Her 72 years were implemented with a sense of exhilarating freedom. Growing up in conservative post war Australia, Myers ran the course of an atypical childhood, rejecting education and the deterrents of family life to become a noted member of the Melbourne Modern Ballet Company at the age of 17. There, she took the first steps into an illustrious dancing career, twirling into eccentric spotlights and never looking back.
During the 1950s Vali became synonymous with the Parisian underworld. As a wandering vagabond, she carouselled through the streets of the Latin Quarter with flagrant dances that gained her prominence in the oppressed setting of a city, ravaged by the atrocities of war. Seeking creative naissance in the art world, Vali Myers then began european meanderings, mixing with influential notables such as Sartre and Jean Genet. Today, Myers' legacy as an artist punches an irreparable dent into history, ricocheting through various movements and eras to transpire as one of art's most celebrated creators.
With regards to fashion, her interpretation has never been so relevant amidst the resurgence of a simmering bohemian ease. Her long, wild, fiery mane sketched a visual portrait of her primal instincts and an innate devotion to the animal kingdom. Her intense mask of maquillage became "war paint"; vermillion red lips and black ink-ringed eyes were an illustrative hallmark of her maverick impulses. In applying make-up she "found her real face", jilting the concept of attracting men, instead adopting camouflage as protection against evil forces. Strikingly, her garments exceeded the realms of flamboyance, enamoured with mystical prints and decorative embellishments that swayed with her rhapsodic movements and became a vessel to her euphoric inner light.
"If i make the lashes dark
And the eyes more bright
And the lips more scarlet
Or ask if all be right
From mirror after mirror
No vanity's displayed:
I'm looking for the face i had
Before the world was made" (before the world was made by W.B Yeats)
Although worlds apart, Vali Myers is my kindred spirit, flourishing in a complete disregard for conformity and the "norm". Artist, Dancer, Creator, Muse; she is an alternate being born out of time, out of culture and out of this world. As i hold onto my romantic dream, making steps towards an unwritten journey, i walk along with trust, in the knowledge that her light will guide me.
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