Glamour-wise, nothing tops a lithe heiress with a rocky romantic life and a predilection for outré social shenanigans. And Millicent Rogers (1902 – 1953) certainly fit this bill. The Standard Oil scion started out as a flapper-debutante in New York City — the dissolution of her first marriage to an Austrian count was documented with Kardashian-like fervor — and grew into a formidable society doyenne. During the gas rationing of World War II, she skirted the illegality of having a chauffeur by hiring a yellow-cab taxi to run the meter continuously. At dinner parties, she’d chew on a 24-karat gold toothpick between courses, or tend to the pack of seven dachshunds who followed her everywhere.
In 1947, Rogers pulled herself from the social pages and settled in Taos, New Mexico. At Turtle Mound, her adobed, Matisse-filled compound, she devoted herself to championing the rights of nearby Native American tribes. She made equally great strides stylistically, amassing a huge collection of turquoise jewelry, much of which was handmade by local artisans. Her wildly incongruous combinations of couture Charles James blouses, tiered ruffled skirts, and loads-upon-loads of baubles sent ripples through the fashion community, and established Southwestern chic as an aesthetic movement that continues to be relevant today (both Karl Lagerfeld and John Galliano have name-checked her as a muse of recent collections).
We can’t all be born Millicents, but we can cop her look with vintage turquoise jewelry. Click through the gallery below for more inspiration.
