The second Luise Rainer film I watched was such a fabulous film that I’m now devoted to collecting everything I can from or about it.

Luise Rainer in The Toy Wife, 1938

Since this film is a period piece, I posted my review of The Toy Wife (1938) elsewhere — but I did discover something fashion related to discuss…

On the back of the old MGM promotional film still photo by Clarence Bull, the following is typed:

Grey Faille with blue velvet ribbon detail and corded bow fastenings is charming in this costume designed by Adrian for Luise Rainer, in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer production, “The Toy Wife.” Bonnet of grey straw with blue and grey feather frou-frou and blue velvet tie.

This reminds me that once upon a time, movie stars, especially the actresses, were noted for the fashions they wore in films — not just the red carpets. Seeing such information that was distributed by the studios proves that fashions and designers themselves were part of the film promotion.

Today, if such photos and captions are provided and/or used, the caption probably has more to do with who the actress slept with, some arrest information or other bit of notoriety to gossip about. I much prefer to gossip about the glamour of film and the fashion in film, don’t you?

Back Of Photo Still

I stayed up late Tuesday night, celebrating Luise Rainer’s 100th birthday with TCM. This was my introduction to Rainer — and even though the three films I watched are neither her best known films nor those she won her two (back-to-back) Oscars for, I was smitten.

Luise Rainer

The first movie I watched was The Emperor’s Candlesticks (1937), which, frankly, is often dismissed as more eye-candy than substantive film. It’s easy to do, what with such opulent settings for two wealthy spies each on opposite ends of political intrigues who manage to fall for each other. But if you listen as well as watch, there’s a sophistication and elegance to the acting too. Especially the banter between Rainer and William Powell.

William Powell & Luise Rainer in Emperor's Candlesticks

Enjoy the lush settings, but don’t forget to focus on the faces and the dialog — if you do pay attention, it’s rather like the delight of employing the secret compartments in the antique candlesticks.

Vintage Magazine Article On The Emperor's Candlesticks

It’s not my favorite of the three Rainer films I watched, but it was good enough for me to want to watch another…

The only thing better than black velvet is vintage black velvet!

Norma Shearer: Black Velvet Glamour

To be as stunning as Norma Shearer, check out these current auctions on eBay:

This incredible vintage black velvet two-piece walking suit from the 20’s or 30’s is loaded with so many great features I may just pass out! (Click the link or the photos below to see all the glamorous details!)

Vintage Black Velvet Walking Suit

Back Of Vintage Velvet Walking Suit With Tasseled Scarf

This vintage black velvet bias cut evening gown may seem austere at first glance, but notice the body-hugging silhouette and rich details which make it anything but puritanical — and then there’s the plunging back with T-Strap, loaded with silver and white beading and red rhinestones in a dramatic Art Deco design. Talk about leaving a lasting impression!

Vintage Black Velvet Evening Gown With Exquisite Art Deco T-Strap On The Back

PS Don’t forget to enter my home spa skin care and “teddy bare” lingerie contests! (I wish I could enter!)

Katharine Hepburn’s iconic style was defined by tailored and crisp pieces, including high-waisted, wide-legged trousers like those she’s wearing in this 1930’s photograph (Bettmann/CORBIS) for the stage version of The Philadelphia Story.

Katherine Hepburn Wearing High-Waisted Wide-Legged Pants

If you’re looking for pieces to help create Hepburn’s look, you’ll fall in love with Dolce & Gabbana’s High Waist Trouser with tux side panel stripe — now on sale! (Found via Shop It To Me’s Sale Mail.)

Dolce and Gabbana's High Waist Trouser

D&G High Waist Trouser With Side Tux Stripe

Remember when I wrote about big black bracelets? Well, the November issue of Marie Claire magazine has a similar feature on the cuff bracelet as an “instant classic” on page 14.

Instant Classic: The Cuff Bracelet (Marie Claire, November, 2209)

The piece includes a brief history of the cuff, crediting Coco Chanel as the one who redefined the jewelry by wearing Maltese Cross cuffs by Duke Fulco di Verdura. Oddly, Marie Claire opted to use a photo of Chanel wearing plenty of bangles — but not the specified Maltese Cross cuffs… Maybe because Coco was puffing off a cig? (You know you simply cannot show people smoking with our current politically correct revisionist history! Bah!)

Coco Chanel Wearing Maltese Cross Cuffs (Photo by Man Ray, 1935)

In 2007, a black jade cuff by Verdura featuring an 18k gold Maltese Cross with cabochon sapphires and rubies, bezel-set diamonds, and cultured pearls fetched $29,800 at Christies.

Original Verdura Maltese Cross Cuff Sold At Christie's

That price may seem ridiculous to some, but then the cuffs shown in the Marie Claire piece range from $100 to $1620 — and beyond (that’s the translation of the “price upon request” BS used by designers and retailers who want to intimidate you into sales with the “If you have to ask, you can’t afford it” challenge). Included in the “price upon request” items shown in Marie Claire, the latest Vendura Maltese Cross cuff — limited-edition reissue of peridot, blue topaz, diamonds, enamel and gold, celebrating the both the 70th anniversary and return of the Maltese Cross cuff.

70th Anniversary Vendura Maltese Cross Cuff

As for price, rumor has it that it’s $16,500.

Suddenly, the prices of vintage jewelry don’t seem so ridiculous, do they?

The Goddess (1934) is a black & white silent film made in Shanghai, China, under the original Chinese title Shennü — and it stars one of my favorite actresses of all-time: the incredible Ruan Lingyu. That alone should be enough to convince you to see the film, to own it, but I suspect that even should my word carry that much weight with you, you still want to know more. *wink*

The word shennü has two meanings; literally, it means “divine woman,” and figuratively, it’s a colloquial euphemism for street prostitute. But even if we didn’t know this, the opening of the restored film tells us this is a story of a prostitute — a prostitute and a mother.

Opening Of The Goddess

In a way it’s rather unfortunate that the film begins this way, the text used to tell the story rather than just trusting the images, trusting the artistry of Ruan… But the more modern restoration can hardly be blamed or seen as slighting Ruan’s performance; the original Chinese film used intertitles, seemingly having felt the need to spoon-feed an audience too:

The prostitute struggles in the whirlpool of life. In the streets of the night, she is a lowly prostitute. When she holds her child up, she is a saintly mother. Between these two lives, she has shown her formidable character.

I don’t think it’s necessary. It’s obvious when she waits on the dirty neon-lit street for a man, disappears into a building with him while we are left to watch the sunrise, then see our exhausted heroine head home, that our divine woman sells herself to men on the streets of Shanghai.

Don’t believe me? Watch and see:

One night, in an attempt to avoid a police raid on that section of town, The Goddess ducks into the wrong doorway and finds herself face to face with the local crime boss. He offers her protection from the police, at a price, of course. It is an undesirable situation, but better than being busted and losing her son.

The Goddess and The Crime Boss

Now the crime boss is her pimp, expecting physical pleasures along with his cut of the cash. He and his cronies drop by her home whenever they wish. She tries to hide money from him, to better her son’s life, but the crime boss finds it — and she knows the price she’ll pay in the future if she tries again.

Desperate, she & her son escape in the middle of the night to a new city, only to end up with the same old problems — including the crime boss. He’s tracked her down, taken the boy, and waits for her return. To get her son back, she must go along with the crime boss.

She’s back in his clutches & control.

As the boy grows, we see him teased and ostracized, both for his mother’s work and his status as an illegitimate child. Realizing her son’s best future lies in an education, The Goddess squirrels away money for his tuition. This time she finds a better hiding place, but the crime boss is suspicious and misses his money. He is violent and abusive but she is unwavering, suffering the abuse and the prostitution for the sake of her son.

It would seem a miserable life, but much like real life, there are little moments of brightness which pierce the gloom. For a mother, it is the joy of her child.

Ruan As The Goddess Adoring Her Son

She revels in his studies — and Ruan radiates just looking at the boy. When the school has a talent show and her son performs, Ruan glows with a happiness which transcends even her physical beauty. But such a bright light is shut off when the gossipy mothers in the audience begin whispering about her profession and pointing out her son to one another.

The gossip spreads, and eventually the school receives letters of complaint that a boy of such a mother should attend there. The principal, who seems impressed with the boy’s diligence & behavior, investigates, making a trip to the boy’s home.

Unhappy to learn that the mother is a prostitute, he tells her that under the circumstances he’ll have to expel the child. The Goddess pleads her case, admitting her shame, she says, “Even though I am a degenerate woman, don’t I have the right as a mother to raise him as a good boy?”

Scene From 1934's The Goddess

It is heartbreaking. Neither the audience nor the principal can remain unmoved by the depth of her love, her willingness to sacrifice for the sake of her son.

Knowing that education is the key to this child’s future, the principal says he will spare the boy. (But he does encourage her to leave prostitution, of course — as if she hasn’t been trying!) At the school, he argues the case before the school board. His argument, even seen on an old silent movie, is the stuff that will get a progressive up on her feet. It is both a passionate and intelligent speech where we see the filmmakers’ views on poverty, class struggle, and Shanghai society.

However, the school board members fear action by concerned & upset parents and so want the boy expelled. The principal responds that if they expel the boy, they will not have only failed the child but failed as educators in general — and he will not remain at the school if they do. But they do expel the boy and the principal leaves his job at the school.

Not knowing the strong stand the principal took, The Goddess feels betrayed yet again. In fight-or-flight mode, she readies to flee with her son yet again. But when she goes to get her hidden savings she discovers that the crime boss has already found her stash and taken it. The flight option removed, The Goddess now heads off to fight — the crime boss.

To tell you what happens next would be a disservice to you and the film. Enigmatically, I will say that in the battle between The Goddess and the crime boss, the victor is not victorious. She may have won the fight but she loses the war and pays the price — a steep price. For even though he is a low-life criminal, a man is still worth more than a woman. And a whore? Even less so.

Women, especially whorish women, must be punished (in films and in real life).

True, China didn’t need to adhere to the Hollywood Code but the operating feudal system morality in 1930’s China was akin to such thinking, so while the story dared to be told via film, in the end, our heroine must pay the price.

Or maybe the price is simply more of the film’s statement on the unfairness of poverty and class.

In any case, Ruan’s goddess pays the kind of price that leaves you crying — tears of sorrow, tears of rage.

The Goddess could be called, simplistically, just another Madonna-Whore film; but given that worldwide the schism still exists, who can argue against such such a timeless, even if vintage, exploration of it?

And Ruan Lingyu’s poignant performance is worth watching for its own sake.

You can watch & download the entire film for free at The Internet Archive as The Goddess is now in the public domain, and watch it on TCM, as I did — but do yourself a favor and buy a DVD; your sale will be support for the restoration and distribution of great old films. Ruan Ling-Yu: The Goddess of Shanghai, the actress’ biography, also contains a DVD of The Goddess.

Chinese Film Poster For The Goddess

This juicy fashion tidbit comes from the March 27, 1950 issue of Quick Magazine:

Hollywood designer Adrian, disregarding Pairs and N.Y., pronounced that there will be no drastic change in the daytime silhouette for the next 50 years, added that the death of the “New Look” proved that attempting to insinuate violent fashion changes in modern times is futile.

Adrian's Fashion Prediction, 1950

Adrian, costumer for Irving Berlin and Cecil B. DeMille productions as well as Valentino films, is said to have been “responsible for creating and refining the images of actresses such as Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer, Jean Harlow and his favorite, Greta Garbo” — but clearly he was off the mark with such sentiments & statements about the death of New Look fashions and “violent fashion changes” being futile in modern times.

From our lovely vantage point of having seen not only Adrian’s future but the very 50 years he spoke of become history, one cannot avoid questioning the story that is told of this designer… No matter how lovely his work was — and it was lovely, just look at the gowns in 1939’s The Women — you have to more critically look at the story here.

Adrian Gowns, The Women (1939)

The story goes that Adrian, frustrated by WWII’s smaller film budgets and shifting values, took up his own fashion design label & shop where he could more freely & grandly express himself & his glamour ideals. Adrian, Ltd. was born:

When Adrian decided to leave the world of costume design in 1941 and open Adrian Ltd, he could have had no knowledge of how perfect his timing would prove to be. With the Nazi invasion of Paris in 1940, all contact with the French fashion industry halted. As nearly all American designers based their designs on those originating from Paris, the absence of information from France created a fashion vacuum. American designers stepped up to the plate, and soon began to create fashions based on an idealized American lifestyle. These new fashions were often casual, practical and made of durable fabrics. Both New York and Los Angeles fought for the title of “America’s Fashion Capitol.” The February 19, 1941 title of a Los Angeles Times article declared, “East and West Struggle for Fashion Dictatorship,” and suggested that Los Angeles would win the battle, ultimately becoming “more powerful in its sway over the civilized world than Paris ever thought of being.”

Adrian debuted his first collection for buyers in January of 1942 at the May Company department store in Los Angeles. Buyers were not particularly excited about this initial collection, so Adrian held another show in February of the same year. This show was a great success and Adrian was soon selling his designs in department stores throughout the country.

But as we, with all due respect (because I do love Adrian’s work!), look at the context here: one clearly sees an aging fashion designer struggling with changing times and fashions.

On one hand, we must admire Adrian for taking a stand for glamour by saying, “It was because of Garbo that I left M-G-M. In her last picture they wanted to make her a sweater girl, a real American type. I said, ‘When the glamour ends for Garbo, it also ends for me. She has created a type. If you destroy that illusion, you destroy her.’ When Garbo walked out of the studio, glamour went with her, and so did I.”

On the other, we have to recognize that Harlow & Garbo, these were not the forms and fashions — nor even the female ideal — of the 1940s & beyond.

Refusing to change his views, his fashion statements, Adrian was able to exploit his status as a famous Hollywood costumer to a (wealthy) public hungry for fashion — and if they wouldn’t readily accept it, he could afford to hold on & push it with such little competition. But New Look fashions continued until, approximately, the mid 1960’s, years after Adrian’s death in 1959 — and there sure were violent fashion changes after that. Perhaps those statements by Adrian from the 1950 magazine clipping sound more desperate than simply catty now; they do to me.

If all this sounds cynical or unkind, I don’t mean it to be; I’m simply pointing out that fashion is both a commerce & an ideal, both of which sit within the context of culture at a specific time — and must change as the culture/times change. You can manipulate, you can create, you can even exploit conditions such as limited competition; but you cannot stubbornly refuse to change and still go on forever.

If you like the dramatic look of Barbara Stanwyck’s floral dress…

Stanwyck In Dramatic Floral Print

Look at this vintage draped crepe rayon dress in grey with yellow & white floral print. It’s pretty and appropriate for work as well as special occasions.

Vintage Floral Draped Rayon Dress

This vintage dress features a V neckline, side zipper, and weighted sash panels for dramatic draping.

Violetville Vintage Floral Dress

Irene Rich, 1937

When I spotted this vintage photograph of Irene Rich I thought two things — film & fashion. (What else?! lol)

My first thought was the film thought — and the usual thought I have regarding Irene Rich: How ironic that when the talkies came in and (despite her fine voice) the film studios lost interest in her, Rich rebounded with a lovely career in radio.

And my next thought was about fashion: Look how lovely all those small stripes are!

In the 1980’s there were lots of jersey ensembles; pants, “unstructured jackets,” and pants — including wide loose fitting pants like these. Perhaps, with this current 80’s revival, I can hope from someone to put an ensemble like this into production.

(This is part two of the story of Ruan Lingyu; if you missed part one, see The Life Of Ruan Lingyu.)

The Legendary & Tragic Film Star Ruan Lingyu

Ruan Lingyu committed suicide on March 8, 1935, International Women’s Day, and the resulting public adoration was a spectacle that rivals, perhaps even surpasses, the recent passing of Michael Jackson.

Ruan Lingyu's Funeral

More than 100,000 mourners were drawn to the WanGuo funeral parlor; the funeral procession on March 14, 1935, reached over three miles long — and three women committed suicide during it; estimates of the number of people who crowded street-side to watch her last journey through Shanghai were more than three hundred thousand every magazine in Shanghai published memorial issues in her honor; the front page of the New York Times pronounced it “the most spectacular funeral of the century.”

While Ruan was adored, Tang, her lover, was openly cursed & blamed for her death. Star Movie Studios openly declared they’d have no part in any mourning ceremony held by Tang Jishan, saying he was “a criminal who did harm to the whole movie world, being the direct cause of Ruan’s suicide.” This news, along with other speculation & insults, was covered by the press — the very same press who had hounded her during the scandal. The very same press which, unable to accept or learn from the accusations of actress and writer Ai Xia’s death portrayed by Ruan in A New Woman. Irony at it’s best worst.

Even after some Ruan’s last “tender” letters were published, letters in which Ruan asks Tang to take care of her mother & her daughter, neither the press nor the movie world recognized him as Ruan’s beloved; he is the man who murdered her with immorality.

(According to this site, translated by Google, Tang did tamper with the letters; but it’s still rather clear that Tang was the lover Ruan wanted, no matter what the press believed or printed.)

Ruan In The Goddess (1934)

Clearly her lovers weren’t very kind to her, but it wasn’t their betrayals and unkindness which were too much for Ruan to bear.

It was a culture, a time & place, which regulated women, holding them to standards that men did not need to worry about, rendering her far less powerful than her popularity would seem to indicate. This simultaneously placed her at the mercy of the media which exploited her gender & situation, her public adoration & private sorrows, sensationalizing their way to sales.

In one of the letters written just before she took her own life, Ruan writes in grief-stricken self-defense of her actions, saying that while she’s aware that she’s taking a risk — that some may take her suicide as an evidence of some guilt — she’d rather die than to continue to face the slander & scandal.

In her suicide note, she wrote, “Gossip is a fearful thing.”

Still From Love & Duty

Lu Xun (Lu Hsün; Zhou Shuren), a prominent writer at the time, took that phrase, “Gossip is a fearful thing,” and made it the title of an article denouncing the media’s exploitation of Ruan.

Of the media and Xun’s article, however, Stefania Stafutti has some pointed things to say.

In The Perception of Privacy: The Case of Ruan Lingyu (published in the International Journal of Afro-Asiatic Studies) Stafutti wrote:

Only the (male oriented) society control over human beings is questioned together with the dramatic fear of loosing one’s own face, but nothing is said on the individual right of carrying on one’s private life with no external interferences. Even if once more referring in general terms to “the feudal society of old China” the Min bao is the only journal which stigmatizes the backwardness of the film-goers, who simply like twisting the knife in the wound: the perception of privacy is strictly connected with people’s perception on what is to be “hidden” and what is to be “protected”. With his article published under the pen name Mu Hui on Tai bai, which title “Gossip is a fearful thing” is picked up from one of Ruan’s letters, left behind after her suicide, Lu Xun goes to the core of the problem. As Eileeen J. Cheng points out in a recent article Lu Xun is fascinated by dead women, especially those who are somehow victimized by the society At the same time their choice of dieing is seen as having a cathartic and rather ambiguous function. The blame put on the wild circulation of details on Ruan’s personal life expresses Lu Xun strong objection against the circulation of exploitative images of women but, at the same time, strips the women of their gender issues, to sit them on a throne of purity which radically prevents them from enjoying or inducing any idea of pleasure As a matter of fact, Lu Xun stigmatizes much more the voyeuristic attitude of the readers and of the film goers than the total lack of scruple of the sensationalistic press. Being Lu Xun perfectly conscious of the enormous power of the press, who would rather expect him being more indulgent with the common readers. He goes much farer than Min bao, almost attributing to the readers a sort of cannibalization of their victims (a topic dear to Lu Xun!): “[Ruan Lingyu and Ai Xia] deaths are like but adding a few grains of salt to the boundless ocean; even though it fills bland mouths with some flavour, after a while everything is still bland, bland, bland”. Lu Xun’s utter repugnance for the mass miserable appetites cannot simply be regarded as an “ascetic” gaze towards the female world.

It is true, however, that the press kept a full-press on Ruan & her death.

Ruan Lingyu On Public Display In Her Coffin

Stafutti writes of it as a “voyeuristic attitude, even transgressing into the kitsch,” as the media described in great detail her corpse, how it was dressed, how her hair was styled, and “about the hopeless Zhang Damin, who wiping two blood drops from Ruans’s mouth seems to have stated that they have to be considered her last gift to him.”

The media even missed the irony of reporting on Ruan’s mother crying to the press that they were to blame for her daughter’s death, saying, “It’s all because of you. You killed her. You will reckon with me.”

It would be easy to follow suit here and, nearly 75 years later, discuss Ruan in terms of public out-cry & press persecution, comparing her death to the deaths of Marilyn Monroe & Princess Diana, and similar press feeding fenzy of today… But I’d like to let Ruan’s life and choices speak for her, via a lovely legacy of films.

Her acting is brilliant — and plentiful. By the time she was 25, with a career lasting less than 10 years she made nearly three times that many films… 29 films in 9 years. Amazing films too, from the ones I’ve seen. And the ones I’ve read about. (I must see them all!)

In them she explored female advancement & exploitation; a rigid patriarchial & feudal system built on class, which maltreated (if not out-right abused) women and men alike, yet was perpetuated by both genders; and a warm naiveté which, even should innocence be lost (and find itself punished for its supposed immorality), could outlast & outshine the old & bleak hierarchical social structure.

Beautiful Ruan Lingyu With Little Dog

And frankly, she’s just breathtaking to watch.

For her suffering heroines, beauty & acting ability, Ruan was compared, even during her own lifetime, to Garbo; but I think Ruan Lingyu and her luminous acting stands on its own, without (even such grand) comparison.

Why she is not as remembered, idolized, and enshrined in death like so many other movie stars and film legends (including those whose lives and work were far less impressive) is incomprehensible to me. Most of us don’t even know of her.

But I carry the torch, Ruan; I do.