A Latin Pearl with Seventeen Suitcases

 

On February 3, 2010, at the ripe age of 95 a lady who had been selected in 1972 as one of the “Best Dressed Women” by Vanity Fair magazine passed away in Rio de Janeiro. During the 1950s, 60s and 70s, Mrs. Perla Mattison had been the toast of New York City, Paris, Lisbon and Rio. Perla is Spanish for pearl. Her obituary was totally unnoticed by me until my friend Jackie invited me to join her to browse her vintage clothes sale. Perla had left behind seventeen suitcases of designer clothes, accessories and custom jewelry. During the last twelve years of her life, she had been the house guest of a former French diplomat. After her passing, the gentleman probably felt that the suitcases were taking too much space in his closets and decided to disperse the wardrobe and have a sale[1].

Sales as well as auctions of the personal belongings of deceased celebrities are usually exciting events. They attract a mix of nostalgic fans, bargain hunters and voyeurs eager to rummage through personal items. Perla’s fame was no match to that of Mrs. Wallis Simpson and Princess Diana, but I was nonetheless curious to see what a best-dressed, globe-trotting celebrity wore in another era.

So Jackie and I went to the “attic” sale. There were racks and racks of clothes, several drawers full of custom jewelry and scores of handbags lying on tables. We were informed that the best items, such as famous designers’ evening gowns had been given to a fashion museum in Paris and to the Zuzu Angel Fashion Institute in Rio. (There are plans to upgrade the institute into a museum sometime in the future.) Since Perla was 95 when she died, her clothes were truly vintage and mainly prêt-à-porter, the ready-to-wear type worn by the ladies-who-lunch in New York City or Paris. I didn’t find the collection very inspiring, and definitely too hot to wear in Rio. Although the wardrobe on sale spanned three decades, it was obvious that she kept her slim figure until the end of her life. On the other hand, her heap of custom jewelry could have come from Ali Baba’s cave! Jackie purchased a cuff bracelet, and I a heavy antic ivory necklace. My purchase had more to do with acquiring a piece of memorabilia than making a fashion statement.

Being the proud owner of a piece of Perla Mattison’s collection, I was keen to find out a little more about the lady. My Web search was disappointing; Google was not very informative. If La Perla, the sexy underwear brand from Italy had many entries, sadly Perla the socialite had very few; the different sources all quoted the same information. The more I searched, the less I found on Mrs. Perla Mattison. Although she knew le tout New York et le tout Paris, everybody who is anybody in these two cities, she is often listed as an international social figure often under her second husband’s name Mrs. Graham D. Mattison.

She was born Perla de Lucena. She was not Brazilian but from Uruguay, and as a young woman moved to Rio. Her first husband was named Michel Slimovic, he was a “director” at the Financial Times. Her marriage allowed her to launch an international celebrity life and build a designer wardrobe. From then on Perla’s name was associated with the European Gotha, and the Paris haute couture.

Graham D. Mattison, her second husband, was an American lawyer cum investment banker. Contrary to the first husband, the second one left a trail of entries on Google. He is mainly remembered for having been the lawyer of Poor Little Rich Girl Barbara Hutton and having made alleged dubious investments on her behalf. Other sources claim that he swindled $ 17 million from the Hutton estate. To add insult to injury, Mattison was a character in the TV miniseries “Poor Little Rich Girl: the Life of Barbara Hutton” starring David Ackroyd with Farrah Fawcett in the leading role of Barbara. She had died ten years earlier at the age 66, seven times divorced and with allegedly $ 4000 left in the bank. In the course of her short life, the Woolworth heiress had managed to squander some $50 million, probably a billion in todays’ money.

One of the highlights of Perla’s social life in Paris was her attendance in 1969 at the extravagant Oriental Ball. The ball was the tour de force of the colorful Baron Alexi de Rédé. She was ravishingly dressed as a Chinese princess. According to the media, the Baron’s ball put to shame the Sun King’s lavish fêtes at Versailles Palace. In 1972 came the highest recognition; Perla was elected the best dressed woman by the American magazine Vanity Fair. During this period, she was jet setting between Paris, New York and her mansion in Cascais in Portugal with luminaries like Oscar de la Renta, Pierre Balmain, Mrs. São Schlumberger of the oil exploration business, baroness Hélène de Rothschild, and writer Truman Capote. According to the New York Times, she also attended functions for Queen Sirikit of Thailand and shoe-obsessed Imelda Marcos of the Philippines.

In his “Conversations” interviews (1987) Capote mentioned that he admired Perla’s style and extraordinary South American chic. According to him “There is a certain kind of South American girl who is unique”. He also singled out Bianca Jagger for being another stylish Latin beauty.

According to a short New York Times obituary, Graham Mattison died in Rio in 1987 aged 81. The Google trail now gets cold. As her wardrobe indicates, Perla was no longer jet-setting and gracing Europe high society balls. It seems that her husband had left her with little money. She would occasionally travel to Paris but spent much of her time in Rio. Her wardrobe became more carioca.

For the proud owner of a Perla’s memento, my search for information was a frustrating exercise. I found more information on her Cascais house, which was pictured in Architectural Digest the decoration magazine (1982) than on her jet-setting lifestyle. Many of her high society friends like Mrs. São Schlumberger, Viscountess de Ribes, Baroness Hélène de Rothschild were the subjects of countless magazine articles; it would seem fitting for Perla to be remembered with articles by magazines like Vogue and Vanity Fair which had praised her so much for her style and grace. Otherwise her legacy will be limited to seventeen suitcases of clothes and a short sentence. She is quoted as having said in Portuguese that “To have glamour means to please without trying”[2].

Beatrice Labonne, Rio de Janeiro,

2 December, 2010

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[1] www.perlamattison.com.br

[2] Ter glamour significa agradar sem ter a intenção.