Be a Vamp

This little introduction will have you well on your way to being the dark and exotic woman known as the vamp. You'll fall in with the likes of Cleopatra, Pola Negri, Nita Naldi, Mata Hari, Madame Du Barry, Coco Chanel, and most importantly, Theda Bara. History's most exotically beautiful, cunning, and intelligent women are known as vamps and they shook things up, and for that the details of their origins were mired in mystery.

Steps

  1. Cultivate your image. Refine it by exercising. Try to exercise for at least 30 minutes a day. You can practice yoga, martial arts, dance (think of belly dance, kathak, bollywood dance, or any exotic dance) Pamper yourself once a week. Take a hot bath and give yourself a facial.
  2. Cultivate your mind. Educate yourself. Study hard and learn the best you can. Try to be an educated lady. If you can go to a good college, it's good for you, but you don't need it to be cultivated, intelligent. Be curious about life, about people (but always keep your mystery, your distance). Travel. You can learn so much by travelling, discovering other cultures. Fly to India, the country of mystery, or any other asian country.
  3. Set Vamp ray to "stun". Try to make everybody stare at you. Act as if everybody wants you when you want. Flirt a little. Give people an alluring stare. Always be aware of your sensual side. Move as if you are dancing, floating in the air. Be gracious, like a ballerina and sumptuous, as a queen.
  4. Pick up the pieces. If you are friends with people who pick their noses and talk about toe jam, you have some work to do. Throw unsuitable suitors to the waysides. Since you are curious about life, you can talk with everybody, even people with no money, in the street, or other vamps, artists... You are a Vamp, not an arrogant daddy's girl. You know how life is, and it's rich of it's diversity. But, in any case, always keep your class, your dignity.
  5. Adopt an exotic look. Hopefully, you've already been gifted the almond shaped eyes and high broad cheekbones unique glowy complexion. To make your eyes appear almond shaped, try to smile with your eyes. To give the appearance of high cheekbones, add blush only to the hollows of your cheeks. To get a glowy complexion, take detox baths and give yourself facials made of maida flour.
  6. Dress exquisitely, but a bit dark and eccentric. Try to wear blacks, dark browns, purple, red, white, grey, navy, and maroon.
  7. Avoid tacky mall-goth looks or anything made of vinyl. Try to wear cotton, spandex, and polyester clothes only. Wear mostly cotton but a little bit of spandex can go a long way.
  8. Wear styles and cuts that are classic, such as black pencil skirts or gypsy-inspired clothing. When wearing jeans, keep them dark wash and skinny. If you wear a light skirt, be sure to wear a darker shirt. Keep clothes modest. Try to get the look of an hourglass figure.
  9. Stick to the vamp diet. Vamps dine on exotic spicy curries and pricy champagne or sparkling waters and tonics. A Vamp wouldn't be eating TV dinners alone but rather eating exotic home-brewed meals and polishing off a box of imported chocolates for no particular occasion. Try to eat elegantly. Don't be caught at McDonald's with anybody. Drink Chai tea and smolder, baby... smolder.
  10. Be the life and death of the party. When you leave, you take the caterer with you as the saying goes. Wherever you go, make an impression and preferably a good one. A mysterious aura helps. Have a unique scent to really get them going.
  11. Become worldly. Though it is hard to believe you aren't already! Read books on worldwide news and history. Familiarize yourself with history's most notorious femme fatales.
    • Madame Du Barry
    • Marie Antoinette
    • Coco Chanel
    • Mata Hari
    • Lucrezia Borgia
    • Cleopatra
    • Helen of Troy
    • Marilyn Monroe
    • Nita Naldi
    • Theda Bara
    • Pola Negri
  12. Be sure and learn impeccable etiquette and social graces. Read Emily Post's etiquette books and learn how to dine/dance/write/and correspond correctly. A Vamp is a woman of the world; she never forgets her manners. Or good grammar. But don't be a product of this book, add your personality, your touch. You are a unique vamp.
  13. Learn another language. Learn Asian tongues as well as ancient Latin or any of the languages of love will help, such as Italian or French. You are worldly, not a product of your myopic society. Cultivate your mind.
  14. Exude self-confidence and go, baby, go!

Tips

  • Be more cultured. The vamp is a society vampire; a real humdinger of a dame. She makes Paris Hilton look like a Beverly Hillbilly. She's cultured, regardless of her income level or family name. Read books about composers that interest you, take classes about the Art Deco period. Read up on history..namely the history of cinema and silent film. Take fencing lessons or learn how to paint. A vamp is one heck of a woman, and she cultivates manners and etiquette like most girls cultivate coupons to Abercrombie and Fitch.
  • Smolder. All vamps have piercing eyes outlined in dark black kohl or liquid liner. If the eyes are the window to the soul, the vamp must have luminously dark windows with thick black window treatments. A strong seductive gaze doesn't hurt either. If you have light eyes, try to wear darker makeup around then to give them the window treatment they need. If you have very, very fair skin, try charcoal eyeliner, as black may be too harsh.
  • Always make an entrance. The vamp steals the room. She enters in a gust of incense (usually with an entourage) and is never the last to leave. Even if it is just to the doctor's office, exude confidence and you won't need the incense for people to sense you coming but a strong Egyptian scented oil on the pulse points will be sure that you're never forgotten.
  • Vamps usually have exotic good looks. If you are rather a plain Midwestern farmer's daughter or of Northern European descent, vamping won't come easy.
  • Have an exotic bloodline. All vamps have an exotic lineage of Continental (preferably Asiatic) ancestry. Whether real, or imagined. The best vamp combination is a torrid combination of aristocratic European roots and Asian/Polynesian/eastern European blood.
  • Theda Bara herself once said that a vamp cannot be fat. There is nothing serpentine about a morbidly obese woman trying to curl up on a man's lap or armchair. That being said, vamps are not terribly skinny, either. A vamp is svelte and curvy; think Jean Harlow or Marilyn Monroe—the silent-era vamps were curvy as well.
  • Think luxe, plush, and imported. Vamps don't shop at IKEA for furniture. Think antique imported Egyptian end-tables, oriental rugs, and leopard fur throw blankets, tasseled pillows, thick candelabras and sconces, black silk, and cashmere, dark paisley prints, and black out curtains on your windows. Think Cleopatra's chamber - Madame Du Barry's bed chamber, Mata Hari's dressing table. Luxury, but nothing fluffy, frilly, or too new. Scour vintage stores and estate sales for finds you can be happy with.

Warnings

  • No one likes a cold and calculating vamp. Use your cunning for social and societal pursuits, not for man-stealing and back-stabbing. That is so yesterday.
  • Smoking is not necessary; vamps move with the times.

Things You'll Need

  • Charisma
  • Darkly exotic good looks
  • A come-hither gaze
  • Exotic bloodline
  • Impeccable manners
  • An accent always helps but don't layer it on too thickly. Be subtle.
  • Tight black tanks and sweaters
  • Dark silk fabrics
  • Black and white contrasting pieces
  • Rich furs (preferably faux, but not cheaply made)
  • Leopard print shawls and scarves
  • Black gloves
  • Headdresses or a simple black hat or beret
  • Exotic jewelry with dangles and precious gemstones
  • Long dangling pearl strands
  • Rice powder - the palest please
  • Blood red lipstick
  • Black kohl eyeliner
  • A signature scent such as Chanel No.5, Opium, Mitsouko or any musky exotic smelling scent such as sandalwood
  • Incense to burn
  • Photo inspiration. Keep photos of the silent era ladies as daily inspiration to go out there and vamp till your heart's content

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