The world film encyclopedia (1933)

Secrets of Screen Fashion 19 The screen can and does serve as an admirable fashion guide for every woman. But it is a guide which must be followed with moderation and restraint. To copy it slavishly is as unwise as to ignore its obvious possibilities. It is my endeavour to show you the best use of the screen as a guide to fashion, beginning with this warning — take care. Look at some of our blondes, for instance — many of them a little more blonde than Nature intended them to be. Because they have been to a film and seen Tallulah Bankhead with her high forehead uncovered on one side by the newest beret, they copy her. The result might be pleasing, and it might not. In some cases it gives an effect of complete baldness which is actually repulsive. They adopt a new and rather bewitching fashion regardless of whether it suits their own particular style. As a rule, good taste in dress calls for quietness and the kind of simplicity which can be most expensive in the hands of a fashionable dressmaker. But there is a type of woman who may dazzle and almost strike you in the eye with bizarre originality of style, and be a stunning success. Greta Garbo, for instance. She is tall, long-hmbed, and oval-eyed. She has an almost leopard-like grace of her own, and yet the dresses, hats, and cloaks in which she looks best would be disastrous for other women to copy. She has two almost miraculous "doubles" in Hollywood. One is in society — not on the screen. The other, doubling professionally at times, can copy Greta's extraordinary hair arrangements, quaint little caps or military-looking hats, neck ruffs and the rest, with success. I have never seen anyone who didn't look like Greta Garbo, however, make a success of stealing her styles. Lilyan Tashman is another of the Hollywood beauties who can wear the most amazing dance or dinner frocks and have everyone talking about them. She has generally invented them herself for herself, and she knows exactly what suits her best. Even her beach house at Malibu gives you the idea that it has been made to fit her. In it she is like a jewel in a box. Lilyan is one of the few blondes who may count red among her most becoming colours. Her Malibu beach house, inside and out, is entirely red and white ; and when there, she never wears a frock for which the red and white isn't a pleasing background. Lilyan Tasliman is now practically the queen of fashion at Hollywood and is so seldom seen in the same gown twice that when she is invited to a party, all the women are filled with curiosity as to what she may wear. But Lilyan is almost as difficult a person to copy in style as Greta Garbo. She is marvellous in a dress or hat which would practically kill anyone else. The best rule is not to copy anyone slavishly. Choose your own style, realizing that what you wear can make or break you. " Know thyself " is a fine motto for a woman who wishes for social triumphs. She must be graceful, whatever her age and type may be. If she is over twenty-six or twenty-seven, she must have a youthful dignity. She must not, of all things, be " kittenish." The woman of average height and build should make an almost prayerful study of line. Even the sylph-like Hollywood stars as slender as Joan Crawford and Constance Bennett, study line, because it adds to the wand-like effect of their slightness. But line is still more important for a woman who is trying to get rid of a few pounds here and there ; that is, the average woman.