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…

Jean Harlow was born Harlean Carpenter in Kansas City, Missouri in 1911. In her short life (she died at the age of 26), she became one of film history’s greatest icons, and the original blonde bombshell. She was the first movie actress to appear on the cover of Life magazine. In her 10 year acting career, she made 36 movies, including Howard Hughes Hell’s Angels (with her famous line, “Would you be shocked if I changed into something more comfortable?”), Platinum Blonde, Red Dust, The Secret Six, Wife vs. Secretary, Dinner at Eight, and Bombshell. To accompany her escalating career, in 1935 she legally changed her name to Jean Harlow, her mother’s maiden name. She was married three times, and was engaged to actor William Powell when she died of kidney failure (a result of the scarlet fever she had suffered as a child) in 1937. She is buried in the mausoleum in Forest Lawn Glendale, in Los Angeles.