Gloria Swanson

Friday Footwear: Hollywood Steps Out

February 10, 2012 by Robert J. Avrech 12 Comments

automotivator(85) — Carmen Miranda proudly displays her collection of shoes.

Classic photos of Hollywood stars usually reinforce a particular image. Lighting, composition, body language, wardrobe and the singular architecture of the face are the ingredients that create a glamorous narrative for audiences to internalize. Clark Gable is the man’s man who doesn’t give a damn; Carole Lombard, the girl next door who will drive you crazy with her zany brand of love.

But every once in a while a picture introduces an element that defines the glamorous image in unexpected ways. In the following photos, footwear emerges as more than just a casual accessory.

Friday Fashion: Mentioning The Unmentionables

September 2, 2011 by Robert J. Avrech 15 Comments

Legendary Hollywood costume designer Edith Head (1897 – 1981) was known for her even disposition, her practical approach to seemingly impossible problems and her ability to costume every genre of film: westerns, musicals, comedies, and biblical spectacles. In her long career she is credited with over 500 motion pictures, more than any other designer in movie history. She received an astonishing eight Oscars and thirty-three nominations for the award. Edith Head was the only Hollywood costume designer with public name recognition.

In 1967, she published a book, How to Dress for Success.

In this primer for ladies Head offers advice on dressing well with an eye towards getting a good job and, even more important, how to get and keep a husband.

My very favorite quote:

“Frequently at parties and premieres attended by Hollywood stars, visitors are shocked when they see the wives of our handsomest film stars. These men who work constantly with women who are the epitome of glamor, very often marry women who are quite ordinary to look at. The unknowing are inclined to ask “How on earth did she ever get him?” I can tell you because I know. She interested him more than any other woman.”

The book feels like a telegram from a bygone era. Head talks about “hunting for a man.” But rather than sit back and feel all superior Seraphic Secret finds acute wisdom in Head’s advice. For the most part—hostess pajamas?—her smart, no-nonsense approach to fashion is classic and timeless.

Here’s her advice on lingerie:

Gloria Swanson’s Not So Hollywood Wedding Night

August 4, 2011 by Robert J. Avrech 17 Comments

swanson by steichen 1924 — Gloria Swanson photographed by Edward Steichen, 1924.

In a series of wildly popular films Gloria Swanson made with Cecile B. De Mille between 1919 and 1921 the iconography of Hollywood glamour was formally codified.

The visual language of glamour—and it was purely visual, films were still silent—is characterized by stunning women wearing one gorgeous outfit after another, placed within elegant sets that defy practicality in favor of a dream-like universe. In De Mille’s Swanson movies, the decadent bathrooms were prominently featured; the massive sunken tubs, marble walls and floors made audiences gasp with pleasure.

Swanson’s costumes often weighed close to her petite 90lb. frame. But Swanson soldiered on bearing her burden with nary a complaint. For the sake of authenticity, De Mille accessorized his leading lady in wildly expensive jewels that only added to the fearsome weight Swanson had to bear with a regal posture.

For an army brat raised on spartan outposts in Key West and Puerto Rico, Swanson’s rise to superstardom—she was as big as Mary Pickford and Charlie Chaplin—was a classic American dream, but played out in Hollywood, a peculiar universe in the process of inventing itself as the dream capital of the world.

But of course, the glamour machine that Swanson helped invent veiled some frightening scenarios. And Gloria Swanson’s hasty marriage to actor Wallace Beery was a gruesome nightmare. [Read more…] about Gloria Swanson’s Not So Hollywood Wedding Night