Shop Update!

Feeling a bit patriotic around these parts this weekend!

1950's Red Bandana Print Blouse - "Luz Benedict"

1970's White Cotton Gauze Dress - "Gypsophila"

1960's Railroad Stripe Cigarette Jeans - "Between the Lines"

It's time to shop, Yippie!

It's time to head on over to the shop and shop! Want to know why? 

Because there is a sale going on, that's why! Get it while it's hot little lady! :)

A Fifties Stiletto

What could be better than blue suede shoes? 

 A pink suede stiletto!

1950's Pink Suede Heels by I. Miller...in the shop!

Thoughts on Thursday: Forever Young

Three shining stars...one iconic film. Natalie Wood, James Dean, and Sal Mineo, all three amazing young thespians with the intensity and acting chops to rival the most seasoned stage veteran.  But sadly, all three died young; with James Dean dying extremely young. 

Natalie Wood had a long career than spanned her entire short life, and she starred in some of Hollywood's greatest and heartwarming classics like Miracle on 34th Street and West Side Story. I love Natalie Wood.  She's what I would call the smart, pretty girl next door, and her charm remained relevant throughout her career. She had love, she had children, and she was adored. And she might still be working today, if she hadn't passed from an accidental drowning at the age of 43.

James Dean was destine to be one the greatest actors to grace the silver screen; but fate took him away far too soon, at the young age of 24. Watching a James Dean film is really something. Dean was good, and I mean good. His beats were amazing, possibly the best I've ever seen.  Watching him deliver lines is like watching an energetic dance. The emotion is there and it's raw. Simply put, he was natural talent personified.

Natalie Wood once said of Sal Mineo, "I'd hate to be taxed a nickel for every heart he's going to break". A beautiful boy, Sal was also a promising young actor.  He got his start on the New York stage in the Tennessee Williams play, The Rose Tattoo, and opposite Yul Brenner in The King and I.  He had the kind of intensity that you seldom find in such a young actor, and it earned him two Oscar nominations and a Golden Globe win all before the age of 22. In 1959, he delivered an electrifying performance as the title character in The Gene Krupa Story...the movie is a must see and I recommend it. In the 1960's Sal became one of the first actors to publicly acknowledge his homosexuality.  Coincidentally his career starts to decline as studio heads do not consider him "fit" for leading roles.  In the 1970's, Mineo produced and starred in gay related stage plays and his career began to see a positive turn around.  But unfortunately, Sal Mineo was murdered in 1976 at the age of 37.

Three young talents seemingly wise beyond their years all left an amazing body of work behind that generations of youngsters can enjoy and relate to for years to come.  Do yourself a favor, rent Rebel Without a Cause, pop some Jiffy Pop popcorn (on the stove), have a Friday movie night in and relive those teenangster years that seem like only yesterday!

Shop Update: Beach Party!

Just a hodgepodge of Spring & Summer updates at Gilded Gypsies! You can find them all here!

A Gorgeous Dame

I love Rita Hayworth, she's gorgeous.  I can be a bit shallow like that sometimes...I love you because you're beautiful!

Most know her as Rita Hayworth, but if you dig a little deeper you'll find that she was born Margarita Carmen Cansino in Brooklyn, NY.  She came from a family of professional dancers and learned to dance from the moment she could walk.  Early in her career, she was often cast as the exotic beauty or Latina dancer in bit parts and was credited as Rita Cansino.  In an effort to compete with the larger studios like MGM, Columbia decided to turn Rita into "the next big starlet".  In order to do so, Rita would have to make drastic changes in her appearance. She underwent hairline surgery to soften her widows peak and dyed her hair bombshell red, which brought out her gorgeous features. And lastly, she changed her name to Rita Hayworth.  Rita's butterfly transformation (good or bad), proves that image is a big part of succeeding in Hollywood.  Soon Rita would star in classic films such as, You'll Never Get Rich (1941), Tales of Manhattan (1942) and her signature films, Cover Girl (1944), Gilda (1946) and The Lady from Shanghai (1947).  It also shouldn't go unnoticed that Rita starred alongside two of the most celebrated dancers in Hollywood, Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly. Hayworth was trained in ballet, tap, ballroom and Spanish dance and she was a natural.  Her movements were free and she held her own, right along side the greats of dance. She appeared on the cover of Life magazine in black lingerie in 1941 and became the #2 pin up during the war, second to Betty Grable.  And with the success of Gilda, she will forever be known as the iconic femme fatale.

  

 

 

  
p.s. Not to toot my own horn but Rita Hayworth's birthday is October 17th and my birthday is October 18th...toot toot! ;-)

Thoughts on Thursday: Advertising

Cigarette brands geared towards women were extremely popular in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. The adverts were smart; Pretty slim women smoking pretty slim ciggies and both often times wrapped in pink! I do not advocate smoking as it's still big bad tobacco wrapped in size 0 clothing...but if I did, I would absolutely smoke slim lady ciggies! 

60's Pop Culture: The Paper Dress!

In 1966, Scott Paper & Co. (yes the company that sells you paper towels and toilet tissue) introduced the paper dress.  Meant as a novelty item, customers were offered a coupon printed on the packages of whatever Scott product they purchased.  Women could mail in said coupon plus $1 and receive an awesomely strange paper dress in the mail. Within 6 months, over 500,000 paper dresses were sold, thus starting a paper dress frenzy! The paper dress wasn't actually made of paper, but rather made of disposable cellulose fabric and synthetic fibers.

Many other companies capitalized on the success of the paper dress and started to manufacture their own.  Hallmark introduced their version of the paper dress as "hostess dresses" meant to match the party napkins and tablecloths; And department stores started to carry paper dresses as well. Saks Fifth Avenue, Lord & Taylor, and I. Magnin set up entire store sections exclusively dedicated to selling designer version of the paper dress, which sold for $8 bucks!

The most recognizable dress is of course the Andy Warhol Campbell's Soup paper dress. Thanks to Mr. Warhol, the paper dress is forever immortalized and totally captures the zeitgeist of American 60's pop culture.