Maybellines "It Girl" Clara Bow unleashes the excitement of the Roaring 20's.

Between 1922 and 1929, Clara Bow's vitality and sexiness defined the liberated woman of the 1920s. Clara Bow (1906-1965) became one of Hollywood's brightest lights during this time. Click highlighted words to see and read more about Clara Bow. 

'The "It" Girl'.  "It" symbolized the tremendous progress women were making in society. 

 

Maybelline in 1922 came out with their own "It Girl" with an illustration of Clara Bow and coining the slogan "Eyes that Charm!  This ad influenced liberated young girls to take up the challenge of the 1920's and recreate the image of Women by wearing eye-makeup on the street. 
 
No three sisters were more influenced by the "It Factor" then my grandmother Evelyn and her sisters Verona and Bunny.
 

My great aunt Bunny at 18 in 1921 made a statement with this picture as she blatantly flaunted her acceptance of wearing makeup in broad daylight after bobbing her hair, raising the hem of her dress and rolling up her stockings.
 

Bunny in black silk

Bunny with rolled up stockings.

 Clara Bow brought an excitement to the screen and girls went bonkers taking on the spirit of the Roaring 20's.  Evelyn and her sisters were no exception and jumped on the Band Wagon right from the start.

The three sisters, Evelyn, Verona and Bunny in short black silk dresses and fully made up eyes were the torch bearers of their generation.  City girls, born in Chicago, educated as well as talented musicians and dancers they turned heads as they walked down the street or cruised in their daddy's flashy convertible.  The Boecher Girls were definitely influenced by Clara Bow and considered themselves having "It" as well!

Tribute to Clara Bow: The Pointer Sisters sing I Get So Excited  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rKPshnd_J8

Read more about the It Girl Clara Bow and the Boecher sisters in The Maybelline Story.

Check out this post I did on Clara Bow.

http://www.maybellinebook.com/2012/09/it-girl-clara-bow-passed-away-47-years.html

The Great Gatsby and The Maybelline Story.

Both stories are a slice of the American Dream during the 20th Century. 

what IS so great about The Great Gatsby?  After its republishing in 1945 and 1953, it quickly found a wide readership and is today widely regarded as a literary classic. The Modern Library named it the second best novel of the 20th Century.

 One might assume this is a story of love, but it isn't. The Great Gatsby is a tragedy.  It is also a critique of the great "American Dream."

Gatsby is a combination of innocence and faith.  He's committed to his dreams - and never gives up on them.  He's a characer people can follow.  A hero with flaws, someone like them.

It has been said that F. Scott Fitzgerald's book is a depressing story.  Life is hard enough - why read a book that makes you feel worse?

The Great Gatsby takes place following the First World War.  American society enjoyed prosperity during the "roaring" 1920s as the economy soared.  

                             Zelda Fitzgerald, (Daisy.)

This Maybelline Ad has reflections of Zelda Fitzgerald,
F Scott Fitzgerald's wife and his inspiration for Daisy, one of the main characters, in The Great Gatsby.

Tom Lyle Williams at the Villa Valentino.

The Maybelline Story has the same qualities as The Great Gatsby, except it isn't fiction.  It is a true story about a man who made the American Dream a reality for himself and his family, yet, not without a price. 

Read the The Maybelline Story and The Great Gatsby.

                                                 The Great Gatsby.