Beautiful Kodak 1922 Kodachrome Film Test

This Film Test is so neat! I just love the rich, beautiful colors and the fashion! I am loving that fabulous hat with the hanging accents. Enjoy!

Halloween...Old Hollywood Style

Frank Sinatra and Mia Farrow at Truman Capote's famous Black and White Masked Ball

Image via Berkley Library

Hello Friends!!! With Halloween (it is one of my very favorite holidays) swiftly approaching I thought it would be fitting to do a post on some of the glamorous stars of Hollywood dressed up in costume.

I adore this image of Cary Grant, Mary Pickford, Countess de Frasso, and Trullio Carminati at the Vendome Cafe in Hollywood for a costume party

Image via Corbis Images

I would imagine that after dressing in costume all day long for a movie the last thing I would want to do is dress up for a party, well not these fabulous stars! Here are some great images of some of Hollywood's brightest stars in disguise, enjoy!

Clark Gable, Carol Lombard, and WR Hearst

Image via Friends of 415

It seems as though Marion Davies (lover to WR Hearst, that is another post altogether!) threw some of Hollywood's most lavish and exquisite parties! Oh to be a fly on the wall at one of those extravaganzas! Only the most elite and powerful in Hollywood and the publishing business were allowed access to these amazing (often costume) events.

Gloria Swanson, Marion Davies, Constance Bennett, and Jean Harlow at a party at the Marion Davies Beach House in the early 1930's

Image via Robin Chapman News

They say that Marion threw over 100 of these lavish parties over the course of her famous relationship with the newspaper magnate.

Janet Gaynor decked out at a costume fete
Image via Give me the Good Old Days




One of my faves, Lucille Ball at a costume gala
Source unknown

The adorable Claudette Colbert dressed as Scarlett O'Hara!

Image via Classic Movie Favorites



Could you just imagine getting a gorgeous invitation to a fabulous Hollywood costume party and then prancing over to your favorite wardrobe department to request an outfit! Heaven!

My all time favorite "Tramp" Charlie Chaplin dressed as Napoleon for a WR Hearst party
Via Wikipedia



I am so in the mood for Halloween now! I can't wait to don my 40's glamour girl costume (seriously that's my costume this year) and paint the town Red, after I take my little Prince Trick-or-Treating that is. I have my vintage jewelry, vintage shoes, a satin evening gown, vintage opera gloves, and instructions for a fabulous hair do ready to go!

Joan Crawford all gussied up for a party

Source Unknown

For those of you celebrating Halloween this year Be safe and Be Glamorous!

Thank you so much for the always too sweet comments, and support, you are the best!!!!

XOXO

Judith~

My Very Dear Friends!

I just love the little chair both for my hair and my boudoir!

Bonjour my Friends! I took my little one to Disneyland today and we are both exhausted! We had a very magical day riding the Pirates of the Caribbean, saying hello to Mickey and his friends, and braving the crowds. I have to say, my little Justin is already a ladies man...he had all of the princesses clamoring to take a photo with him! Mon Dieu! Too cute.

I just wanted to post a huge thank you to all of my blogland friends. I have really come to look forward to sitting down at my computer in the evening with a cup of green tea and visiting all of these incredible blogs. Thank you all for your friendship and wonderful comments. When I started this blog in late October I had no idea that anybody would be interested in anything I had to say or write, little did I know I would meet some of the most eloquent and beautiful souls on here! So a BIG thank you and wonderful night to you all!

I have absolutely no idea where these pics are from (I'm sorry, I'm horrible at cataloging all of these photos) I just thought they were fun and whimsy just like our day with Mickey today!

Good night.

The Higher the hair the closer to God!

Americanrevolution.org

Bonjour Friends! I had so much fun looking over these romantically high coiffures! I can't believe the intricacy and artistry put into these styles. I wonder how long it took to finish getting dressed in the morning?

Lucille Ball in Du Barry was a Lady

Leonard was the most celebrated hairdresser in the court of Louis XVI. He invented elaborate ways to wear ones hair & his popularity lasted for more than 10 years! Some styles to his credit are the coiffure a la Dauphine, the coiffure a la monte au ciel, the loge d'opera which made the wearer 72 inches from chin to top of hair! Mon Dieu! Also, the coiffure a la queasco, which is one of my favorites, it is the one where the hair is piled high and 3 plumes a added to the back, he is also responsible for the pouf & the sentimental pouf which one would add adornments that reflected a loved one or something near to ones heart. I love it!

Americanrevolution.org

In her memoirs Madame de Campan states that "the Queen had hitherto displayed great simplicity in her toilette, but her tastes became more expensive after her husband's accession, and as she was copied by the ladies of the Court many of them exceeded their means so much that their husbands began to complain. The King disapproved this excessive luxury of dress, but he did nothing to check it. It may be said that the most insignificant events during his reign were seized upon as pretexts for bringing in some new fashions which, whenever they were patronized by the Queen, obtained universal vogue. She was very fond of plumes, and the mania for them was carried to such a point that their price increased ten-fold, and the choicest had been known to fetch as much as fifty louis".

Source unknown

Soularie states in his Historical Memoirs of the Reign of Louis XVI, "When the Queen passed along the gallery at Versailles, you could see nothing but a forest of feathers, rising a foot-and-a-half above the head, and nodding to and fro. The Princesses, aunts of Louis XVI., who could not make up their minds to adopt these new fashions and copy the Queen every day, called these feathers a horse-trapping." Nobody had so high a head-dress as the Queen!

Americanrevolution.org

These coiffures got so out of hand that women were banned from the theatre if their was too high as to obstruct the view of other patrons and many hairstyles were so high that a lady would have to kneel in her coach or sudan in order to fit! I am a fan of these over the top, ornate, and ostentatious coiffures! Who would not love to adorn their hair with pearls, diamonds, fruit, branches, flowers, cupids, initials, butterflies, birds, ships, vegetables, nests, cages, ribbons, ells of silks & fabric, powder, false curls, lace, & my favorite feathers? Hmmm...how should I do my hair tomorrow? This sure beats my "Mom hair"!

An interesting note: when I last went to Versailles we took a special tour that allowed us in to see Marie Antoinettes powder room, which in actuality was a powder room in the true sense of the word! she would go there to actually get her hair powdered and this was the only use for this room...genius! We also saw Louis' wig room where all of his wigs used to be housed. Fascinating!

C'était une coiffure dans laquelle on introduisait les personnes ou les choses q'on préférait. Ainsi les portraits des ses enfants, de ses amis, l'image de son chien, de son serin, tout cela garni des cheveux de son père ou d'un amant de cœur.

Mme de Oberkirch about the French 1770s hairstyle "pouf à sentiment"

~It was a hairstyle into which one introduced persons or things one liked, such as portraits of one's children or friends, the picture of one's dog, of one's bird, all framed with one's father's or lover's hair.~

Bisou Mon Amis!



PS I ran across an article that described the invention of a color called cheveux de la Reine...does anybody know what that color might look like?