Edwige Belmore

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Edwige, also known as Edwige Belmore (September 1957 - September 22, 2015) was a French model, singer and actress. She was considered an icon of 1980s France, and was called the "Queen of the punks". She founded and sang with the group Mathématiques modernes, as well as being the public face of the club Le Palace.

Biography[edit]

Edwige Bessuand was born in September 1957[1] in Paris, and was taken into state care after being abandoned.[2] As a teenager, she lived in the Kremlin-Bicêtre. Her adoptive parents separated and kicked her out of the house when she was 17.[2][3][4]

Edwige went to live with Maud Molyneux and Paquita Paquin, on the rue Vavin, where she gradually turned into punk, shaving her hair and dyeing it platinum when it grew back.[5][6] She spent her nights at Le Sept with Molyneux and Paquin,[7] at Le Bains Douches where she sometimes performed on stage[8] or at La Main Bleue with her friends Paquita and Eva Ionesco.[9]

She becomes "the figurehead" of Le Palace as its bouncer.[10][11][12] Her meeting with Paloma Picasso introduced her to the world of the jet-set. She became friends with Yves Saint Laurent and Loulou de la Falaise.[3] She went to New York for the first time at the end of 1977 and attended Studio 54.[11] She returned regularly to the city over the following years.[4]

In 1977, after a photoshoot by Pierre Commoy,[4] Edwige was featured on the cover of Façade magazine issue 4 kissing Andy Warhol on the cheek.[11][2] The title on the cover read "The queen of punk and the pope of pop"[3][12][13] [14]

In 1979, Edwige founded the music group Mathématiques modernes with Claude Arto. She was the singer.[11] She was then supported by Philippe Guibourgé who gave her clothes from Chanel.[3]

Edwige modeled for Jean-Paul Gaultier and Thierry Mugler.[15][16] She was photographed in 1990 by Pierre and Gilles for a work entitled Sainte Gertrude la Grande. "The strong temperament of our model and her boyish appearance went well with the reputation for rigor and austerity of this intellectual and mystical figure that was Gertrude the Great" explains the photographers.[17] During her career, she was photographed several times by Pierre and Gilles, both for the press and for advertising.[4] Long before, she was also the subject of photographs by Helmut Newton[16] for a rarely published photo,[4] Maripol a few years later, and Jean-Baptiste Mondino.

Edwige married Jean-Louis Jorge, fifteen years her senior.[4]

In 2012, Edwige appeared in a documentary by Jérôme de Missolz, Des jeunes gens mödernes. In the film, a group of young artists, fascinated by the punk movement, meet a music critic from the period.[18]

She lived in India, then went to live in New York, and finally in Miami, where she lived at the Vagabond Hotel.[19]

Edwige Belmore died in Florida on September 22, 2015 in a local hospital, at the estimated age of 58.[15][11] She died of liver failure due to untreated hepatitis.[20]

Films[edit]

Actress

Year Title Role Notes
1975 L'héroïne de l'enfance
1979 Dirty Dreamer Wanda Edwige Gruss
1978 L'enfant secret La prostituée
1980 Scopitone (Short) La chef de gang
1981 La marque du destin
1982 Chassé-croisé Le professeur de piano
1985 The Way It Is Rebecca/Aglaonice
1988 Deux ombres (Short) La mère de Paul
1988 Because the Dawn (Short) Marie


  • 2016 The Incomparable Rose Hartman (Documentary)
  • 2014 The Starck Club (Documentary) Self
  • 2011 Kids of Töday Self (as Edwige Belmore)
  • 2004 Rose Palace (Documentary)

References[edit]

  1. ^ Simon Liberati (February 24, 2016). "Mannequin, chanteuse, muse punk : vies et mort d'Edwige Belmore". vanityfair.fr.
  2. ^ a b c Simon Liberati (3 October 2015). "Simon Liberati raconte Edwige, "reine des punks"". Les Inrocks. Retrieved 10 May 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  3. ^ a b c d Teresa Cannatà (April 7, 2011). "Edwige Belmore". vogue.it. Archived from the original on May 16, 2021. Retrieved May 16, 2021.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Interview: "In conversation with EEPMON:Edwige Belmoreur, The Queen of Punk". mocoloco.com.
  5. ^ Paquin 2005, p. 93.
  6. ^ Paquin 2005, p. 112.
  7. ^ Paquin 2005, p. 124.
  8. ^ Paquin 2005, p. 128.
  9. ^ Paquin 2005, p. 134.
  10. ^ Paquin 2005, p. 144.
  11. ^ a b c d e "Edwige Belmore, "Reine des punks" des années 80, est morte". culturebox.francetvinfo.fr. 24 September 2015. Archived from the original on 12 May 2017. Retrieved 16 May 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  12. ^ a b Clément Ghys (23 September 2015). "Edwige Belmore, mort de "la reine des punks"". next.liberation.fr.
  13. ^ Cabut, Richard; Gallix, Andrew (October 27, 2017). Punk Is Dead: Modernity Killed Every Night. John Hunt Publishing. ISBN 9781785353475 – via Google Books.
  14. ^ "In Memory: Edwige Belmore, Our Lady of Punk". Document Journal. September 22, 2015.
  15. ^ a b Marie Haynes (September 24, 2015). "Edwige Belmore, l'égérie punk, est décédée". gala.fr.
  16. ^ a b Kristin Anderson (September 22, 2015). "Remembering Edwige Belmore, the Legendary Punk of Parisian Nightlife". vogue.com.
  17. ^ Chloé Devis (April 2013). Derrière l'objectif de Pierre et Gilles (Photos et propos). Éditions Hoebeke. ISBN 978-2842304683.
  18. ^ "Mort d'Edwige Belmore, figure punk des années 1980". Le Monde.fr. September 24, 2015 – via Le Monde.
  19. ^ "Vagabond hotel — This and That Autre Magazine".
  20. ^ Armstrong, Walter. "The Life of Punk Queen Edwige Belmore and the Death of the Old Downtown". Intelligencer.

Source[edit]

See also[edit]

External links[edit]