Maybelline and the "New Woman" in 1920

Girls, I don't think we're in Kansas any more!

Vogue, Nov, 1920 reveals the new, modern woman.

Two major shifts, in culture and conscienceness, took place in 1920;  Prohibition and American women winning the right to vote.


Women's contempt for Prohibition was a factor in the rise of the flapper.  With newly bobbed hair and heavily made up eyes, the modern woman embraced Maybelline, endorsed by Hollywood Stars,  like Ethel Clayton in 1920.

Social mores in place for a century were obliterated among young women in 1920.  Liquor consumption sky rocketed, skirts shortened, music heated up and America's Sweetheart morphed into The Vamp.

Women, like my great aunt Bunny, discarded old, rigid ideas about roles and embraced consumerism and personal choice.  They were often described in terms of representing a "culture war" of old versus new.

"New Style" feminists, admitted that a full life,

called for marriage and children - 

but had an irresistible compulsion to be 

individuals in their own right."

Read more about Maybelline and it's effect on the modern woman during the 1920's in The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It.  Signed copy available.

Maybelline lifts Women's Spirits in 1915.

Lash-Brow-Ine was introduced in 1915, at a time when women, were fighting to be recognized as individuals.

Vogue magazine cover, Christmas, 1915, depicting

the image of an ideal lady.

Everyone looked alike, no real individuality in 1915. The world was still very Victorian Age.

 Than, D W Griffith's Birth of a Nation,  proved extremely controversial, with its negative depiction of Black Americans and their supporters, and its positive portrayal of slavery and the Ku Klux Klan, as well as women being abused.

Click on this video to view some of the most controversial themes in D W Griffith's 1915 Birth of a Nation.

In 1915 a course of events led to change - a parting of the Red Sea, that cleared the the way for Maybelline, to be born and women to have a voice.

January 12

House of Representatives rejects proposal to give women right to vote

February 8

"Birth of a Nation" opens at Clune's Auditorium in LA.

May 7

Lusitania sunk by German submarine; 1198 lives lost

October 9

Louis Kaufmans "Unchastened Woman," premieres in New York City

October 23

25,000 women march in New York City, demanding right to vote

December 4

Ku Klux Klan receives charter from Fulton County Ga

December 16

Albert Einstein publishes the General Theory of Relativity LASH-BROW-INE IS BORN!!!!

Tom Lyle Williams, formed Maybell Laboratories and Lash-Brow-Ine's first little ad, appeared in The Police Gazette magazine.  

From the looks of what was going on at the time, you'd think there would be a slim chance for Lash-Brow-Ine, to be accepted, but women were ripe for expressing themselves, and the product took off way beyond Tom Lyle, Noel and Mabel's greatest expectations.

Read the whole wonderful saga, in The Maybelline Story.  Signed copies with Hedy Lamarr make-up bag will be available very soon.

Maybelline, 100 years ago!

100 years ago here is what was going on. 

 The ideal woman on the cover of Vogue Magazine, December 15, 1911.

Internatio​nal Women's Day 100th anniversar​y on March 8, 2011, we celebrate a century of hard fought  achievemen​ts for women around the world. 
 

In 1911, Mary Pickford played the stereotype role
 of mothers, ingenues, spurned women, spitfires, slaves, native Americans, and a prostitutes.  However, women began to identify with the "The Girl with the Golden Curls," "Blondilocks" or "The Biograph Girl," and she became the most famous woman in the world. ushering in a new era for women in film.
  

 Owen Moore and Mary Pickford;  from The Lonely Villa (Biograph, 1909)
 
Moore and Pickford married in 1911 and divorce in 1920.
 

Victorian Age, Gibson Girls, 1911.

Image of the helpless, long suffering woman, and the
 tyrannical old man in 1911.

At the same time, all this was going on in 1911,

 a 15 year old boy, named Tom Lyle Williams, bought a second hand motorcycle for $40.00, drove it work, at the nickelodeon, and earned $6.00 a week.  It was here he noticed Mary Pickford and was inspired.  

 
After a year, he sold his motorcycle by advertising it, in the classified section of Popular Mechanics Magazine.  Astounded by the response from people willing to pay $50.00, a young entrepreneur was born, who planned to make advertising his life's work. 
 
At that time Tom Lyle, had no idea the role he'd play in establishing women's identities, for the next 100 years.  Maybelline will be 100 years old in 2015.
 
Read more about Tom Lyle Williams, in The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It.

BONO - STUDIO MALI AND THE MAYBELLINE STORY.

Tama Walley and Paul Chandler are a young married couple, living and working in Mali West Africa.  They are striving to make a difference in the world, while making their dreams a reality.

Tama designs her dresses, using Malian cloth,  takes her patterns and cloth to Bali, where she teaches yoga and massage, and has them sewn into the most adorable sun dresses.

Tama, also designs her own Mali Bags, and brings them to the United States and sells them during the Summer.  A few are left for purchase at www.maybellinestory.com.

She also has a line of Mother and Baby, Summer dresses, that are head turning and I hope to have  available at the Maybelline Store Summer 2012.

How cute are these little girl dresses that match Mom's African print Summer Dresses.

Tama and I met in Maui, while we were doing Bikram Yoga during the Summer of 2003.  She was in the process of purchasing the Bikram Yoga Studio, and encouraged me to become Bikram Yoga instructor my self.  It was during this process, I decided to finish The Maybelline Story, and not go to Bikram Teacher Training.

Tama and her husband Paul started a non-profit Charity in Mali called Instrument​s 4 Africa.  Lister to her speak while touring the  Togola community center.

Instrument​s 4 Africa is partnering with the Togola Community Center in Bamako, Mali to provide quality education and mentoring. A portion of the money from Tama's dresses and bags, goes directly to Instruments 4 Africa, and because of her incredible mission to help raise the quality of life for her kids, I have donated portion of every Maybelline Story as well.

BONO with Paul Chandler in Bamako Mali.

Tama's husband Paul Chandler, is the director of Studio Mali, and is an artist, educator and producer, living and teaching in Mali since 2003. He is a certified teacher of music and language arts at the American International School of Bamako.

studio mali @ oren clip

                       Malian singer Mah Soumano,
                       Produced by Paul Chandler.

STUDIO MALI is a production company, record label, recording studio and artist management organization based in Bamako MALI, that produces events/organized projects in Mali for National Geographic, NY Times, Carnegie Hall, USAID, Johns Hopkins/Bloomberg School of Public Health, UNICEF, US Department of State and BONO’s non-profit organization DATA.

Click below for more information
Instruments 4 Africa
Studio Mali

BEVERLY JOHNSON FIRST BLACK COVER GIRL 1970

 By the 1970's, African-American models became mainstream, when the phrase, Black is Beautiful was coined.

 Beverly Johnson, made history when she rose to fame as the first black model to appear on the cover of American Vogue in 1974 (August issue).  A year later, she became the first black woman to appear on the cover of the French edition of Elle magazine.

 32 years later, Beyonce, one of the most beautiful women in the world, is sought after to grace the covers of magazines everywhere.

And it all started with Tom Lyle Williams and Maybelline. I believe that Tom Lyle, deserves The Medal of Honor, for his tremendous contribution to the American Spirit!

African-American models pose for the camera, in 1968..

First African-American, Cover Girl and Super Model, emerge in American beauty magazines, in the late 1960s.

 African-American woman gracing the cover of top fashion magazine was just not done until the late 1960s. Glamour magazine broke with convention, by putting Katiti Kironde on their August 1968 College Issue.

Best known for her role as Vivian Banks, on the NBC sitcom, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air from 1993 until 1996,

Daphne Maxwell (now Reid,) was the first black model to appear on the the October 1969 cover of Glamour.

Naomi Sims. The first African-American supermodel, kicked down the doors of inequality as the first black cover girl on "Ladies Home Journal" in 1968 and Life in 1969. She was the epitome of black is beautiful.

Maybelline was the first Eye Make-up to advertise, using African-American model's between, 1959 to 1967.  After that Maybelline was sold to Plough Inc.  By the 1970's, the phrase Black is Beautiful was coined and African- American models were sought after by the top 

modeling and advertising agencies. 

Corporations now had a new target market, with buying power.  The Beautiful Black Woman. 

Maybelline targets the African American market, in the 1960's.

Maybelline, launches African American Beauty, in 1960's advertisements.

Ultra Lash was launched in 1964, and appeared in both African American and White, Advertisements,

Maybelline was one of the first to target their brand to the African-American population in the 1960's, changing the stereotype image of the past, to one of glamour, style and confidence.

Diana Sands and Alan Alda on the February 1965 cover of Ebony magazine. They starred in the original Broadway production of “The Owl and the Pussycat” in 1964. The two-character play was originally written for white actors.

LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act into law only a few months before the publication of this particular ad, and the inclusive tone of "Come Alive! You're in the Pepsi Generation" links drinking Pepsi with integration.

In response to the fight from the civil rights movement,  Maybelline began to target black consumers.  Tom Lyle, truly believed that all women were beautiful, and that Maybelline only enhanced that beauty.

Throughout the 1960's, African American models captured the corporate market, but it wasn't until 1969 that there was an African American Cover girl.

VOGUE - DIANA VEERLAND - MAYBELLINE.

With the new release of Vogue Editor, Diana Vreeland's, new book, The Eye Has to Travel, I give this tribute.

Vogue, 1920's. Flapper.

Maybelline 1920's flapper.

                                              Vogue, 1930's, Art Deco.

Maybelline, 1930's, Art Deco.

Vogue, 1940's.

Maybelline, 1940's.

Vogue, 1950's.

Maybelline, 1950's.

  

Vogue 1960's.

Maybelline, 1960's.

“There is only one thing in life and that’s the continual renewal of inspiration.” Diana Vreeland

Diana Vreeland was one of the great figures of the New York City fashion and art world until her death in 1989.

Diana Vreeland, Vogue

Like Vogue Magazine, Maybelline, is an American Icon, a Fashion leader, and a large part of the world's, culture.  

Autographed copies of The Maybelline Story for $14.99, available for the Holiday's at www.maybellinestory.com.

Art Deco, Vintage Hollywood fashion, make-up bag's coming soon at www.maybellinestory.com.

Check back next week for Maybelline;
Fashion, Beauty and Women of Color.

Maybelline's Vintage Packaging,- 1915 - 1960

Some of the most memorable vintage Maybelline products, from the 20th Century.  Now a piece of art.

Tom Lyle Williams was one of the most innovative entrepreneurs and advertising wizards in the 20th Century.  People accused him of being a dreamer.  He proved the neysayer's wrong.  He never gave up on his dreams and he surrounding himself with like-minded, inspiring people, who helped him  shoot for the moon.
         
                           He made it!!!

Maybelline is still the number one Eye Cosmetic in the world, after nearly 100 years, and it all started with TL.

Tom Lyle Williams at 19 years of age.