Being an It Girl is not what it used to be. These days we’re stuck with heiresses and socialites who may be able to afford fabulous clothes, but they don’t necessarily look fabulous wearing them.
The term It Girl was coined by Elinor Glyn, a romance novelist, after seeing the 1927 silent movie “It” which starred the beautiful Clara Bow.
Glyn described “It” as “that quality possessed by some which draws all others with its magnetic force” and I can totally see how Clara Bow exudes this quality from every pore.
This, as a fashion icon, makes her very hard to emulate as it wasn’t what she wore but rather the way in which she wore it which made her utterly stunning. Still, I think it’s possible (and, personal opinion, imperative!) to take some inspiration from her style.
Clara Bow managed to pull off different fashions of dressing, from androgynous shirts and braces, to pure
Furthermore, with nowadays floozy It Girls all succumbing to the Size Zero trend (not to mention awful fake tans, fake hair, fake breasts etc.), Clara Bow showed how curves are most definitely more sexy and should always being in vogue.
Pretty much Clara Bow is my idol, and that’s why I figured she would be my perfect opening post. Her life story is heart-breaking; totally unwanted by her mother, abused by her father and ultimately dying earlier than she should have done, and yet on an entirely shallow and superficial level she was perfect.
3 comments:
Great post-- I love Clara Bow!
I read her biography, and her mother didn't neglect her and her father didn't abuse her. In fact her father pushed her to doing what she wanted. Her mother fell from a window, when Clara was young and suffered from psychological problems. So Clara ended up caring for her mother, and when her mother died she attempted to jump into the grave after her.
i'm always glad to find things on clara. :) i have been reading up on her too and you are right about the abuse from the father. he sexually assaulted her when she was a teenager and didn't care for his wife so he wasn't around when clara was growing up and became more prominent in her life in hollywood. i agree too with april izzard because she did in fact spend so much time with her mother that when her mother finally died she did jump into her grave after her. but her mother wasn't able to psychologically provide for clara. she ended up really raising herself. and her mother didn't approve of her acting desires, saying that clara would go to hell if she did act and even threatened to end clara's life to save her from such a career. the movie "It" though was made because of Elinor Glyn's book about "It" and it was written into her contract for the movie "It" that Elinor would receive a role in the movie and a huge chunk of change for the book to be featured in it. it's actually quite funny when you see the movie because it's way over the top advertising. even more so than today's standards of product placements. but clara did embody every aspect of the "It" girl and was perfect for the movie. it's a shame she didn't continue making movies past 1933 but clara broke down when sound came into pictures and mentally couldn't take it. she died at the age of 60 but she spent most of the last half of her life as a home body shunning the public life. if you haven't checked them out yet there are some really interesting documentaries of her out there. sorry to blabber on so much but i can't help myself. i love clara too :).
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