How did women go from the straight laced Edwardian era to free and easy fashions of 1920s flapper in just 1 decade? The catalyst was the same that changed not only fashion, but society and many aspects of everyday life: war. The Edwardian Era Just in case you’re not sure what Edwardian ladies looked like,(…)
I visited the V&A a week or so ago. One of my favourite museums in London, the Victoria and Albert Museum is an eclectic mix of sculptures, religious art, design and fashion, but on this visit I wanted to spend some time in their Fashion section. One thing which really surprised me was the size of(…)
I don’t profess to be any kind of historical costume expert, but I do have an interest in vintage fashions and I love a good wedding dress. Because of this I’ve spent hours both looking at old wedding photos and watching Downton Abbey, and it strikes me that they don’t seem to tally at all!(…)
Vintage high school photos taken in 1942 at McGuffey High School in Miami. Aren’t these great? I love the different hairstyles, some are so fancy. I wonder whether they wore their hair like this every day or whether it was a special effort on photo day? Can you tell from the photos who the different(…)
Olga Spessivtseva was one of the foremost Russian ballerinas of the early 20th Century. She traveled the world to rave reviews in a career which spanned from 1913 to 1939 before succumbing to mental illness and becoming an inmate of the Hudson River Asylum for the Insane. Often billed as Olga Spessiva (her name was(…)
Even if you’re not a silent movie buff you’ve probably heard of ‘America’s Sweetheart‘ Mary Pickford. Here are some interesting facts you might not have known about the famous Blondilocks: She co-founded the movie studio United Artists with Charlie Chaplin, husband Douglas Fairbanks Sr and D.W. Griffith in response to the restrictive and controlling ‘Star(…)
I came across this amazing collection of photographs on Flickr yesterday and was totally captivated by them. The photographer was Costică Acsinte, a Polish Romanian war photographer during WW1 and afterwards. These photos all seem to have been taken around 1940 and are a real mixture: some are of military personnel, some are posed photo(…)
Pin up girls have been around for a lot longer than you think. Since as early as the 1890s girls have been drawn, painted and photographed and presented to the world as the ideal of beauty and sexuality. Like fashions in beauty and body shape, the pin up has changed enormously over the last century.(…)
I thought this photo was delightful, there’s something delicious about seeing little glimpses back in time. It looks like neither these women nor the ships officer knew this photo was being taken and I love the way the ladies are both trying to stop their skirts from flying up in the breeze. It’s so much(…)
Oh, how I love a Hitchcock movie! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bad one, apart from ‘The Man Who Knew Too Much‘. And that’s just a strange story line told using unlikeable characters, as you might remember me complaining a while back. Actually that’s probably a good definition of a bad movie isn’t(…)
Well, this is definitely the oldest movie I’ve watched, and it’s truly fabulous! It’s quite incredible that it was made way back in 1902. Only fifteen minutes long, Le Voyage dans la Lune was the first sci-fi film ever made and tackles the idea of a trip to the moon they way they thought it(…)
Did you realize Sherlock Holmes was inspired by a real person? Nope, me neither! Apparently Arthur Conan Doyle (above right) based the fictional character of Sherlock on a doctor he knew called Joseph Bell (above left). Bell was known for his powers of deduction and even helped police with investigations in Scotland. Doyle met Bell,(…)
Miss Fernande was arguably the very first photographic pin up star. Born during the 1890s in Paris, the lovely Fernande was a model and prostitute who posed for nude and semi-nude photographs for photographer Jean Agelou during the 1910s and 20s. Her exact identity remains a mystery. Only ever known by the moniker ‘Miss Fernande’(…)
Frankly, an artistic arrangement of dead snakes doesn’t really say Happy Christmas to me, but clearly it did to somebody. This photos if from a Christmas card back in 1910. I don’t have much information about it except that it was Harry Dewey’s Christmas card and the photo was taken in Big Cypress Swamp, Florida.(…)
I’ve just read that Max Factor have announced Marilyn Monroe as their new ‘global glamour ambassador’. They’ve done this based on the fact that Marilyn was a client of Max Factor back when they ran a beauty salon in the 1940s and they claim to have been responsible for her trademark starlet makeover. I’m not(…)
What could be a better way of staring 2015 than by quoting Chicago? Actually I guess that depends on your opinion of that movie but I love it (back when Renée Zellweger had her original face and all) so I think it’s a great start to the year! This year I have numerous New Years(…)
John Gilbert ‘The Great Lover’ was one of the few stars of the silent movie era who could rival Rudolph Valentino, and you can see why, handsome devil wasn’t he? Like Valentino his life ended tragically young (although not quite as young as Valentino) aged just 38. During this time he made in excess of(…)
So, it’s Boxing Day and I’m sitting here (eating chocolates) waiting for it to snow. Apparently we are due to get snow tonight, but I fully expect to wake up in the morning and see cold grey drizzle rather than a beautiful white blanket covering everything. We didn’t have any snow last winter at all,(…)