Fashion Icons Through The Ages: The Glamourous 30's - Part 1

After taking a little break, we've returned to our Icon series. If you missed the Beginning of Celebrity or The Roaring Twenties then it's worth catching up on some serious fashion stakes! Now, back to one of the most sumptuous decades in fashion:

You'll be hard pressed to find someone who doesn't drool over the glamour of the 1930's. Even the most cutting edge fashionista can admire the allure of Old Hollywood. In fact this era is so chok full of glamourpusses that I'll have to split it into two parts!!!

Fay Wray
An original 'Queen Of Scream' Fay's career took off after she starred in a series of horror and thrillers where she put her talent for fearful shrieking to great use. She rose to superstardom after she starred in King Kong in 1933. Fay continued to work right up into her 80's.

Look at these fabulous tights!

Carole Lombard

Carole became the highest paid actress of her time and was considered one of the most beautiful women in Hollywood. Costume departments and designers fought to clothe her. She married one of the biggest actors of the early 30's, William Powell. The marriage didn't last long as they were dramatically different: Carole was young and fiesty whilst Powell was more mature and serious. Carole then married Clarke Gable at a time when he was becoming a huge star and they were madly in love up until her death due to a plane crash at only 33.

Jean Harlow

Known in Hollywood as the Blonde Bombshell or Baby, Jean Harlow was as synonymous for her platinum blonde locks as she was for wearing tight, bias cut silk dresses. She was a hugely popular actress of her time who played both comedic and serious roles. It's hard to believe from all of the fabulous photos we see of Jean Harlow that she was plagued by illness. Her "platinum" hair colour was created in a weekly process using peroxide, ammonia, Clorox, and soap flakes! Not surprisingly it made her hair fall out. Jean starred in so many movies with leading men like Clarke Gable and William Powell that it seems like she had a long career in Hollywood, but sadly, she died at only 26, of Kidney failure, whilst filming Saratoga.

Jean's dress was so tight for the film "Dinner at Eight" that she couldn't sit down and the director had this reclining perch made for her to relax between takes!!!

Marlene Dietrich

The sultry voiced diva with bedroom eyes definitely deserves to be on our fashion icon list. Marlene was no wallflower, she was comfortable with who she was an made no apologies if her behaviour shocked. She even said "no" to the Nazi's who wanted her to campaign for their side. Marlene married once and although it didn't last she never divorced. She had endless male and female lovers and totally rocked the androgynous look. I present to you Ms. Dietrich...