When Elizabeth Burns, who we featured, recommended Felicia and Edmundo to me for our site on style, I had no idea that I was walking into a movie-worthy love story, one that spans oceans and covers over sixty years, in addition to encountering a couple with an abundance of class, taste, and accomplishments. Felicia escaped the Nazis at 10 years old, fled to Cuba, fell in love with Edmundo at 16, and left for NYC at the age of 17 with her family. Edmundo left Cuba after the revolution in 1979, relocated to Manhattan, and 45 years later, after other marriages, they finally consummated their relationship and have been together ever since. She has written an autobiographical novel, "Passing Through Havana", that deals with escape from Nazi Europe to landing in sunny Havana, and discusses blooming adolescence under the Batista dictatorship and her eventual move to New York. Edmundo is the author of one of Cuba's most famous books, "Memories of Underdevelopment," that was made into a film and was recently chosen by critics to be the most important Ibero-American film of all time. To get the full experience, please watch their video. It is hard to do justice, in writing , to Edmundo's passion for life and culture, including style and the power of black. To support his belief that "first impressions" matter and that "surface is depth", he refers to Picasso's Guernica, Spanish nobility, the Surrealists, and the poetry of Ralph Waldo Emerson (kind of a dream as the author of this site). Felicia is equally mesmerizing in her composed manner and classic beauty, with tips on everything from the attributes of a pin on a lapel to the virtues of the timeless scarf. She is compelling with her life story that spreads over continents, in addition to her fascinating photographic documentation of the flawless Barbie doll and its unconscious symbolism. One of the most satisfying aspects of documenting all of these amazing people for me has been the connections within this evolving social community of artists and talent. When I was filming Sophia Lamar, who is our previous headliner, she began to tell me about how much she admired a particular Cuban writer, Edmundo Desnoes, who's movie was shot in her doctor's office where she grew up in Havana.
Edmundo's Links:
Check out the Trailer / Teaser for the movie "Memorias del Desarrollo" based on Edmundo's Novel.
Add Edmundo on Facebook!
Check out Edmundo's his book "Memories of Underdevelopment" on Amazon.
Felicia's Links:
Click here for more info on Felicia's Book, "Passing Through Havana"
Click here to read a conversation Felicia had with Otium Magazine.
Felicia on her Photography and Barbie from Stylelikeu.com from Stylelikeu on Vimeo.
