1938 The secret First Lady of Brazil
has to leave her country

Aimée Lopes is one of the most legendary people of Brazil,
the country's secret first Lady.
She is like a "state secret" for the Brazil of President Getulio Vargas,
the longest lasting President of the countries history.
Vargas is oficially married to Darcy Vargas.
The secret remains until 1995,
the date the President's confidential diary becomes public, (40 years after his death).
Oficially Aimée was married to Luiz Simões Lopes,
head of the country's Departamento Administrativo do Serviçio Publico.

April 1938 is a very shaken moment in the history of Brazil
and the secret is about to come out
and might destabilize the position of the President.
Aimée has to leave the country within 24 h.
A plane drops her off in Paris ....


During these years Coco Chanel
is already the country's most famous fashion designer.
Above pictures show her in a portrait by the German photographer Horst
and the second one in Monte Carlo with her friend Serge Lifar.




Christmas 2014, the editor of this article
discovers a fascinating book

From time to time Aimée has told him extraordinary stories
about legendary receptions where she went in the company of Coco Chanel
a very long time ago
so long ago it was even before world war two.

The most extravagant of all the parties was a reception called "Circus Ball"
given by an American decorator, Elsie de Wolfe / Lady Mendl
in her Villa Trianon located in Versailles.

But all the editor had in his hands were two small
pictures, one of Aimée dancing, the other one of Coco Chanel.
Aimée had kept them in a drawer of her Villa La Roseraie in Biarritz.




Christmas is coming and a friend of Aimée,
James H Mitchell, a New York publicist and important PR man
was in Paris.
Meeting friday 2014 December 19
8pm at the Meurice ....

The editor of this article had asked his young assistant Louis Henri Schlumberger
and the glamorous Countess Caroline von Krockow Lahame to join.
Both of them have heared so many stories about Aimée,
but they (specialy Louis) are too young to have been able to know her.


This was an occasion to make them meet a witness,
a real friend of Aimée.



Arriving at the Hotel Meurice he walks by the bookstore
of Galignani, a book store lokated right next to the Hotel,
224 rue de Rivoli:
The window is decorated by
Christmas flowers and a book
with an extravagant looking Lady looking at everybody walking by.
"Elsie de Wolfe's Paris - Frivolity before the Storm."

Of course "Elsie de Wolfe" she was also part of all these unbeleivable
fairy tale stories Aimée had been talking about.
A book which might be a written confirmation
of stories he had heared a couple of years ago.
He immediately bokkt the book and another copy as well
as a welcome & christmas present for James Mitchell.


Little confursion in the appointment,
James Mitchell, always very much in time,
was waiting for them in the Meurice lobby
while the young group was waiting 25 meters away
inside the Meurice Bar.

While waiting James Mitchell engaged a conversation
with a young french-german docteur
also sitting in the lobby with his dog Lara.
You can recognize Doctor Sagner in the picture
taken a few instants later while he is looking at the Elsie de Wolfe book.

The editor is getting his young friends from the bar
where they are looking a Louis work on Palace Hotels of the World.com,
one of the webprojects Louis is working on.

James Mitchell:
"but I know the autor of the Elsie de Wolfe book
it's Charlie Scheips,
sometimes we both write for the New York Social Diary.
People in New York have been talking about this book,
I haven't had the chance to read it yet.
Thank you,
Oh how nice you found pictures of Aimée de Heeren in there."

The book mostly speaks about Aimée Lopes
the name she had in the late 1930s
but she is more known under her later name Aimée de Heeren.

Time to go to dinner which takes place
in the same magnificient Hotel Lobby
also occupied by the Dali restaurant.
James Mitchell spontaneously invites
the very educated doctor non of us had know half an hour earlier.

During the diner more interesting things to hear about.
The editor knew that James Mitchell had helped
Elisabeth Taylor and Audrey Hetpurn
with differnt PR issues.

But he suddenly hears that Mitchell had also known
Mademoiselle Chanel.
.... what a chance to have been able to know Coco Chanel.


The diner is very amusing
a bit too sorphisticated for Louis and the editor of the article.
The Dali Restaurant is very happening,
it's located at the excat same spot where he has been so many times with Aimée.

He has had the chance to be there when Aimée
received some fascinating people
like one of the Apollo 11 astronautes.
At this time the Meurice was owned by the Aga Khan
but two people at the bar still remember him
and of course Aimée -
she had been to the Meurice for over half a century.

Decades before the Meurice Hotel Lobby
was Aimées and Coco Chanels meeting point
before going on a long evening walk.
Salvador Dali always wanted to join them
but Aimée thought taht he was too eccentric
and a little strange,
so he was never able to come along.

Today the Meurice is owned by
the Sultan de Brunei (Dorchester Collection).
The present Meurice is completely different
from the lobby back of the Aimée de Heeren years.


While the diner goes on,
Lara, Michael Sagners dog,
names after Lara,
the beautiful girl from the moovie "Doctor Zhivago"
goes to some neighboring tables
and enjoys the attention of the other Hotel Guests.
Yes this is Palace Hotel style
you will never find in a 5 Star Delux Plus Extra Chain Hotel ....



At the end of the diner a souvenir picture
unedr the chsitmas tree of the Meurice.
Unfortunately the Countess Caroline von Krockow Lahame
had to leave a little early
as her 3 very young (and very beautiful) children
are sometimes a little turbulent.
Of course the entire Hotel Lobby is watching her when she leaves
she is also a legendary beauty.

Carolines grandmother,
Karin von Oppenheim from Cologne,
had also known Coco Chanel.





1938 Aimée Sottomajor Sa / Aimée Lopes
arrives in Paris and meets Coco Chanel

Access map to the Villa Trianon coming from Paris


There are other fascinating details
the editor of this article can learn from the book.
The book that is a exceptional witness of all une époque ...

On page 129,
just below Aimées picture is written
"Aimée Lopes (Aimée de Heeren) was the "rage"
and was "so pretty, so genuinely nice, (and) carried gaiety with her like a fan
(that) she was almost eaten alive."

Yes he had already read this comment while searching the web.
Suddenly he realises that he had copied it
on a Aimee de Heeren.com
a little souvenir website made about Aimée.
As indicated in the book
this were the words of Bettina Ballard, editor of the US Vogue.

But Bettinas description continued
(this is not in the Elsie de Wolfe book)
"Hung with diamonds, she was pushed from fittings to balls,
never allowed a moment for private conquest because
every hostess needed her for her party
to prove that she could draw the lioness of the season.
Aimee just wanted to dance and flirt and have fun.
That wasn‘t what Paris expected of her."



Continuing to read the book
he discovers on page 81
a picture of Bettina Ballard
and who is with her ... ??

Coco Chanel
sur sa fenêtre au Ritz.


Oui il connaissait cette photo de Chanel,
Chanel sur son Balcon au Ritz,
une photo très célèbre faite par Roger Schall,
maintenant seulement
il comprend que Bettina était également présente ...


Et soudainement
en réalisant les descriptions faites par Bettina Ballard
il comprend
la fascination que Chanel a également dù resentir
pour sa jeune amie Aimée.
Son existance a toujours été gardée secrête,
comme cela avait déjà été le cas au Brésil.

Aussi il apprend qu'un premier "Circus Ball"
avait eu lieu en 1938.
Il s'était parfois
posé la question
en quelle année avait eu lieu ce bal
de ce Ball, 1938 ou 1939 ....
Y avait-il une erreur quelque part ??

La réponse est qu'il y avait deux "Circus Ball"
car Elsie de Wolfe avait donné 2 réceptions,
une en juillet 1938
et une autre en juillet 1939, à la veille de la Seconde Guerre.
(According to Tom Gunther rencontré le lendemain,
il y eu même un 3ème Circus Ball,
vers 1953 après la mort d' Elsie de Wolfe)

Il faudrait essayer de prendre contact avec le fils du photographe
Roger Schall pour savoir s'il n'a pas dans ses archives
d'autres photos où on peut apercevoir Aimée ....

Et l'éditeur de cet article se dit,
mais 50 ans plus tard c'était la même chose.
Il était encore tout jeune
lorsqu'il a vu Aimée pour la première fois
dans un bal en Bavière.
Elle a fait le même effet ...

Johannes von Thurn und Taxis
qui avait donné le bal pour son 60e anniversaire
du 2 au 5 juin 1986,
lui a lu des lettres de remerciements
dans lesquelles
ses invités furent emerveillés
par la présence et l'allure
de cette même Aimée Lopez / de Heeren.
Coco Chanel serait bien évidemment venue à ce bal,
hélas elle avait déjà quitté ce monde 15 ans plus tôt.

Un an avant le livre "Elsie de Wolfe's Paris"
est sortie "100 years of Vanity Fair".
Le journaliste américain Bob Colacello
mentionne la même Aimée (Lopes / de Heeren)
avec ses bijoux hors de tout ce que l'on pouvait imaginer
melangé à des faux ...
comme Coco Chanel lui aurait suggerée.
“I threw it all on,” declared Brazil’s ranking dowager,
Aimée de Heeren, about her pile of diamond necklaces.
“The real, the fake, Harry Winston and Kenny Lane.
I thought I’d never have another opportunity.”

"J'ai mis la packet" a déclarée Aimée de Heeren,
la douairière des Brésiliennes
en ce qui concernait ces multitudes de diaments
"Les vrais, les faux, Harry Winston et Kenny Lane
(un créateur de bijoux fantaisies)
Je pensais que je n'aurais plus jamais une autre occasion."

Non ...
Bob Colacello qui fut l'assistant de Andy Warhol
avant de travailler pour Vanity Fair
s'est bien trompé sur cette "dernière occasion" ...
même si Aimée avait déjà 83 ans (ce que personne ne savait)

70 ans plus tard
quand Aimée l'avait emmenée
à une reception au White Palace de Belgrade le 17 juillet 2005,
c'était la même chose
les gens étaient submergés par la beauté et l'allure d'Aimée
qui malgré ses 102 ans
couverte des plus beaux bijoux de l'impératrice Eugénie
était le centre de
l'attention du public.

En écrivant cet article il se rend compte
qu'il a dû connaître la dernière survivante de ce "Circus Ball"
qui avait lieu presque
plus d'aun quart de siècle avant sa naissance
un tout petit peu
comme s'il avait été lui même invité ...

Prise ensembles
Coco Chanel et Aimée de Heeren
ont dû être invitées à la presque totalité
de toutes les réceptions de légènde
du 20ème siècle !

Merci Charlie Scheips d'avoir écrit ce livre fascinant ....
Coco Chanel et Aimée de Heeren
l'auraient devoré ...

Mais les connaissant
il y a encore bien d'autres livres à écrire ... :-)



Video sur la présentation à New York
du livre "Elsie de Wolfe's Paris" ...











lire la suite ...
Coco Chanel
et Aimee de Herren
années 1960