I have a new obsession... I don't know why it's suddenly come up but it's there...
I'm totally obsessed with Marlene Dietrich!
And why wouldn't I be? She is the epitome of old Hollywood glam!
Marlene was born Maria Magdelene Dietrich in 1901 in Germany. When she was a child she put her first and middle names together to come up with the name Marlene.
She began her stage career as a chorus girl on the vaudeville circuit. She began to do small roles on stage and screen with her debut screen appearance in 1922. She had her first breakthrough movie roll in 1929 as Lola-Lola in "The Blue Angel". She played a cabaret singer who turns a professor's life upside down when he falls in love with her. The movie contains her signature song "Falling in Love Again".
She went on to make many movies including "Morocco" and "Shanghi Express". She defined the image of the Femme Fatale in her movies. Most of her movies had a strong sexual overtone for the time when they were released. She was sexual and unapologetic about it.
Her since of style was impeccable. She pushed the envelope between feminine and masculine. She looked amazing in pants suits and tuxedos.The film "Morocco" is the film where she famously donned a tuxedo and sang to and kissed another women. This has made her an icon in the lesbian community (that and the fact that she supposedly took male AND female lovers in her lifetime). I've only seen the film in it's entirety once but I think I've found a link for it on youtube! I can't wait to see it again.
Here is a clip of the song! It's totally hot for it's time! The film also earned her an Oscar nomination.
She looks incredible and you can't help but to crush on her a little. Whether you are man or woman. I love that about her! She proved that a woman could be appealing in a dress as well as in what was mostly considered men's wear at the time.
I'm totally thinking of getting Honey in a Marlene look for an event soon. She says she loves the look so I'm already on the hunt for 1930's style clothing for her! Can't wait!!! I'm reeling her in guys!!! Slowly but surely!
Here is the inspiration for her outfit.
How ridiculously fabulous is that!!!!!! I could go on and on posting photos of her. There are hundreds of them. Each one more gorgeous than the next.
UGH!!! That FABULOUS 30's brow!!!! swoon!!!!
Whose vintage style are you currently obsessing over!!! It's usually Audrey for me but Marlene has captured my heart lately!
Okay. So maybe I'm being a bit dramatic. My Memorial Weekend wasn't too bad...but it wasn't the best.
For starters, Honey and I were supposed to go to NC for her annual family reunion. Well, we couldn't find a reliable baby... I mean puppy sitter so I had to stay behind. I insisted that she go because she hasn't seen her dad and little sister in, literally, 5 years. It didn't make sense for her to stay home too. I really thought it was important for her to see her little sister. But that also made me Honeyless for the holiday weekend.
So what did I do? I sulked. Well, Friday I did. I made a run to Target to get a bath mat and tablecloth. $50 later I went home. Why is it that you can NEVER leave Target with only the things you went in there for. You go in for batteries and come out with socks, mittens, Yankee Candle Co candles, a water hose and all sorts of other random things!!!!
Oops totally off subject now. Anyway once I got home I ate snack food and veggie burgers and drank wine. And I watched The Lucy Show (no, not I Love Lucy, but The Lucy Show. The show she made AFTER I Love Lucy. Its on HULU if you are interested).
Saturday night I got my butt in gear and went out with Jordan from Jordan's Vintage Kitchen! It was our very first time meeting. Boy am I glad she decided to move to NYC! She's like my new vintage soul sister! We have a lot in common and are both complete dorks! LOVE HER!!! Anyway, we went to see Nikki Hill perform at a tiki bar here called Otto's Shrunken Head.
OMG!!! I'm SOOOOO glad I got to see her perform again! I first fell in love with her in Vegas at Viva. Now I have to admit I have a sort of lady crush on her. She's a sweetie and she is FABULOUS live! It was completely crowded and sweaty and AMAZING! It felt like we were at some back in the day speakeasy or juke joint. I...LOVED...EVERY...MINUET...OF...IT!!! I think Jordan had fun too! We were both head bobbing and swaying wishing we could jive! The night was an absolute blast!!! We had so much fun in fact that I forgot to get a picture with her! It's okay. We plan on getting together again soon.
Here is a clip of a small part of the set she did.
Sunday night was filled with more sulking and cramps...yes...that happened...Moving on.
So that leaves today. Memorial Day!
Well, I decided to go to the WWII exhibit at the NY Historical Society that Bunny from Bunny's Victory blogged about in this post.
It really was a great exhibit! The NY Historical Society did a thorough job of documenting NYC's roll in the war effort. It was filled with little tidbits of info and fabulous photographs. There was a little movie theater in the middle of it where they showed one man's war experience that he had documented in home movies.
There was one wall with a touching letter from a solider to his fiance telling her how much he loved her and how determined he was to come home to her. As you read further down you found out that the poor solider actually died in combat and was never able to see his bride to be again.
Then there was a painting as you exited the exhibit that totally made me tear up. It was a painting of NYC celebrating the end of the war. Above it was written the word PEACE. UGH! I'm totally not doing it justice but I couldn't take any pics because of museum rules. Bummer. But this was the perfect way to spend Memorial Day.
I stopped at the Museum store and picked up a copy of the exhibit's companion book and another really cool book called "Double Victory...How African American Women Broke Race and Gender Barriers to Help Win WWII"
The companion book WWII & NYC is the perfect book to go along with the exhibit. It literally walks you through everything you saw at the Historical Society. Here are some photos from the book...
The other book, "Double Victory" is about the role of African American women during the war. I'm only a few pages in but so far it's a great read. I wish I would have had this book when I did THIS post on the same subject. Here is a peek.
I also got some (not so great) pictures of my outfit today. It felt totally springy out so I wore a totally springy outfit. It was the perfect outfit for the weather we were having. I got tons of compliments all day! Sorry the pics aren't the best quality. Like I said, I'm by myself this weekend so these were done with the timer in our bedroom. And the lighting stinks but you can get the gist of the outfit.
I just wore a simple vintage gingham skirt with a crinoline and a white cardigan I picked up at Marshall's the other day.
Here is a camera phone pic of the hair and makeup...again, sorry for the sucky quality.
And that, my friends, was my weekend. Now that it's all said and done I guess it wasn't too shabby after all. Now I'm sitting here eating Keebler Fudge Sticks and waiting for Honey to call and say she's close!! Geez, I need her to get here soon. My snacking has been out of control!!!!
I hope everyone is having better weather than we are having here in NYC. Its been raining for 2 days straight and is suppose to continue to rain until tomorrow!! Not only is it raining but its back at 49 degrees!!!! Just Tuesday it was close to 90 degrees! Bipolar weather....sigh.
Anyway I thought I'd do a super fun and kind of silly post today (as well as a little self centered). I thought I would take you through my style evolution through the years.
I wrote a whole thing in my very first post about why I decided to totally commit to vintage and vintage appropriate clothing. I wasn't happy with myself and the way I looked. It just didn't feel like it suited me at all. Sure I looked okay but there was something missing. I wasn't sure what it was until I started wearing vintage clothing almost exactly a year ago.
So here we go! Enjoy and feel free to crack up at the old school pics!!! (sorry for the quality of some of them... what can I say...it was the 90's and early 2000's. Disposable cameras were the thing!)
So here is high school me. I almost always either wore my hair totally straight with a side part or in a bun (you know, the whole ballerina thing). In high school I almost always wore a skirt. The main reason is because I'm from Louisiana and it's always hot!!! The other is that I just have always loved girly clothes. But then the 90's were the years of baggy clothes, so I also wore my share of jeans and T-shirts. These were both taken my Senior year in 1999.
Then I moved to NYC and my hair and style pretty much stayed the same for the first year. Straight hair or bun, but with all the dance classes I was taking and with all the walking in the cold that I wasn't used to I wore mostly jeans and t-shirts. Fewer skirts and dresses. The second year my style slightly changed to a more natural look. I went and got my hair "twisted" because at the time I thought I wanted to start "Locs" (or dredlocks). Which didn't last for long. By the time they started to set in I freaked out and had to cut them out!!!
I'm in the white
This is also around the time I tried my hand at free lancing as a commercial dancer and met Honey. I did the shift over to more trendy clothes and played around with my hair color and hair weaves... A LOT... This was around 2003. I was about 22 years old...
This one is when I was around 24 and Honey and I "moved" to Los Angeles... that didn't last long either! Geez!!! How early 2000's can that fish net top be!?!?!?!
This pic is NYC Pride (the LGBT Pride celebration) 2007 I think... That would mean I was 25. No more weave but back to still straight... Wow Honey and I look SUPER young in this pic!!!
So that brings us to 2011 New Year's Eve!!! Back to the weave...but it has curls!!! That's Honey and me in the center. I was also back to trying to look a little more girly and older. I have always struggled with looking like an adult.
Then... I cut it!
My 30th Birthday (August of 2011)!!! The weave has once again resurfaced!!! But this is about 6 months before I decided to go vintage.
My first outing in a reproduction dress and my glasses!!! Everyone loved the change! I think this was March of last year.
And that led to this blog and what you see now!!! I really do feel the most comfortable with myself that I have ever felt. I'm definitely more confident and feel more womanly! Who knew that a change in clothes and hair could do that?!?! I think vintage is where I belong and where I'm going to stay!!
So that's that! I hope it wasn't too boring for you. It was so much fun to pull these old photos and remember a certain time in my life.
Have you gone back and looked at your style...The good, the bad or the absolutely "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!?!?!" If not, you should! Its tons of fun!
By the way. I'm hoping to have an outfit post this weekend! Fingers crossed that that works out as planned.
The other night while lying in bed surfing the web I came upon a series of really beautiful photos that I wanted to share with you guys.
They are photos of New York City's Greenwich Village in the 1950s.
These photos are amazing! They really give you a feeling of what it was like to live and play in the Village at that time.
I love the Village. It has always been a place of artists, musicians, and all sorts of other creative people. It is the epicenter for the LGBT community in NYC. It's filled with little cafes, restaurants and bars. It really just it a fun place. Everyone is different, so no one really sticks out. Your style is your style. Its a very "to each his own" kind of place. A very liberal place.
Today's post will be short and full of photos. I want to give you a chance to imagine what it would have been like to be apart of a community of such culture and freedom in the 1950s.
ENJOY!!!! Have I ever mentioned how much I adore NYC?!?!?!
