Hollywood and Beautiful Bag Ladies!

Jean harlow, 1932

Rita Haworth 1946 and Maggy Rouff, 1946

 Hollywood sets the trends... well, at least it used to!  It's no secret that the music industry has been a huge influence on fashion, thank goodness we have Lady Gaga to stir things up a bit, right?!  Today's stars tend to follow existing trends as they change their looks  with every public appearance.  There was a time, however- Hollywood's "Golden Age", when movie stars set the trends. 

In 1932, within just a few days, the New York department store Macy's sold 500,000 copies of a white dress with gigantic, flounced sleeves worn by twenty-six-year-old Joan Crawford in Letty Lynton (1932).  The designer of the original dress was Adrian, and his lavish yet refined creations has already established Greta Garbo and Jean Harlow as glamour goddesses.  He understood the psychology of his trade: "You must never put costume jewelry or imitation lace on Garbo," he said. "Not that it would be noticed on the screen, but it would do something to Garbo and her performance."

The aim was more than mere beauty.  Hollywood costumes enhanced a star's natural attributes- up to the point where she became her own image.  The desired effect was a total fusion of person and look.  "Her costumes always looked as though they really did belong to her", Edith Head wrote about Carole Lombard, whom she dressed at Paramount.  Half a century later, fashion designers such as Giorgio Armani, Ralph Lauren and Jil Sander adopted this principle for every woman and gave it a name: personal style.

Will the next year's Oscars see glimpses of those "Golden Years" whisp-ing down the red carpet? I can't wait to find out!

Source: Icons of Fashion the 20th Century by Prestel Publishing.

Beautiful Bag Ladies!

This group of students made their pretty projects in just two hours!  Fabulous job ladies!