Louise Brooks with her sharply bobbed hair is one of the most iconic figures of 1920s cinema and epitomized the rebellious modern woman of the time. She started off her career as a chorus girl and dancer in 1922, and by 1925 was a dancer for Ziegfeld’s Follies. It was as a Follies girl that(…)
I don’t know very much about these fashions, except that they were captioned ‘Hermes Dresses, 1952’. I love the idea of all the detail being drawn on, although I’m not sure they would look quite this fabulous in real life rather than on super-glamorous 50s models! Does anyone know anything about the back-story to these(…)
When Princess Anne married Mark Phillips in November 1973 at Westminster Abbey, she wore a Tudor-inspired dress with a real 1970s flavour. Who would have guessed those two styles would be a good combination..? With it’s high neckline and long draped medieval sleeves, it was elegant and simple in comparison to other highly-embellished royal wedding(…)
Marilyn Monroe photographed in February 1947 when she was still a young starlet. At this time she was still called Norma Jeane, and hadn’t yet undergone her Hollywood makeover. In 1950 she had rhinoplasty (a nose-job) and a chin implant on the advice of her agent who paid for the surgery. She only changed her(…)
It’s amazing considering Liz Taylor got married 8 times that she managed to make a fashion statement every single time! This is one of my least favourite of her wedding outfits, partly because I still struggle to love 70s fashion (too many bad fashion choices as a child) but I had the most fun drawing(…)
50s blonde bombshell Jayne Mansfield was married 3 times before her tragic death at the age of just 34. For her second wedding to bodybuilder Mickey Hargitay she wore this sensational skin-tight dress covered with lace and sequins. (He proposed with a whopping 10-carat diamond ring which cost $5.000 at the time – something like(…)
This photos were taken at a professional photo shoot for a young starlet some time during the 1940s. It’s really interesting to see the different stages, especially the amount of contouring they used on her face. Presumably the make up was done specifically for taking photographs as it seems a little heavy for real life.(…)
So, who knew there was a trend for body jewelry in the 50s? These photos are from 1951 of ‘Cling’ jewelry, which presumably was somehow stuck to your skin rather than pierced into your skin! Frankly I suspect these twinkling baubles would be uncomfortable, would probably fall off after a short time and also leave(…)
If you think you need a steady hand to apply eyeliner, then try drawing straight seams up the backs of your legs! During WW2 when stockings were in short supply women were encouraged to use liquid stockings instead, and to draw the seams using eyeliner (or to get a friend to do it for you!).(…)
You thought zumba and ashtanga yoga were torture enough in the pursuit of youth and fitness? Be grateful you didn’t live in the 1940s when young women were encouraged to visit slenderizing salons in the pursuit of perfection. These photos show poor Pat Ogden being pummeled by a Wooden Barrel Massager and a Roaler Massager(…)
When Ava Gardner married Frank Sinatra after months of media speculation the world went wild. This was Gardner’s third marriage and she had long been branded a femme fatale by the press. Sinatra also came in for a lot of flack for leaving his wife Nancy for her, both by the Hollywood Establishment and the(…)
If you want to talk fairy tale weddings then Grace Kelly‘s wedding to Prince Rainier III of Monaco was the real deal. One of the world’s biggest movie stars marrying a prince in a bonefide Royal wedding? You can’t beat that! Of course once she married into the Royal Family and became a princess she(…)
Audrey Hepburn married twice, the second time in 1969 to Italian psychiatrist Andrea Dotti. They married in Morges, Switzerland and she wore was a pale pink minidress with matching hood by favourite designer Hubert de Givenchy. Givenchy also designed some of Hepburn’s most iconic movie looks including her Sabrina dress, the amazing 1960s mod costumes(…)
The wedding of Wallis Simpson to Edward, Duke of Windsor in 1937 was one of the most scandalous marriages of the 20th Century. In order to marry ‘the woman I love’ who was an American 2-time divorcee and therefore seen as totally unsuitable to become Queen, King Edward VIII was forced to abdicate the throne.
We tend to think of 1950s swimwear as being the height of style and sophistication, and some of it WAS beautiful, but as you can tell by these photos some of the more experimental items of beachwear were more miss than hit! The giant puffy beachball look anyone?
I love this series of photos. Some of them could have been taken anywhere during the Sixties: the Mary Quant fashions and girls with their heavy eye-makeup and bouffant hair (even on the ballerinas). But then there are some uniquely Parisian photos too: the street scenes, the elderly couple snoozing in the Louve, the stamp(…)
As promised when I published my favourite women’s outfits from this year’s Goodwood Revival, here are my pick of the most dapper gents. Their outfits are all 1940s, 50s or 60s themed and I think you’ll agree that they all look splendid! As always there were so many military uniforms, that I decided not to(…)
Sadly I couldn’t make it to Goodwood Revival this year. It’s the first year we’ve missed it, but happily Matt Hind from Men’s File was there taking his amazing photos so I didn’t have to miss out entirely! Here are some of my favourite looks from the Goodwood Revival 2015. The fashions range from 1940s(…)