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...

Spotlight on Designers at Dirty Fabulous: Kiviette

We have some special gems in the store at the moment so I thought I would tell you a little more about their provenence!

First up is
"Kiviette"

This beautiful 1940's strapless gown is currently in stock with us at Dirty Fabulous.

Bust - 40"

Waist - 30"

Born Yetta Schminsky,in 1893, she married Abel Kiviat and thereafter used the single name Kiviette professionally.

She designed for both theatre and fashion and was a very famous Broadway designer particularly during the 1930's.
Her Broadway career spanned from 1917 to 1948 and encompassed forty five Broadway shows, all musicals except two. 

She continued designing commercial fashion until the 1950's.

These original sketches by Kiviette were discovered in 1981 by museum director Oskar Pausch in The Theatre Museum at the Lobkowitz Palace in Vienna.

They were among an incredible 1,400 original sketches for musicals and musical revues produced on Broadway from 1900 to 1925 by over 66 American designers (20 of which have yet to be identified).

No one is quite sure how this collection came to be there but oh how I would love to see this astonishing array of sketches!!
They are so glamorous I can only imagine what the actual costumes were like, I'm picturing lush velvet, shimmering silks and sparkling jewels!

  

They are completely charming and full of fun!

During her Broadway career she designed for many, soon to be stars including, Fred and Adele Astaire (Fred's older sister and dance partner for 27 years)

Funny Face, Original Broadway production, 1927

Costumes by Kiviette

Music and Lyrics by Ira and George Gershwin

Tillie Losch, Fred Astaire, Adele Astaire, Frank Morgan & Helen Broderick

Tillie Losch

Fred Astaire and his sister Adele

The above photos are from the Broadway production of The Band Wagon, with costumes by Kiviette, New Amsterdam Theatre 1931 - 1932. 

This would be the last time that Fred performed on stage with his sister before she retired to marry Lord Charles Cavendish.

This is Lee Merriweather, winner of Miss America 1955 in a fabulous Kiviette evening gown

We always find it so astonishing to be able to look back at at the history of our vintage dresses.

It's thrilling to learn so much wonderful details about a piece in our collection.

This is especially possible when they have been created by a well known designer.

It makes them even more special!!!

The Strange Things We Do For Beauty

I thought I would share a few interesting adverts and articles things I have come across over time that surprised me.

There are constantly new ideas about what beauty is and how to attain it. From lotions and potions to diets and then the more extreme surgical procedures, everything from botox to elective facial reconstruction.

This obsession is nothing new! 

This one is really gross! They were selling jars of sanitised tapeworms in the 1900's which you swallowed, the idea being the tapeworms ate your insides and kept you thin! No Thank you!!! 

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This advert is from the 1890's
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A machine to give you dimples invented in 1936

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A machine designed by Max Factor (that's him in the photo) in 1935 to calibrate the symmetry of a woman's face so make up can be applied to contour and balance "imperfections".

This was the only machine made and was sold in 2011 at auction in the US for an undisclosed sum, it was estimated at $10,000 - $20,000!

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This was part of a face mask beauty treatment by Helena Rubenstein in the 1940's

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This is a tanning machine circa 1945! Looks very like a petrol pump.

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One of the most famous Hollywood transformations being..........

Margarita Carmen Cansino

""who? you say, Margarita Carmen Cansino, a Latino dancer who danced with her father in clubs.
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Margarita & her father Eduardo in 1934
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To.........................

Rita Hayworth

Flame haired screen siren of the 1940's
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This transformation was at the behest of Columbia studios, it seems insane now that they could coerce their young star into such drastic measures but it was no secret at the time. They wouldn't sign her until she had the following procedures done, which all in, took 3 years - 

She had extensive painful Hairline Electrolysis to raise her hairline. (this was during the 1930's so anaesthesia wasn't exactly part of the procedure!)

She bleached her skin, all over her body, an extremely dangerous practice, even now. 

She dyed her dark Latino hair red and to finish it all off they made her change her name. 

(Her story is quite shocking, definitely worth further reading if you are interested in biographies of the era.)