Friday, February 2, 2018

The Queen of Mars ...

Costume design by Adrian for "The Great Ziegfeld," 
directed by Robert Z. Leonard, 1936. 
You know it was a good era for fashion and costume design when the Queen of Mars was the ultimate style inspiration. I’ve been down the rabbit hole again, digging through 1920s and 30s showbiz imagery, and I couldn’t help noticing how everyone looks like they’ve been raiding the Martian Queen’s closet. Her outfits were everywhere– at the Ziegfeld follies, the Russian ballet, early science-fiction films, even making an appearance on Hollywood’s first Cleopatra. The bigger, bolder (and glitzier), the better. I find it all makes for some pretty fabulous holiday outfit inspiration, so here are my top 20 style moments inspired by the Queen of Mars…
Pearl Girls in Ballet of Jews from the movie "The Midnight Sun" (1926)

From an early 20th century Swedish play, "Ein Traumspiel" by August Strindberg.

                From La Revue des Folies Bergere, 1924.
Costumes designed by Erte.

Film still from "Bright Lights," Robert Z. Leonard, 1925.


Portrait of Pixie Herbert in a bat costume, ca. 1923

Another costume by Erte, the Russian costume designer often referred to as the father of Art Deco, who had a huge influence on fashion, Hollywood, dance and art and made costumes for everything from Radio City Music Hall to the Paris Opera.

Russian avant garde theatre actress, Ioulia Solntseva in “Aelita: Queen of Mars” (1924) 
 Costume designer : Aleksandra Ekster.
Marion Martin (a.k.a Hollywood’s blonde menace), 1928, costume by Erte.

 Costume design by Adrian for "The Great Ziegfeld," 
directed by Robert Z. Leonard, 1936

‘Water’ played by L. M. Koreneva, from Stanislavski’s production of 
Maeterlinck’s ‘The Bluebird’ , Moscow Art Theatre , 1908

Alla Nazimova in Oscar Wilde’s Salomé (1923),
 costumes designed by Natacha Rambova 

Theda Bara as Cleopatra. The film is now considered lost, with only 
fragments surviving. Theda was cinema’s first sex symbol 
as well as America's First Goth. 

Brigitte Helm gets direction from director Fritz Lang on the set 
of Metropolis (1927).

Silent film actress, Barbara La Marr, left and Betty Blythe, right, 
an American actress best known for her dramatic roles in exotic silent films 
such as The Queen of Sheba (1921).

 Awesome English actress, Jessie Matthews and 
an even more awesome headdress ca. 1930s

Costume design by Adrian for "The Great Ziegfeld" 
directed by Robert Z. Leonard, 1936

Ziegfeld Follies dancer circa 1920's.

 "The Avengers," 1924, Lady Victory defeats the robot menace from Mars.

“Martha Pierre as Candlelight” better known 
as “The Candelabra Girl ” in the 1920 Ziegfeld Follies. 
Photo by Alfred Cheney 

Be sure to visit all the other participants of Beverly's Pink Saturday Blog Hop ... just click!

 Now,  you go make something beautiful!
´¨)
¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*´¨)
(¸.•´ (¸.•´? Tristan 

 
Unfortunately, by the time Zsa Zsa Gabor played the Queen of
Outer Space in 1958, the vogue of art deco outer space costumes
had passed. It seems in 1958, the glamor girls of other planets
wore Fredericks of Hollywood.
 

7 comments:

Debbie-Dabble Blog and A Debbie-Dabble Christmas said...

Tristan,
This was a great post and only shows what goes around comes back around but nowadays when artists like my girl, Lady Ga Ga wore outrageous outfits and head wear, she was condemned. and yes, the outfits worn in the Ziegfield Follies were quite spectacular but how quickly people forget and are not reminded of those past styles when they are repeated nowadays......Thanks so much for stopping by and for always leaving me such encouraging comments. It is because of Bloggers like you that I continue to blog..... It has been 8 years already....
Hugs,
Debbie

JP Bloch said...

I'll bet it's not that easy to wear this stuff.

Ann said...

How intriguing are those costumes!!! I love fashion and make quite a few of my clothes. The picture of the girl with her head lowered to the ground is gorgeous, think It was the Bird--. The creativity they exhibited is wonderful.
Ann

The Idaho Beauty said...

I love all that deco influence!

Pat @ Mille Fiori Favoriti said...

What amazing talent to design costumes like these with so much panache! Some look very heavy, especially the headdresses, so I give the actresses a lot of credit to be able to act or dance in them.

Jeanie said...

Tristan, you come up with the best posts! Great costumes. I recently saw The Great Ziegfeld again and remember that one, I think! Oh, those headdresses. I would have fallen down the stairs in one fell swoop. Just terrific!

Thanks again for visiting my blog. You do leave the best comments and always make me feel like a million bucks!

Jackie PN said...

Wow!! Again you just WOW me with this incredible post! These costumes are mind blowing- some a bit on the strange side, but all magnificent! And the headdress...oh my...how their necks must have ached! heehee
I was going to say which one I love the best, but quite honestly cannot choose a single one, so I choose them all! I love them all the best!
And yes, these ladies do deserve much credit!Bravo everyone!

Fab post Tristan!
Jackie xx