Celebritology Archive: Brangelina

Bling with a bite from Brangelina

Serpentine cuffs from Brangelina's new Asprey collection. (Image courtesy Asprey via WWD) Just in time for the holidays Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have designed a collection of high-end jewelry featuring snakes and lots of diamonds. Items start at $535 and include serpent cuffs, serpent pendants, serpent rings, serpent cuff links and even a baby-spoon with a serpent-shaped handle. The Brangelina inspired bling will be available at Asprey stores starting later this week. So why snakes? According to Women's Wear Daily, Jolie received a ring in the shape of a snake when she was pregnant with Shiloh. The actress has since considered the reptile a talisman and protector of her family. All proceeds from sales will go to the charity Education Partnership for Children of Conflict, a non-profit co-founded by Jolie that works to educate children affected by war or natural disasters. No word yet on whether the collection...

Brad Pitt's beard beads: Love 'em or hate 'em?

Somewhere in the fashion void that lies between ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons and Captain Jack Sparrow, Brad Pitt now rests comfortably -- challenging us to scoff at his sassy beard beads. Pitt shows off his new accessorized goatee at the Tokyo premiere of 'Inglorious Basterds.' (Pix: AP, Getty Images) Well, scoff I must. I was always a bigger fan of scuzzwad Brad Pitt (think "12 Monkeys") than matinee idol Brad Pitt ("A River Runs Through It"). It's as if the guy is almost too good looking and needs a dimming patina of scruff to make his classic outlines visible to the mortal eye. So I can get behind the I don't brush my hair thing, the Charles Manson look, even the street map-ish tattoo. Now I'm no facial hair expert, but Pitt is -- as far as I can tell -- sporting some kind of modified "French fork." But instead...

Brad Pitt's Flat-Footed Fashion Foible

Possessed, as I am, of unimpeachable fashion sense and nary a bad look captured by a paparazzo, I am confident that you will cede to my essential rightness when I pronounce Brad Pitt's monogrammed loafers an abomination: (Getty Images) While a man possessed of Pitt's good looks could probably wear stale hollowed-out baguettes as shoes without raising an eyebrow, the monogrammed shoe surpasses the absurd, the merely ugly, the regrettably trendy. These self-referential kicks veer into an ick-nast territory occupied by a motley crew of self-lovers and the insecure -- Martha Stewart, Liberace, Laverne De Fazio. Let this be a warning to all -- but particularly any men who may possibly live in my house -- that a monogrammed shoe, especially one bearing two-inch practically neon initials, are every bit as as egregious a fashion no-no as the dread pleated pant. And, at least the fashion-challenged can blame the presence...

Brad Pitt: Lost in Translation?

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie with children Maddox and Zahara in 2006. (AP) As I sit writing this blog post, the sharp morning light catches a whisper of sweat on my brow, and -- if anyone happened to be looking -- he or she would also register a distinctly sardonic cast to my countenance as I read a new interview with Brad Pitt on the Web site of German newspaper BILD. Here's a sampling that might explain my gag-worthy previous sentence: BILD: Are you scared of ageing? Brad Pitt (smirking): The grey hairs on his beard glisten: "No I like it. I think it's good." "The grey hairs on his beard glisten?" Ick bin nauseated. Celebrity interviews are often exercises in inanity. We know this. Many stars only make themselves available to press when it becomes financially expedient -- to promote a new film or show or album or...

Why We All Want Angelina (Or Do We?)

The object of our affection: Jolie with partner Brad Pitt at Cannes in May. (Getty Images) Angelina Jolie is the prototypical feminist. That's why, says Naomi Wolf in an essay in the July issue of Harper's Bazaar, we all -- men and women alike -- want her: Polls also show that if women — not just lesbian and bisexual women but straight women — had to choose a female lover, they would want to sleep with Angelina Jolie. In other words, women both identify with her and desire her. Why? According to Wolf, Jolie is perhaps the first celebrated woman to embody the often contradictory images of a woman as good and nurturing and a sexual goddess. For some reason the term humanitarian dominatrix comes to mind. Wolf attributes Jolie's power to the deft handling of her own image; especially for emerging from the brother-kissing, blood-in-a-vial-around-your-neck wild child to...

Comment Box: Is Angelina to Blame for the Octomom?

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie lead their children through Japan's Narita International Airport in January. (Getty Images) In the wake of the recent birth of IVF octuplets in Southern California, I wonder where you think the bright line should fall for deciding when celebrities' children are off-limits for snarking and when they're fair game? [Snip] And evidently Octomom was looking for an outpouring of publicity and support, and seems to be trying to channel (if not surpass) Angelina Jolie, and now even has a website seeking donations. So, where's the line on kids, Liz? -- Nosy Parker I'm pretty sure I'm on record about where the line is vis-a-vis celebrity kid stalking, but to recap: If Katie Holmes strolls calmly down a New York street with Suri, knowing she will be swarmed by photographers, then Suri is fair game. The celeb (in this case Holmes) knows what she is...

Older Entries in This Category »

Angie vs. Jen: Brad Pitt Weighs In. Again., Liz , January 7, 2009

Comment Box: In Which We Again Consider the Question 'Is The Brangelina Brood Too Big?', Liz , October 20, 2008

Brangelina Brood: And Babies Make Six, Liz , July 14, 2008

Comment Box: Celeb Parents, the Most Selfish of All?, Liz , July 7, 2008

Wednesday List: Name Brangelina's New Additions, Liz , July 2, 2008

Big Time Blame Shifting, Liz , June 21, 2007

Angelina Jolie, Womb Raider?, Liz , March 14, 2007

Angelina Jolie: Purty as a Picture, Liz , January 4, 2007

Overblown Rumor of the Summer: Brangelina Breakup?, Liz , August 23, 2006

Comment Box: What's Brangelina's Sign?, Liz , June 12, 2006