All images found through Google or Flickr
The other day, I was rooting through a folder of magazine clippings I've kept for inspiration scrapbooks. As I was looking through, my eye caught sight of a clipping of Edwardian actress/dancer Gaby Deslys. Well, seeing as I've yet to cover a pre-40s "icon" you can pretty much guess (& read) my next move!
Miniature bio
There isn't a great deal of info, but reading up about her on Wikipedia was slightly interesting. For example, she collected pearls and claimed she owned her own weight in them before she died. Now, you'd think I'd have found the fact she had a royal admirer (King Manuel of Portugal) interesting, but no, I go for the pearls. But I mean, your own weight would be a heck of a lot of pearls!Photo galore!
This first is possibly one of the only "coloured in" photos (is there an actual term for these photos?) I actually like! The hat is amazing and I actually rather like the fact that the dress drapes to accentuate the bottom area. It seems a rarity for someone to accentuate their bum nowadays (maybe it's just this society though, I hear in other cultures big bums are big news) but hey, it works here, even if it was about 100 years ago. // If my fashion (designer) history was any good, I'd probably be able to say who the dress is by. But as it happens, it is no good (hence my doing these "vintage icon" posts) and I cannot. I can tell you I like it (and the name is on the tip of my tongue), along with the band affixed around her head. I'm also partial to this photograph because there is something so innocent about her expression.
Ahh, the hats in all of these! And the dresses... the one at the end looks to be beaded or embroidered - probably all done by hand, which I assure you, means many many hours of work & therefore worthy of some oohhing. But yes, back to the hats. Hats don't particularly suit me (do you have luck with head adornment?) but I still love looking at good, slightly OTT, millinery and these are some fine examples. The very top right photo with the fringing is particularly inspiring me and I'm now thinking some fringe will be necessary for some DIY fun...
These are probably all a little to small to see (apologies, if you want to see some bigger, I suggest here) but they're just more examples. The middle two show, I guess, more wearable looks. At least, slightly wearable in relation to modern times (heck though, any short skirts or lack of hats would be completely unwearable back then!) but then, I might just be talking a load of rubbish!
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To me, Gaby's style evokes romanticism and femininity. The pearls, the feathers, the flower crowns, the gentle drapes, the embellishments, the curls and the doe eyed makeup... seem to sum it up in a nutshell. I know sometimes, it's really difficult to translate early 20th century styles into a modern context. There are times when you wouldn't want to do so and leave the past in the past. But then the beauty of living now, is that we can take elements of Gaby Deslys' style, say a sleeve detail or wearing loads of pearls and mix them with modern dress (if you so desire) to create something... well, new. Because true originality rarely exists.
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