to Africa, commissioned by King Leopold II of Belgium, who wanted to establish a training school for taming wild African elephants. It’s a little wonder that this kind of contemporary journey, a thoughtful quest in the spirit of discovery and the search for truth, can still exist. It reaffirms great travel, original writing. “I needed time to get used to the rustle of small animals moving through the trees. When the train sounded its horn, the hollow noise seemed to hang in the air, making me think of the giant fog which used to speak. Here was a city growing and a forest retreating; and a man called Nassoro who believed all the knowledge we’d ever need to save our species was right here, girdling the city he also feared would soon swallow the forest up.”

When reading How Directors Dress, I learned about Hagop Kourounian, who writes about this very subject on a regular basis. This interview with Justine Triet is from when Anatomy of a Fall made its debut at the Cannes Film Festival in 2023, but it’s such a great, insightful look into the director’s personal style (we’re talking River Phoenix and Nirvana inspiration and I was overjoyed) that it’s never too late to read it.

Listening

The soundtrack: To Catch a Thief

The album: Pearl Jam MTV Unplugged

On a side note: Listening bars are back. What a marvelous idea!

Making

The collages of Greek artist Danai Tsouloufa. She often works with photographic material, yet the collages train the eye and imagination in a complete different way, I would even say in a much more complex way than photography does. Forms of nature, a dress, a part of a building, a pencil line, and the feeling that it is made by hand, they all contribute to a very satisfying visual image.

Exploring

Outliers means “a thing that is very different from others”, just like the places Júlia Juste, the founder of Outliers likes to find. The community – photographers, designers, creatives talking about their most inspiring travels – is my favourite part. It’s not about the most talked-out spot on a map, but about the experience.

On an end note

Last Sunday, the first day of this year’s Roland Garros, Rafa Nadal finally got the send-off that he deserved (after the awkward and disappointing farewell ceremony in Malága, in his home country, last year) and every tennis fan gave a sigh of relief. We were all expecting it and there is not much one can add to or comment on that. Or maybe just this: In the age of instant gratification, if we aren’t capable of acknowledging excellency, which only comes after years and years and years of hard work, then there is something seriously wrong with us as human beings. Yesterday, Richard Gasquet too said goodbye to tennis as a professional player and Mats Wilander beautifully acknowledged his legacy, his accomplishments, his unique style of playing (that genius of a one-handed backhand), and, most importantly, the fact that, despite his never winning a Grand Slam, he always put up a great match, giving it his all. “Free tennis,” Mats described it. For the love of the game.

The regulars: The interviews, newsletters and podcasts I turn to every week and/or every month because they are that good. Ruthie’s Table 4 with Ruth Rogers. Fashion Neurosis, with Bella Freud. Craig Mod’s newsletters: Roden and Ridgeline. Soundtracking, with Edith Bowman. Alicia Kennedy’s newsletter. Racquet’s Rennae Stubbs tennis podcast. Gone to Timbuktu with Sophy Roberts. Sirene Journal, Racquet, and Waves & Woods in print.

”In this era of oversharing, I think that in five years
the greatest asset that a young person will have
is the lack of any social media.”

Graydon Carter, Fashion Neurosis with Bella Freud

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