Following on from talking about Toni Frissell’s photos of children during WW2 I wanted to share some of her breathtaking fashion photos with you. She started photographing for Vogue in 1931 and was best known for her fashion photos showing active and independent women in outdoor settings, which contrasted starkly with other male photographers of(…)
Amelia Earhart was a pioneering aviatrix who was the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic. She mysteriously disappeared in her plane whilst attempting to circumnavigate the globe in 1937, the wreckage of which has never been found. Here are 10 surprising facts you may not know about Amelia Earhart: She was nicknamed “Lady(…)
Apparently some people prefer taking exercise on the beach rather than just lounging with a Margarita. I don’t understand it myself. It’s all very impressive but I’d be hanging out with that handsome guy in the bottom photo chilling out and getting a tan.
Betty Ford wasn’t born a First Lady (well, of course she wasn’t!), and in fact didn’t even meet Gerald Ford until she was 30 years old and divorced from her first husband. All of these photos are from when she was still young Betty Bloomer before she married and I thought it was just lovely(…)
We all know Carmen Miranda as the famously exotic lady in the tutti-frutti hat, complete with stacked platform shoes and fabulously ruffled costumes, but she didn’t always have this colourful image. Back in the 1930s she was a lot more understated and looked completely different, take a look, you’ll be surprised! If you’re not sure(…)
Was Fred Astaire the greatest dancer on the silver screen? Personally I think he probably was, I grew up glued to Fred and Ginger movies and absolutely adored him! Born Frederick Austerlitz in 1899, Fred took to the stage at an early age singing and dancing with his sister Adele in a vaudeville act (see(…)
When you think of 1940s fashion, you probably think of tailored looks, tea dresses, victory rolls and red lipstick (even after makeup the had run out), but fashions were very different in Nazi Germany. Hitler had a very specific idea of how women should look. He even created a German Fashion Board, the Deutsches Modeamt(…)
Who comes to mind when you hear the name Dracula? Gary Oldman? Christopher Lee? Or is it in my opinion the ultimate Dracula, Bela Lugosi? Lugosi was born in Hungary and was already a successful actor with the National Theatre of Hungary when he moved to America at the age of 42. He was forced(…)
Alice Brady was a silent movie actress who won an Oscar for best supporting actress in 1937, and successfully made the transition into talkies. She started her career on the stage and made her silent movie debut in 1914 in As Ye Sow. Over the next 10 years she appeared in over 50 movies as(…)
Adrian Adolph Greenberg, better known as just ‘Adrian’ was one of the most amazing costume designers ever seen in Hollywood. He was MGM’s head costume designer from 1928 and 1941 and designed the costumes for over 250 movies during the 1930s and 40s. Remember Dorothy’s iconic glittering ruby slippers in the Wizard of Oz? Well(…)
I’ve never really ‘got’ the Clark Gable thing. I’ve watched Gone With The Wind without him leaving any particular impression on me but after watching Red Dust I get it. Maybe there’s something about a rough-and-ready Gable and the sultry heat of the jungle, both women in this movie certainly seem to think so! It’s(…)
A little Jackie Kennedy looking very grown up! This photo was taken in 1935 which I think would make her 6 years old. What a little lady eh? No wonder she became a style icon later in life!
Lupe Vélez was one of the very first Mexican actresses to have a successful Hollywood career in the 1920s and 30s. She was extremely popular but died tragically young at the height of her career aged just 36. Above: Photo of Jimmy Durante, Lupe Vélez and the Mills Brothers from the 1934 film Strictly Dynamite.(…)
Stars were having nips, tucks and predominantly nose-jobs from as early as the 1930s. It’s not well-documented as the stars who had succesful surgery rarely owned up to it, and those who had less successful surgery (like Mary Pickford who was rumoured to have damaged facial muscles after an early facelift) just faded from public(…)
If you were of the right class and in the right circumstances the 1930s was an incredibly stylish place to be. Even if you weren’t one of the privileged few the fashions helped you be stylish anyway. A few of these photos are of Hollywood stars or models, but the majority of them of the(…)
I think I’d be right in saying that The 39 Steps is the earliest Hitchcock movie I’ve seen. Released in 1935 the movie starred the dashing Robert Donat (below) and the feisty but beautiful Madeleine Carroll, both of whom were chosen because they were already well known in Hollywood and would help boost sales in(…)
Ida Lupino was a British actress and director who appeared in over 50 movies as well as becoming a pioniering and prolific director. She started her movie career working out of Teddington Studios in England in the early 1930s and moved to Hollywood in 1933. She continued to work in Hollywood throughout the 30s and(…)
With the Winter Olympics in full swing it’s a great time to talk about 1930s skating and movie star Sonja Henie. Henie was a Norwegian skater who won pretty much everything in ice-skating from 1927 to 1936 back in the days when figure skating competitions took place on frozen lakes rather than ice rinks (see(…)