It’s tipping it down with rain here today and I’m sitting here with a living room full of new garden furniture which needs oiling before it goes out in the garden. Oh how I *wish* we had the weather to be frolicking in the surf like these 1920s girls! Isn’t this photo great? I love(…)
Another beautiful portrait of a woman whose name has got lost somewhere in the mists of time. She was photographed in 1924 by Frank A. Kunishige and may (or may not) have been called Betti. I love her beautiful hat (and very serious expression, she looks like she may have been a bit cross with(…)
These 3 vintage beauties are the winners of a Beauty contest at the Venetian Pool in Coral Gables, Florida in 1924. Who do you think was the winner and who were the runners up? Or do you think they were winners in 3 different categories…?
Health was clearly an important issue to be tackled in schools in the 1920s, so the authorities brought out the big guns. Presumably the Health Fairy (above) would visit all the children who had been good, and Cho Cho the Health Clown would scare the bejeezers out of all the naughty children (or something like(…)
The gorgeous 1920s “Spruce Girls” photographed on a beach wearing spruce wood veneer bathing suits during “Wood Week” to promote products of the Gray Harbor lumber industry, Hoquiam, Washington c. 1929. Aren’t they stunning? I don’t know how comfortable a wooden bathing suit would be though. Do you fancy that…? [6 photos]
I’m sure you all know by now that I’m very anti-real-fur, so I constantly find it strange to see vintage adverts for fur when it was seen as something desirable and, well, socially acceptable! These adverts for furs are both from the 1920s. I just don’t think you’d get adverts for fur coats any more(…)
Joan Crawford looking very different to her 1930s and 40s screen image. This photo dates from 1927.She was signed to MGM in 1925 and just received small flapper roles until she managed to promote herself into more prominent roles.
A group of young women photographed in 1920s swimwear, some of which is lovely and some of which is terribly unflattering. The photos were taken at Potomac Tidal Basic beach in Washington in 1922. The woman on the left above (and in the boat below) is actress Kay Laurell, but I don’t know about the(…)
I discovered this video today and I thought it was absolutely fascinating! It is original colour video footage taken in London in 1927. It was taken by an early British pioneer of film, Claude Frisse-Greene, who made a series of travelogues using the colour process his father William – a noted cinematographer – was experimenting(…)
The fabulous and vivacious Josephine Baker dancing the Charleston at the Folies-Bergère, Paris in 1926.
I thought the topless swimsuit was invented by Rudi Gernreich in the 1960s, but apparently a slightly baggier version was around in the 1920s! This monokini was worn by Guna Mori, a Follies Bergere girl. Apologies for the size of the photo, I couldn’t find a higher-res photo! Which version do you prefer this one,(…)
1920s portrait of American actress, singer and Ziegfeld Follies girl Dorothy Dickinson, 1927.
Before she got into movies, Barbara Stanwyck spent a couple of years working as a Ziegfeld Follies showgirl. This photo looks like it is from this period, which would be 1922 and 1923. I wonder whether it’s by Alfred Cheney Johnston who was the main photographer for the Ziegfeld girls throughout the 1920s. Source and(…)
Louise Brooks with her sharply bobbed hair is one of the most iconic figures of 1920s cinema, but I realised I didn’t know much about this enigmatic figure. This is what I discovered… Louise Brooks started off as a chorus girl and dancer in 1922, and by 1925 was a dancer for Ziegfeld’s Follies. It(…)
Clara Bow was the quintessential ‘it’ girl and a flapper icon. She was one of the few silent movie stars who made it successfully into ‘talkies’ with her thick Brooklyn accent in tact. Bow was notorious for her loose living and scandalous lifestyle, so you’ve probably heard the rumours and gossip but here are 10 facts(…)
1920s silent movie star Clara Bow photographed around 1924 with a very scruffy hairstyle! The dress she’s wearing is wonderful though, it looks like it’s made from velvet and has some amazing embroidery,
A really striking photo of 1920s movie star and flapper icon Clara Bow. This is a promotional photo from 1927.
American Eleanor Clay Ford, wife of Edsel Bryant Ford, in her beautiful beaded wedding gown and headdress, 1916. I like the way the pearl necklace reflects the pearls on the bodice and in her hair, isn’t it a beautiful outfit? And here she is (below) with her husband in 1924 wearing some very natty checked(…)