10 Vintage Old Hollywood Fashion Icons
Old Hollywood was the beginning of stars being made. Everyone wanted to look like them, talk like them, and be them. Stardom made them icons and trendsetters. It’s time to remember where we came from by looking back at the Old Hollywood fashion icons who still remain well remembered today.
Marylin Monroe
Arguably one of the most famous ladies of Hollywood with her level of impact and status.
Marylin Monroe made a name for herself as an Old Hollywood Fashion icon and sex symbol through her numerous roles and impact on the industry.
Her most iconic fashion moment occurred in The Seven Year Itch where her white dress famously blew up when she stood over the subway grate. This dress became so famous it took on a life of its own, inspiring future characters and parodies of the iconic moment with identical dresses.
Gentlemen Prefer Blonde’s also featured Monroe in a striking pink dress which also went down as one of her most iconic fashion moments. The dress and the diamonds around her neck went into making a very glamorous moment combined with her singing Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend.
However, that is not all. She also became an icon off-set.
Off-screen, she chose laid back turtlenecks and fitted slacks with her glam locks still intact. She brought glamour into every moment of her life and showed the industry a different kind of Hollywood body type with her voluptuous figure.
She left much to be desired and put herself on the map as one of the most famous sex symbols of all time.
Some may remember Marilyn for her connection to Kennedy, I remember her as a fashionable figure who brought a lot to the industry in terms of setting new standards of beauty and her fashionable career.
Joan Crawford
Crawford was one of the most famous stars in Hollywood, but also an unsung Old Hollywood Fashion icon.
Many remember Crawford for her troubled past and reputation among the studios, but we rarely remember the fashion moments she brought on and off screen.
Crawford worked closely with her studio designer, Adrian, to create her own show-stopping looks, always wanting to look her best for the cameras. Crawford’s success lay in her ability to capture the style of the times and set trends. She was always the modern girl who loved to have fun but could also be sophisticated when needed. She was a chameleon of Hollywood.
In the early days, her look was that of the flapper. Starring in silent movies as a dancer, it was desirable to dress like the iconic 20s flapper complete with fringe details on the dress as well as the typical hats of the era.
Later, her most famous looks featured fur coats and the iconic ruffle dress created for her in Letty Lynton.
Crawford was very glamorous and classic in her youth, wearing clothing that was very fitting for the Hollywood era, feminine cuts and accessories that shined. Her look itself was not far off from that of other stars at the time.
By the 50s her look had altered to something more androgynous with her large shoulder pads, high waisted pants and leather boots. She appeared to have found her comfort in the industry as a fading star and fallen out of love with the glitzy side of Hollywood that was turning against her.
Her impact and ability to adjust to the changing environment is what made her special and a true performer in an industry that was just beginning to take shape.
Greta Garbo
The Swedish icon who made it big in Hollywood was also famous for her unique sense of style.
Garbo was famous for being a very solitary star who valued her privacy and alone time. Her sense of style also reflected this.
Out of the public eye, she valued comfort over all else. She chose tailored skirts and trousers, a contrast to the lavish dresses she was adorned within her movies.
Her soft wavy locks also made an impact by providing a softer approach to wavy hair as opposed to the gelled down wavy looks that adorned the big screen.
Garbo was a massive star who had all eyes on her, which explains her need for seclusion and privacy at the height of her stardom and her choice to maintain a somewhat normal life in the privacy of her own home away from all the glitz and glamour of Hollywood.
Grace Kelly
The elegant princess of old Hollywood herself.
Before she became Princess of Monaco, she was an actress. Stunningly beautiful, she captured everyone’s attention with her looks and her style.
Kelly’s style was very classic for the most part. She was a big fan of circle skirts and fitted bodices, inspiring new looks from Dior with this exact silhouette.
Everything Grace wore was tailored perfectly to her body, always giving her figure a snug fit whether it be dresses or pants.
Due to Grace’s elegance, she was a minimal dresser most of the time. She chose neutral shades and colours and steered away from bold patterns. She preferred simplicity and reflected this in her fashion.
Clara Bow
The most famous flapper of Old Hollywood.
Her makeup looks itself were inspiring and vampiric in a way, providing strong dark eye and dark lip looks. She was one of the first to bring an element of seduction to the big screen. Being a silent film star, her image was everything and went into her performance on screen, therefore, her look was very important in her formulation of character and her persona within Hollywood.
She also left a mark on the fashion industry with her unique sense of dress that was very fitting with the time period and set the tone for the fashion of the time.
She was often seen wearing a scarf around her head which then went on to become a trend people started copying as their own Clara Bow fashion look. She was also iconic for her flapper dresses which were popular at the time but also enhanced her dance performances in her films.
Her image then went on to be emulated a great deal later by Betty Boop, copying her signature short hair, big eyes and heart lips.
Audrey Hepburn
It may be difficult to separate Hepburn from her famous little black dress from Breakfast at Tiffany’s but her fashion impact does not stop there.
Most people would think of the Breakfast at Tiffany’s dress, and rightly so. The dress created by Givenchy with the intention of being feminine and Parisian with its sleek and sophisticated design.
Hepburn inspired the fashion industry to never underestimate the power of a simple, sleek black dress, making it one of the famous little black dresses of all time.
Hepburn’s off-screen fashion was similar to on screen due to the simplicity of the looks themselves. Off-screen, she was a fan of cigarette cropped trousers and roll neck jumpers all in very plain black or white.
She was very sophisticated with her style and kept it simple in most aspects of her style, setting a simplistic, classic tone for the fashion industry.
Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Hepburn may be the most famous androgynous dresser of the Old Hollywood Fashion scene.
Katharine was a very snazzy dresser, choosing to wear very manly clothes from slacks to shirts to loafers.
She was a reflection of the modern post-suffragette times, taking control of her own image and cultivating her image to reflect her personality.
Her manly look could be seen as a way to reclaim her power and assert the fact that she will be in charge of her own career.
Her look deviated from the typical sirens of Hollywood and marked a new modern era where females could be seen as figures beyond the damsel in distress narrative.
Hepburn was heavily involved in the creation of all of her looks as she cared deeply about the fine details and how she wanted herself to be portrayed.
She wasn’t heavily recognised at the time for her fashion but became more known later on when people recognised the power and impact she held with her strong sense of self.
Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor brought femininity and her own personal style to Old Hollywood Fashion.
Taylor was known for her feminine cuts and figure-hugging outfits, aided by her voluptuous figure. Much like Monroe, her coke-bottle figure was something coveted by everyone at the time and she had no shame in showing off her assets with the help of her outfits.
Taylor opted for low cut dresses and halter necks to draw attention to her bust as well as figure-hugging dresses to show off her curves. Waist belts were also key pieces in her outfits in order to give her a nipped waist with the fuller skirts she was seen wearing frequently.
Taylor was not always considered to be a fashion icon. She never quite fit in with the other fashion icons of the industry such as Audrey Hepburn or Grace Kelly. She was feminine but not in a gentle way. There was a roughness to her, maybe a sign of her more edgy and dangerous side. She was one to take matters into her own hands and make her own choices. She had a sense of freedom and confidence to act on that freedom rather than trying to be the perfect starlet of Hollywood.
Her style was not a reflection of anything luxurious or imprisoning, it was her freedom to dress however she wanted to dress and showcase whatever she wanted to showcase.
Judy Garland
Judy Garland was a turbulent sweetheart within Hollywood.
Garland’s sense of style was confusing at times which is possibly what makes her so interesting in terms of being an icon.
Growing up she was well known for form-fitting dresses in muted colours and her famous curly up-dos. She was described as the girl-next-door type, sweet, innocent, and a friend to everyone. As she matured she opted for stronger looks, slipping into colourful pieces with padded shoulders, giving her a stronger look. She no longer looked as sweet or innocent as she did in her youth.
Having always been uncomfortable in her body, the way she dressed was as turbulent as she was in her personal life. This is what makes her such an icon and a gay icon.
Her struggle with her body was one shared by many gay men at the time who hailed her as a gay icon due to her famous androgynous looks which featured boxier cuts and fits and lacked the femininity she once had.
Along with her androgynous style later in life she also donned pixie cuts and went back and forth with extravagant accessories such as eye-catching pearls and feather boas.
Everyone had their eyes on Garland wondering what she would do next as she was very unpredictable. From her career to her fashion, there was no predicting what we would see next from her.
Rita Hayworth
Rita Hayworth was most famous for being a sex symbol in Old Hollywood.
Gilda was the movie that put Hayworth on the map in terms of solidifying her status as a sex symbol while also capturing what it really means to be a femme fatale.
From her very first introduction in Gilda, Hayworth captures everyone’s attention with her iconic hair flip moment. The movie also famously features Hayworth in a slinky black dress and long gloves, performing a music striptease number for her audience. Her red hair was also a large factor in her style icon status as the big stars of the time were platinum blonde or brunette, not red-headed.
She became known as the siren and femme fatale of Hollywood, playing many roles where she draws men in due to her irresistible charm and allure.
Her costumes had a great deal to do with this, they were figure hugging and revealing but not too revealing. They left a lot to the imagination to keep men wanting more.
Her look put her on the map as a pin-up girl and provided inspiration to many women who wanted to look as glamorous as her. However, off-screen, she was nothing like the confident, dangerous women she played on screen. Off-screen she was shy and felt inferior to those around her and was comfortable in slacks and jumpers. These casual looks, however, are not the ones she is remembered for.
Her most famous look from Gilda remains popular through popular culture, seen most evidently in Jessica Rabbit through the use of a slinky dress and wavy red hair. It is undeniably Hayworth’s influence on this character.
The difference one outfit can make to one’s career and status is very much evident in Hayworth’s case.
