Viviane Orth by Fabio Bartelt: the ’20s Restyled
I love this ’20s-inspired shoot for Elle Brazil. It’s so fun, and not nearly as harsh/alien-looking as the vibe most fashion editorials give off. I also love that it takes place outside, among these sort of stunted, yellow grasses.
Tags: 1920s, fashion editorial, flappers
A Geometrical Sort of Beauty: Tamara de Lempicka
Chances are, you’ve probably seen the Art Deco paintings of Tamara de Lempicka around somewhere before. With a sort of Cubist and Futurist influence, they depict, in a precise, boldly defined, and tightly controlled style, the “New Woman” that had emerged by the ’20s.
Tags: 1920s, art deco, cubist, flappers, tamara de lempicka
Asta Nielsen: Fleur du Mal
Asta Nielsen is another one of those piquant silent film actors who intrigue me. A sort of dark flower, she has a very striking, iconic image, with a bone-white face, heavily contrasting huge dark eyes, and whimsical, rather mercurial expressions. Her features and the positioning of her body in stills (her look in 1921′s Hamlet!) I think give her almost a spooky appearance, and also a somehow modern look, as though she belongs more walking down the street around where I live than on the long-dead, silent screen. Now largely unknown, she was one of the most popular actresses of the 1910s and one of the first stars of the silver screen.
Born in 1881, she was a Danish actress who played in over 70 films, almost all of which were made in Germany. She was known for portraying passionate women caught in tragedy, and for the erotic quality of her performances. She brought a more subtle, naturalistic, and minimalistic acting style to cinema, in contrast to many silent actors who used theatricality – much like my beloved Louise Brooks did later on in the late ’20s. She also played Lulu in the 1923 adaptation of the Wedekind play, Erdgeist (“Earth Spirit”), which role Louise Brooks was to play in 1928 in Pabst’s Die Büchse der Pandora.
“‘Asta Nielsen’ means the power to speak of pathos, to see pain, and to find the middle path between Baudelaire’s flower of evil and the sick rose of which Blake sang.”
- M. S. FonsecaHere are a few pictures of Asta below:
Tags: 1910s, 1920s, asta nielsen, flappers, silent films, vintage
“Metropolis”-Inspired Fashion Editorial
I love the 1928 silent science fiction/German Expressionist film Metropolis. Check out this Metropolis-themed shoot from Vogue Germany that was posted over on Haute Macabre:
Tags: 1920s, fashion editorial, german expressionism, metropolis, robots, sci-fi, silent films, vintage
Vintage Beauties
A couple of beautiful portraits of Ziegfeld girls (via Liebemarlene):
Tags: 1920s, vintage, ziegfeld follies
Dolls and Gals: The Art of Caryn Drexl
Caryn Drexl is a remarkable and original experimental photographer based in Palm Coast, Florida. Her photography is conceptual and expressive, and explores themes of innocence, femininity, motherhood, and sexuality. It also has a vintage aspect/aesthetic. Teacups, baby dolls, divested braids of hair (and hair in general), things in models’ mouths are all motifs. Many of her photographs feature her as the subject.
Tea TimeTags: 1920s, caryn drexl, dolls, femininity, hair, teacups, victorian, vintage
Clothing Designer: Louise Black
Louise Black, also known as candycain, is probably my favorite fashion designer. When I first saw the pieces in her Dollflesh and Eye-Spy Eclectics lines, several years ago now, I thought she was the perfect designer for me. Never had I seen such splendid, wonderful taste and quality. Her designs are instantly recognizable for their distinctive style and superb craftsmanship. Anyway, here are some examples of her work that I just love incredibly.
Louise Black’s designs are heavily influenced by 1920s fashion, but unlike a lot of “flapper-style” clothing around, her garments are no flimsy, sloppy, simplified affairs with just tiers of fringe or something and barely any actual feel of the ’20s; she really pushes beyond the typical in a true fusion of past and present. The solid craftsmanship, intricate hand-beading, and elaborate trims on her work are her signature. She uses many antique trims, textiles, and other elements (such as buttons) in her clothing, and often revamps vintage clothing but goes way above and beyond what this usually entails. She makes accessories, beaded wrist cuffs, headpieces, necklaces, and neck cuffs, etc., with queen, Victorian, and flapper themes.
Opium Noir Set
Midnight’s Mesmerism Frock
Sapphire Venom Dress (reminds me so much of my idol Louise Brooks)
Tags: 1920s, beaded trim, dollflesh, flapper, louise black, revamped vintage
The Whimsical Photography of Darla Teagarden
Darla Teagarden is a wonderful surreal and whimsical fashion photographer based in Austin, Texas. Her dreamy photography combines influences from the ’20s and the Victorian era, and takes place in a beautifully pastel-colored, wonderfully artificial landscape with a radiant glow around everything. This world is populated by tender and strangely lovely denizens created with the aid of makeup and styling. Her images tell stories of the never-existent past brought to life in the bizarre and twisted present, of bow-lipped lovers, enchanted maidens, and dignified personages in a magical fairy-tale land. Her photographs are beautifully manipulated, with a distinctive style all their own. They are both vividly and softly colored. Soft, hazy photography with an edge.
Tags: 1920s, artificial landscape, hazy, pastel, victorian, whimsical
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