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A luxury brand and an everlasting image!
A woman is seen leaning slightly forward, with both arms outstretched towards the back. A cloth is fluttering from her hands to her back which resembles having wings. Over the years, this has become an iconic symbol of a brand whose name is associated with luxury and beauty - Rolls Royce.
There was a British politician named Lord Montagu who first approached his friend and sculptor Charles Sykes to create such an ornament. Charles graduated from the Royal College of Arts, and he first created the body of a woman standing on one leg with her gown fluttering backwards and a finger pointing at her lips symbolizing a secret. The secret was the alleged relationship between Lord Montagu and Thornton at the time which lasted for about ten years.
Eleanor Thornton was selected as the model for the work. No more models were available at the time around 1911, and Thornton was secretary of Lord Montagu. The statue, created by Charles, was known as The Whisper. After seeing the first statue, Rolls-Royce managing director Claude Johnson asked Charles to create a graceful mascot that could be worn on all Rolls-Royce vehicles in the future.
At the time, Johnson briefed Charles that Rolls-Royce's spirit should be conveyed in this new model. Such as, 'speed with silence, absence of vibration, the mysterious harnessing of great energy, and beautiful life.' Charles had in his mind a statue called 'Winged Victory of Samothrace' in The Louvre at the time. Winged Victory or Nike was the goddess of strength, speed, and victory, and she is always seen with her wings.
Charles had to show a little more feminine statue, so he proceeded with the work of Thornton in mind. He showed a fluttering garment as wings. The figure was seen facing wind and speed just like Winged Victory. Charles made about eleven different versions, names, and sizes of this statue. First from 'The Whisper' to 'The Spirit of Speed' and its current name is 'Spirit of Ecstasy'. She is also commonly known as Emily, Silver Lady and Flying Lady. Today it is equipped with state-of-the-art technology that if anyone tries to push this small image on the bonnet of a car, it is immediately alerted and slips inside the bonnet.
It was initially made of silver-plated and later nickel and chrome alloys. Today it is made to look similar to the original digital Eleanor and is available in different forms such as stainless steel, 4-carat gold, aluminium crystal or metal black with diamond.
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