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Catwalk Confidential: a model of aspiration
Evening Standard 08.09.09
Face of the Seventies: Robyn Peterson celebrates both the glamour and dark side of fashion in her one-woman show
PREVIEW
Arts Theatre, WC2
She posed for Helmut Newton, insulted Yves St Laurent and stole a bikini from Karl Lagerfeld's muse.
Robyn Peterson was one of the stars of Edinburgh with her one-woman show about her experiences in the fashion industry, which has transferred to the Arts Theatre this week for a four-week run.
A former teenage runaway who was discovered in New York, Peterson was one of the world's top fashion models in the Seventies. Her face appeared on the covers of Vogue, Elle and Marie Claire.
Billed as part Lauren Bacall, part Kathleen Turner, Peterson wrote and developed Catwalk Confidential as a theatrical monologue with her director, Tony Abatemarco. She impersonates her divorcée mother, her teenage self, her English photographer husband and the famous cast of characters she met on the Paris catwalk.
As well as celebrating the glamour of the world of modelling she delves into its dark side — including the drugs, the eating disorders and the casting couch.
She learns that there is always a younger, leggier model after your crown (there are deliberate echoes of All About Eve, the Bette Davis film about the ambitious young starlet who triumphs only to be supplanted at the height of her fame).
Her advice to aspiring models is that they should get an education first: “When you do end like me at 26 you have to come up with something else. That's the downside of it.”
Until 3 October. Information: 0845 017 5584, www.catwalkconfidential.org.
Reader views (3)
I went with three female friends and we all enjoyed the show very much. We were impressed with the energy of Robyn's delivery, her engaging impersonations and her insightful comments on the vapid fashion industry. You have got to respect her wit and charm - and the fact that she survived to tell the tale.
- Ronnie Bridgett, London
This show is brilliant , funny and courageous - Go and see it !
- Clare Beresford, Los Angeles USA
Such a tiresome egocentric middle aged Yank. Where is the talent, really ?
- Keith Price, Luton England
