Maybelline founder Tom Lyle Williams

VINTAGE FASHIONISTAS CREATED THROUGH ADVERTISING.

The horrors of the Great War lead people to want to ''let loose'' in the 1920's and advertisers capitalized on it.



The 1920's were the beginning, of liberation for women, from being thought of as child-bearers and homemakers. to co-equals with men in society.




It was the first decade to emphasize youth culture over the older generations.





Young people began testing their new boundaries with more and more outrageous forms of behavior, as fast cars, short skirts and free thinking changed the rules of the game. 




Bathing suits in 1929, were made for board-thin, young figured women, who wanted total liberation, for their body as well as their mind.



Here is a photo, of my great aunt Bunny at 25, showing off, the art of looking feminine yet liberated, in 1929.  All these wonderful, vintage photos are from her, 83 year old album. I was lucky enough to get copies, before she died at 90 years of age.  




The Jazz Age represented, restlessness, idolization of youth, and dissatisfaction with the status quo.



My great aunt Bunny, on the right, (Nana's younger sister,) was 25 in this photo, and was beginning to develop a more womanly figure.  Fashion in the 1920's, was especially designed for girls with no breasts, hips or body fat.  Girls began to look like boys and boys like girls.




"[The flapper] symbolized an age anxious to enjoy itself, anxious to forget the past, anxious to ignore the future." (from Jacques Chastenet, "Europe in the Twenties" in Purnell's History of the Twentieth Century)


Young women in the 1920s, didn't want the drudgery of social conventions and routine of daily life.  Of Course, the Film industry and Maybelline helped shape this idea.




Fashion and Maybelline, in the late 1920's appealed to the modern woman who wanted liberation from a repressive Victorian  past.






Single and married women in the cities and the country came to enjoy the comfort and ease, of the new relaxed style in fashion and eye make-up, that were once considered, for Flappers only. 

     

Advertising helped shape a new identity for the Jazz Age, generation - making it sexy, for both men and women to smoke, drink out of a flask and have the power to spend on anything they wanted, even if they didn't need it

Tom Lyle Williams shaped the new image, for a liberated woman in the 1920s, when he contracted Clara Bow and Louise Brooks, to infuse glamour into
Maybelline advertisements. 

Sharrie Williams on Good Morning Arizona
Vintage Maybelline, Fashion Week, ends tomorrow, so don't miss it!!!

F.Scott Fitzgerald' - Tales of the Jazz Age!

I've chosen, F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tales of the Jazz Age,  to evoke visions of Flappers and Jazz-Bo's during the 1920's.
Fitzgerald's fascination with wealth, creates a subtle social critique in his 1922 classic.



Written before the Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald portrays the casual, elegant, lifestyle of the wealthy during the the 1920, Jazz Age.




When I found my great aunt Bunny's photo album, I was amazed at the stylishly Gatsby lifestyle, she and her husband Harold Cotter lived, during the Jazz Age, in Chicago.  They had no children, so were able to devote themselves to each other like no other couple in my family.




Elegant men's Fashion in the 1920's sparked, a dash of prestige and glamour often seen in my late
 aunt Bunny's pictures.



Harold, looks dashing, in his navy jacket, white slacks, and two toned shoes, hugging a couple of
 elegantly attired Ladies.



Dressed, like he's ready for his close up, Harold poses for the camera, on a trip to Florida.


Before World War 1, men had little variety in their choice of clothing, but after the Jazz age was in full swing, men's fashion exploded into High Fashion
 and big business.


Harold on the right, with a friend, look like their right out of the 1974,  film, The Great Gatsby.  Gatsby was famous for his closet full of beautiful shirts and ties - 
a trademark of an elegant gentleman.



Looking sporty with a wild colored knit sweater, and two toned shoes, Harold has the right look for 1927.




The mark of a fashionable gentleman in the 1920's, included the right hat and overcoat, especially in Chicago, where my family lived during that time.





Nobody, carried off that distinguished silhouette better than my grandfather, William Preston Williams, seen here in a Lama-skin, coat, with his son, and my father, Bill Williams in, 1925.




 The 1920's opened the door for men and women to kick up their heals, call a spade a spade and strut their stuff.



When it came to jazzing it up, Bunny and Harold Cotter,  carried the torch, for fashion, style and elegance, in 1927, seen her, sitting on their sporty convertible.




In full Flapper regalia, Bunny in the middle, with some friends, shows off her legs and short Flapper dress in a vampy pose around 1926.


In a moment of quiet repose, Harold and Bunny (Boecher,) Cotter, relax at the Boecher Summer home, on Lake Zurich in 1927.  Bunny, always the fashion plate, wears a shapeless, dropped waist cotton dress, while Harold, Don's sexy sunglasses, giving them the perfect storybook ending to today's post...

Stay tuned as, Vintage Maybelline Fashion Week, continues tomorrow. 

1924 and 1925 fashion, from The Maybelline Story.

Vintage Maybelline Fashion Week, from Chicago, in 1924 and 1925, from The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It. 


1925 and 1925 fashion, featured a dropped waist, longer skirt lengths, straight tunic bodice, with a Grecian or Oriental influence.  Clothes were less structured than before and moved fashion firmly into the twentieth century.


My grandmother, Evelyn's, Sister, Verona (Boecher,) Stroh, seen here with her new baby, Billy Stroh, wears a chic, fashionable ensemble, ideal for a new mother married to a young successful businessman in 1924.



Verona (Boecher) Stroh with her husband, Charlie, and baby Billy, pose, as a stunningly well dressed couple in Chicago, outside their new home, being built in 1924.  Verona, never even went to the mailbox, without her Maybelline, earrings and...
 fashionable attire... her entire life.


My grandmother, Evelyn's sister Bunny (Boecher,) Cotter, was the sporty dresser among the three girls, and loved being seen in the latest Vogue fashion for every season.


1925 fashion for the average woman, (meaning - not a Flapper,) still appeared modest in length, but was usually accessorised and wrapped in fur.


Here are my grandparents, Preston and Evelyn (Boecher,) Williams in 1925.  Nana is wrapped in a fur coat, while Grandpa Preston, dressed to the teeth, looks like a High-Fashion, model.  Can you imagine young people in today's world taking the time and effort to look this stunning in their daily lives.  Nana was always a fashion plate, even in her late 70's, and Grampa Preston, modeled for Lord and Taylor after WW1. 


Bunny (Boecher,) Cotter, with her new husband Harold, in 1925, looks elegant, in a fur coat, with a fur collar.   Stay tuned this week for Bunny in a bathing suit, riding attire and dressed for driving in fast cars.


Verona (Boecher,) Stroh and Bunny (Boecher,) Cotter, always ahead of the fashion curve, inch their skirt's up, as 1926, approaches. 


Want to know what was going on in Chicago, as the Boecher Sister's, pose for the camera?  It all unfolds beautifully in my book, The Maybelline Story.  The blog is a nice complement to the book, for those who want to see more of my family, as they live their lives throughout the pages of my book. Get your copy today.

    Vintage Fashion week to be continued:   

VINTAGE FASHION WEEK - on the Maybelline Blog

Fashion Week may be over, but I'm still reminded of how designers pulled some of their stunning creations, from the 1920s.  
Designers showed their 2012 creations last week.
Designer, Marc Jacobs added a splash of 1920s flavor to his collection at Fashion Week and this collection reminded me of my fashionable grandmother, Evelyn Boecher Williams, and her two sisters, Verona and Bunny.  


My great aunt, 19 year old Bunny Boecher, bobbed her hair, shortened her skirt and kicked up her heals after women got the vote...Prohibition was in full swing, the Jazz age exploded and "The Vamp" was born.
Maybelline mascara was available for girls, ready to hop on the band wagon and flirt with boys.
 Girls rolled up their skirts, rolled down their stockings and made up their eyes in rebellion of the Victorian age.
Tight fitting clothes gave way to loose fitting chemise dresses inching higher by 1922. 

By the Spring of 1922, aunt-Bunny wore eye make-up, lipstick, rough, earrings and a curled up Bob.
The Boucher Sister's, were never shy to say the least and caught onto the latest fad... including this new style bathing suit made for the brave fashionista.
All three sisters had beautiful legs and ready for any photo-op to show them off.
Fall of 1922 meant fur, fur and more fur in Chicago and Bunny and her sisters had a closet full.
The Bocher sisters were known as spoiled rotten daddy's girls, clothes horse's and born with a silver spoon in their mouth, around Chicago.  Here is my grandmother Evelyn, on the left with Verona and Bunny, wearing basic black accessorized from top to bottom.
 
While most young ladies were still wearing their skirts mid-calf, the Boucher sisters turned heads with their early Flapper silhouettes.
Compare Bunny's short skirt with the pictures of fashion in 1922, just click for images of ladies fashion.

My grandmother Evelyn and her sister's, Verona and Bunny, play a big part in my book, The Maybelline Story. I hope you'll buy a copy today.  I guarantee,  you won't be able to but it down.


Maybeline New York, getting hair and make up ready for Fashion Week.  Click on video.

Stay tuned for more Fashion Week tomorrow, as I take you through the 1920s with the Ladies from the, Maybelline Story.