For all my readers that are fans of Art Deco design and the fashion 1920s and 30s, I have several boards full of my favourite visual collections over at Pinterest that I add to on a daily basis. You are welcome to follow me there also. Enjoy 
Great article I found on the website about high-end fashion in the 20s. The cost of $346 in 1926 is equivalent to $4,414 today!! Clara Bow is the model here.
So, I thought I would do something fun and write a regular post every 2 weeks that focuses on a particular colour. I will also include pics showing all sorts of vintage fashion items that were produced in varying shades of that colour, hopefully to inspire some new outfit combinations in the future and some possible purchases.
Black and white: Yes, I’m generally a fan of darker colours like black and navy, so I’ve always been a fan of 1930s Coco Chanel. Even her home was decorated in black white tones, which at the time, was quite daring. Schiaparelli also used black and white very well in some of her clothing lines. Anyhoo, I love the contrast of black and white garments and the streamlining they give the body. Here are some lovely examples that I have found.
Elmer Fryer was another wonderful photographer of Hollywood stars and celebrities. When I think of vintage Hollywood – Fryer and Hurrell always come to mind instantly. Fryer joined Warner in 1929 and during the 1930s he took portraits of Bette Davis, Kay Francis, Barbara Stanwyck, Myrna Loy, Louise Brooks, Loretta Young, Ann Dvorak, James Cagney, Errol Flynn, Henry Fonda and many other Warner Brothers stars. Sadly, Fryer died young at age 46, only 3 years after he left Warner Brothers in 1941. But, he left us a wonderful legacy to share in his photography.
I love the way Fryer designed his shots by using poses to suit the subject and to enhance their beauty. He seemed to have an uncanny sense of style and there is such an elegance to his work, especially with his use of black and white props, clothing and deep shadows. I adore the shot of Errol Flynn as I think it captures his personality perfectly – the handsome, cheeky, Aussie larrikin.
* All pics are linked back to their original sources
I was pulling out some of my books on vintage photography today and was reminded of how much I love Edward Steichen. I adore his simple lines and the way uses shadow and light. Steichen’s photos of gowns designed by in the magazine Art et Décoration in 1911 are some of the very first modern fashion photographs and he helped define an era of glamour and elegance. Along with fashion work, he also photographed stunning portraits of movie stars and well-known faces of the day including Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Charlie Chaplin, Gloria Swanson, Norma Shearer, Greta Garbo, Anna May Wong, Pola Negri, Loretta Young, Lilian Gish, Amelia Earhart and Joan Crawford. Hope you enjoy these classic images.
Categories: Celebrities, Clothing, Vintage Photos
Tagged: 1920s, 1930s, Edward Steichen, fashion photography, Gloria Swanson, greta garbo, Loretta Young
Ralph Lauren fully embracing the 1920s trend for the season, in anticipation of Baz Luhrman’s The Great Gatsby…
As a lover of 1930s fashion, in my humble opinion one of the most stylish garments to emerge from the 20s and 30s were beach or ‘lounge’ pyjamas. They just ooze elegance and sophistication and are visually very iconic. Until the 1920s, pyjamas were pretty much only worn as sleepwear, then sometime in the 1920s they made their way outdoors as a cover-up over swimming costumes on the beaches of the French Riveria. When crepe pyjamas were first worn at the seaside, trouser wearing women were rare sight and still very much confined to beach and promenade areas.
The trend took off all over the globe (the photo above is from the UK) and beach pyjamas soon also became casual-wear for less formal outdoor events in the warmer months. Many women took to wearing them around the home as ‘lounging pyjamas’ when entertaining or just relaxing.
In the 1920s, beach or lounge pajamas were usually a top and trouser set with matching jacket. By the 1930s, one-piece, jumpsuit-style pajamas were very popular and many featured a very wide leg. Fabric like shantung, linen or cotton was accepted for the for beach and lounging pajamas, but as they became widely popular in the 1930s, many were also available in rayon. Pyjamas were made in an amazing array of bold colors and patterns, as you will see in some of pictures and old advertisements I have added here. Many of the patterns were influenced by Japanese and Chinese art which was seen as very exotic at that time.
With lounge pyjamas a new category of clothing emereged: resort wear. With it’s bright designs and lightweight fabrics, resort wear was all about relaxing and holidaying and even today, when viewing the elegant vintage posters advertising these garments, I immediately think of luxury yachts, beaches, boardwalks and sunny weather. I have a wonderful 1930s Australian travel poster advertising Bondi Beach and all the women illustrated wearing beach pyjamas. With our weather here in Oz – they must have a been a blessing back in the day
Stars like Greta Garbo and Joan Crawford had a lot to do with making lounging pyjamas extremely popular worldwide as they donned them in several of their movies during the 1930s and women everywhere took notice.
I hope you enjoy some of my favourite images here. I regularly wear and own many pairs of high-waisted, flowy, wide legged trousers, which I find extremely flattering, so I’m a big fan of beach pyjamas. Which reminds me; I am still to make a pair from a (below) that I purchased early this year. My friend Lauren has done a wonderful job of putting this pattern together, so if you love lounging PJs, you can now indulge yoursel. Also, thanks to for her wonderful blog containing a collection of beautiful photos, vintage advertising, posters and patterns of beach and lounging PJs. It’s where I pilfered some of these pics from
Categories: Clothing, In Magazines, Vintage Photos
Fantasy flappers! Oh my! And check out the half-moon manicures, back in 2005 before they were all the rage…
Charlotte Fiell’s latest compilation has just been released today: ! I’m guessing this will be a gorgeous sourcebook for original images of twenties fashions. I want this now! But I can’t buy it until February when I move to London (and therefore have a bookshelf to put it in!). Oh well, you kids can buy it now at . Here’s the blurb:
Saucy flappers and manic Charlestons, dramatic silent movies and the bigband euphoria of early jazz: the 1920s must surely rank amoung the most dashing eras in American styles history, and this volume documents in ravishing detail the clothing that helped make the decade so stylish and glamorous. Sumptuously illustrated with more than 600 original photographs, drawings and prints, Fashion Sourcebook 1920s focuses largely on the Art Deco period, with its beautiful beaded dresses, cloche hats and t-bar shoes as worn by the fahsionable flappers and the “bright young things” of the time. Hemlines and haircuts both became drastically shorter, mirroring the changing social roles: at the decade’s outset, women gained the right to vote and Prohibition led many otherwise law abiding Americans to break the law of the land rather than abandon their gin fizzes. This title will prove an indispensable reference work not only for students of fashion but for all fashionistas seeking ideas for the major themes within fashion during this period, surveying its most famous designers and assessing their creative contributions. A cornucopia of beautiful clothes with exquisite detailing, this book is a rich source of inspiration as well as an important survey of Art Deco fashion.
John Galliano chooses theme after theme for his menswear collections that I love love love! Fall 2006 was aviation, Spring 2006 had New Orleans and jazzmen, and now for Spring 2011 it was epic show themed on silent movie stars like Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd. Look at this!
Watch the full show, it’s a fabulous spectacle:
Categories: Men's Fashion, On CatwalksCarl Erickson (1891 – 1958) was an American fashion and advertising illustrator from the 1910s through to the 1940s. At the peak of his career, he signed his work “Eric” and was known by this name. He worked a great deal for Vogue in the 1930s and 40s. He had a reputation for being obsessively hardworking. He only ever sketched from live models. For each illustration that appeared in a magazine, he had made dozens of studies. And he was known for bringing his sketchbook with him everywhere he went – to the restaurant, to the theatre – and capturing the elegance he saw around him.
Chloe Memisevic in Donna Karan by Yasunari Kikuma for Numéro Tokyo November 2011
Stephanie is a one of my role models for sure! I was her intern 2 years ago, and she showed me a world filled with rhinestones, feathers, and pasties. 
Her is tantalizing and she used to dance with Hop Swing & A Jump back in the day!
I asked Stephanie to share her story about how she came about making costumes, here is piece from my interview with her:
Categories: ClothingI was inspired to make show/dancer costumes after I saw a really terrible burlesque show in 1999. The dancers’ costumes were falling off at all the wrong times, besides looking really cheap and badly made. I was attracted to the idea of reverse engineering – making clothing to meant to peel off effortlessly and the fact that I coud work with fun materials like sequins and beading. I kept the idea in the back of my head until I finally contacted a burlesque dancer to offer my costuming services. She encouraged me to just join her troupe and make costumes for myself, which I did. My first costume was a pearl bead embellished bra and belt, which I still love. I’ve made many costumes since – my favorite burlesque costumes are the Marie Antoinette piece and the blue satin corset outfit.
For me, as a vintage clothing collector and wearer, old clothing catalogues are must have as they are gold-mines of imagery and info. Part of recreating a vintage look is understanding how an outfit was put together back in the day, and old catalogues are the best way to find this out.
The clothes people bought to wear to work, around the house, for vacations or for more formal or glamourous occasions are all to be found in Sears catalogues. Dresses, hats, shoes, purses and scarves, jewellery and stockings. These books are a wonderful record of exactly what people wore in the 20s, 30s and 40s and HOW they wore it. It can be hard to source original catalogues these days and most go for a fortune on ebay, so these three “Everyday Fashions” books from Dover Publications are great resource and not too expensive. I use them all the time as a reference. They are available from
Categories: Books
I stumbled across this photo of Cheryl Cole in a golden gown on the X-Factor. It reminded me of some photos of vintage starlets in metallic gowns I have set aside over the years. Amongst the beauties here we have Ginger Rogers, Jean Harlow, Baba Beaton, Rita Hayworth, Eleanor Powell, Nancy Coleman, Veronica Lake, Myrna Loy, Carol Hughes and Delores Del Rio. Wow, I need something like this…
This is a book I bought myself for Christmas. It covers fashion history from the 18th century to the 20th century, with glossy photographs of the collection held by the Kyoto Costume Institute in Japan. The book has been out for a while, but oh my, if you don’t own it yet, go out and buy it immediately! So much inspiration for any swing fashionista, the kind of clothes that are so beautiful it makes my chest ache. The Poiret, the Schiaparelli, the Chanel, oh god the Vionnet! The Vionnet, people! Now I want desperately to visit the Kyoto Costume Institute. A holiday to Japan anyone?
Seriously folks, this book is sheer fashion heaven. It is definitely now one of the favourites in my collection. You can buy it . Enjoy!
