Olympic Colors for Summer 1932

The 1932 summer Olympics, hosted by Los Angeles, took place in July-August, inspiring an Olympic theme in sportswear that season. The five colors of the Olympic rings were reproduced in wooden bead necklaces, in Bakelite bangles, in stripes on sweaters and scarves, belts, bathing suits, and hat bands. Though the worldwide economic depression meant that fewer people could actually attend the games, it was easy to add a little Olympic flair to your wardrobe, as Ladies Home Journal described that August:

Forget all you’ve been told about this color going with that and prepare to mix your primaries. This summer the red-blue-green-yellow-black of the Olympic insignia are jumbled together to ensemble the gayest sports wardrobe fashion has presented in many a year. They’re running rings around all the new sports clothes. So prepare to radiate in these colors whether you’re going to adorn a front seat in California’s giant stadium or root for the home team in your own ball park.

But don’t think for a moment that the well-dressed have completely deserted their stand-bys – the double-breasted, big buttoned sports coat, the beret, the white sleeveless dress, the linen suit or the sun-tan bathing outfit. They have not, and neither should you. But look in this picture and see what’s happened to the old dears! Just look at the girls on the cover! Think what these very giddy Olympic accessories will do for you. Think what they’ll do to last year’s hangovers. Why, the most non-committal white dress attached to a sheaf of five colored bracelets, a five-ringed scarf and beret, becomes dramatic. In fact, this year, as never before, smart dressing is all in the mixing, and who could resist this gay call to the colors?

-Dorothy Shaver
Vice President, Lord & Taylor, New York City

Bakelite clips like this could be picked up cheaply and attached to a neckline, a purse, or a scarf for instant Olympic chic. (1930s blue Bakelite often appears black today).

The presence of Hollywood stars like Virginia Bruce added glamour to the X Olympiad.

Some ladies of the U.S. and Canadian track and field teams: Jane Shilley (left), the great Babe Didrikson (center) and Mildred Frizell (right). The ’32 games were the first to feature women’s track & field events.

Interestingly, we came across very little evidence that this trend was revived for the 1936 summer Olympics, hosted by Berlin. Rather, the location of the games seems to have sparked a renewed interest in Tyrolean and “Bavarian Peasant” fashions (perhaps the story behind this amazing 1930s Tyrolean outfit from Coronet Weeds on Etsy?); the only reference to “Olympic colors” we came across for summer of '36 was a suggestion that peasant blouses might be embroidered with the five colors of the Olympic rings.

Ladies' Golf Wear

Continuing the ladies’ sportswear theme as promised….

The carefree lady golfer image was a favorite for advertisers in the 1920s and ‘30s as the sport gained popularity among women players. Unlike some other sports, there does not appear to have been any particular golfing “uniform.” Any spectator sports dress that allowed for proper freedom of movement; knitwear; skirt with a sweater or "tuck in" blouse; divided skirts and culottes were all commonly worn on the links. We'll let the images speak for themselves.

1924 Judge humor magazine cover, "The right stick to wear on an approach." In the '20s they seem to have favored a white background with a colorful accent (scarf, sweater, etc.).

A 1925 golfer. From Modes & Manners magazine.



July 1932

Jean Harlow was often photographed on the links.

All in yellow, 1934.

Outdoor Girl cosmetics used the lady golfer image on their packaging.


"There's a new swing on the dance floor... and Macy's follows through with a new swing on the golf course." Gray flannel culottes and tuck in shirt. Also came in lemon yellow, blue, leaf green or brown Croydon check. Manhatter felt cloche, precial golf shoe with spikes, and ankle socks of Shetland. At right, chamois cardigain and chamois half-fingered golf gloves. 1936.

California's I Magnin's culottes of wool knit with cord belt and sports shirt of contrasting color. Visor in linen. 1936.

This complete ladies' golf outfit from around the same time as the above ads came up on eBay several years ago. It still breaks our hearts that it wasn't our size - not even close.



Ad for Gossard corsets. The golfer image drew attention to the product's flexibility.


McCallum Hosiery ad, 1927

Happy 4th

Oh, Pashley!

We’ve been swooning over the Pashley Sovereign Princess ever since gorgeous Fleur de Guerr wrote about them in this post of her blog, Diary of a Vintage Girl, last summer. Not realizing it at the time, this is also the bike we’d long admired in the pages of Victoria magazine in the 1990s. Until fairly recently, there weren’t any shops distributing them in the vicinity.

But one was finally located, and a Regency Green Pashley will be arriving here in August!! We can finally imagine we’re in St. Mary Mead, home of Miss Marple, or Tilling, the home of Miss Mapp, and later Emmeline “Lucia” Lucas, in E.F. Benson’s books - all time favorites around here. It’s in the last book of the series, Trouble for Lucia (1939) that Lucia starts a fad for bicycling:

"The bicycles arrived a week later, nickel-plated and belled and braked; Lucia had the borough arms of Tilling brilliantly painted on the tool bag behind her saddle. They were brought up to Mallards after dark; and next morning after breakfast the two rode about the garden paths, easily passing up the narrow path into the kitchen garden, making circles round the mulberry tree on the lawn (‘Here we go round the mulberry tree’ lightly-heartedly warbled Lucia) and proving themselves adepts. . . At the shopping hour they mounted and bumped slowly down the cobbles of the steep street into the High Street, ready to ring their bells.

This one appearance of Lucia and Georgie doing their shopping on bicycles had been enough to kindle the spark of admiration in the breast of the more mature ladies of Tilling. It looked so lissome, so gaily adolescent to weave your way in and out of traffic and go for a spin in the country, and surely if Lucia could, they could also.

It became fashionable to career up and down the High Street after dark, when traffic was diminished, and the whole length of it resounded with tinkling bells and twinkled with bicycle-lamps. . ."

“‘Now we can put on the pace a little Georgie,’ said Lucia and she shot ahead. All her practicings had been on the level roads of the marsh or on the sea-shore, and at once she was travelling much faster than she had intended, and with eyes glued on the curving road, she fumbled for her brake. She completely lost her head. All she could find in her agitation was her bell, and incessantly ringing, she sped with ever increasing velocity down the short steep road towards the bridge over the railway. A policeman on point duty stepped forward with the arresting arm of the law held out to stop her…”

(Above: "Miss Sally Emerson and Miss Jean Williams question Park Policeman Arthur Dolan as to why he arrested them 1933 Golden Gate Park" From the San Francisco Public Library historical photo collection.)

Cycling was popular for women in the 1930s for fitness and leisure. Attire for country or resort-area rides was casual - a pair of high-waist shorts or skirt and a blouse, with or without coordinated knee socks; or a sports dress. Culottes (also worn for golf and tennis) or divided skirts were practical for those that wanted freedom of movement but couldn’t – or wouldn’t – wear shorts. Shown below, a 2-piece bicycling costume of pink linen, 1935, consisting of divided skirt with a scarf for the waist and another for the collar, in turquoise stripes. The shirt has a long tail to keep it from pulling out. White calf bicycle shoes with leather heels that are quite flat.

For Town, a dress, perhaps of silk or linen, was a more likely ladies’ choice. Phoenix Hosiery, in this 1934 ad, emphasized the durability and stretching capacity of their product, with the ladylike cyclist in mind.

Color image above: from the Lake Pepin 3-Speed Tour website, http://www.3speedtour.com/. A divine-sounding tour around Lake Pepin, Minnesota, 1930s style. Top image, Coca-Cola ad, 1934.

From Vogue November 1939

We don’t pay much attention to modern magazines typically. But in line at the market yesterday, our eyes were drawn to the cover of the July 2010 Vanity Fair, which features a stunning color photo of Elizabeth Taylor in a white bathing suit, c.1960s. Flipping through the issue (which has a long article on Elizabeth – the Richard Burton years), another photo caught our eye – that above, of the “Twilight- Eclipse girls” by Norman Jean Roy. We instantly recognized it as a tribute to the November 1, 1939 cover of Vogue. Not bad!

Clockwise from top left: Eclipse’s Ashley Greene, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Dakota Fanning. See it and more images, here.

Condé Nast began publishing Vanity Fair in 1913 (originally called Dress and Vanity Fair). It ceased publication in 1935 and merged with Nast’s bi-monthly Vogue in 1936. The current Vanity Fair started up in 1983.

Horst shot this photo for Vogue (Makeup by Elizabeth Arden, jewels by Marcus). November 1, 1939.

“Pin-up” artist Alberto Vargas was also apparently inspired by Horst’s photo when he designed this face powder box for Jergens in the 1940s (note same fringed shawl backdrop). Image is from the lovely Vintage Powder Room, http://vintagepowderroom.com/?tag=home-front.

Beach & Poolside Fashions - 1935

With summer officially here, we thought we'd start by sharing some images of casual beach and pool fashions, all from 1935. The above image was "taken aboard the Lurline" en route to Hawaii.

"For sheer swank afloat or ashore," halters and jersey pajama pants were popular...

Writer Nancy Hale shown in her “special outfit for summer travel on the seas” - white gabardine shorts and a halter made from Woolworth’s sportier red cotton handkerchiefs.

Pool beauties. Plaid suit in the top image is similar to #1, the "dressmaker suit" below.

Don't forget the Sun-Pruf cream!

New Mildred Pierce

Are we the last people in the country to hear about the new Mildred Pierce made-for-tv movie with Kate Winslet? We found out about it by accident: while researching something totally different, came across a picture of Miss Winslet in a cute, decidedly ‘30s frock (above) and did a double take! It’s still being filmed now, and slated to air on HBO later this year as a mini-series.

While it’s based on the same source material as the classic 1945 film starring Joan Crawford, it does not appear that the current project could accurately be described as a “remake” of that film. James M. Cain’s grim and rather sordid 1941 novel is set in the 1930s-early '40s and is as much a story of the Depression as anything else. Nothing really dramatic happens.

The film noir aspects of Mildred Pierce were added by Hollywood. This was Crawford’s first film for Warner’s, having been forced to leave Metro, and she won an Oscar If adhering more closely to the original book as they apparently are, the new tv-Mildred will probably remind us more of the 1934 film Imitation of Life with Claudette Colbert and Louise Beavers than Mildred. We will have to wait and see. It looks like they’re doing a good job with the sets and clothing, anyway.

Hey, the front of that Model A looks very familiar...

More costumes from the film

James M. Cain's story spans a number of years, from pre-Repeal days into the late '30s-early '40s

Top: extras hamming it up on the set? Lower: Evan Rachel Wood, whom we admit we've never heard of before, plays Veda, the eldest Pierce daughter (fated to get slapped no matter which source material they're using).

One last note: In doing "research" for this post, we saw Joan Crawford being derided repeatedly for her supposed “middle aged” appearance in Mildred Pierce. We wish we could direct their attention to this still, from the beach house scene: underneath those shoulder pads, Joan retained an enviable, trim dancer’s figure. Picture, and many more, from our favorite site for all things Joan, The Best of Everything: A Joan Crawford Encyclopedia.