She sat anxiously waiting for him to arrive in her downtown LA hotel room. The finest linen on a bewitchingly warm bed, a new slim and sleek black dress that fit her like a glove with white trim around the collar and sleeves, her hair perfectly pinned back, with deep matted red lips. She lit a cigarette hoping to calm her nerves; one deep inhale after the next as the smoke billowed around her and accompanied her every move. As she began to relax, she fidgeted with her stockings, making sure each side lay right in the same spot on either thigh. She tightened her garter belts and began to think about her and her lovers first encounter. Her imagination was as vivid and complex as the perfectly aged French Bordeaux sitting beside her on the table. It had peaked and so too possibly had their love.

The year was 1932, only a few years after the stock market crash and she left small-town Mississippi and the depression that enveloped it, to seek new ground and new ideas in Cinema Country, USA. The city glistened with hopes and promise to make anyone who set footing there a star. It carried the name Los Angeles, and she felt just like a native angel as she floated across the streets in her new black lace-up heeled boots. She had been there less than a year when she met her young director friend. He would stroll her around town, and conversed his own dreams of stardom as they walked enthusiastically in front of the newly erected Grauman’s Chinese Theatre as well as other hot spots. These LA conversations became sacred to her, and enflamed the passion within her soul. Their entangled words contracted each of their fates and would forever tie them to that famous yet somewhat fabled city.

As they made love she would pretend he was someone between Laurence Olivier and Clark Gable. And on this particular night she knew he was to arrive at their lavishly over-priced hotel, in a flawless white tux. She desperately hoped he would be exuding radiance and that suave manner that she had grown fond of in that short period of time, their romance had blossomed. But that wouldn’t be the case tonight. His knock suddenly bolted her out of her romantic thoughts and when she opened the door, he immediately ran to the phone. There was fear and disgust behind his eyes. She knew their path had taken a violent turn for the worse….

So what is it that we love so much about a torn love affair, especially one set in the era of the silent film in Hollywood? Maybe each one of us cries out for something stable but instead secretly dreams of someone or something that can keep us on a razors edge. And certainly us gals love the fashion that surrounded this era and was so beautifully made popular by the mass appeal of the film industry. Film brought everything that touched the screen into ‘popular culture’. No longer were fashion trends being heard through the grapevine or in print, they were vividly being seen on the big screen. The white Clark Gable type of tux is timeless and still graces red carpets every year by some of the most debonair in Hollywood. But the thirties for women brought into focus, fashion that began to show off the silhouette (unlike the decade before, that sought to conceal a woman’s shape). Here we see our model in a low chignon, smoky eye, and deep red lipstick and we can all agree that these styles have been quite popular for sometime and certainly appreciate the Kardashian’s modern twist on the smoky eye. As well, this era for women’s fashion will forever hold its place for being sexy and sophisticated and can easily be seen in some of the world’s biggest designers work such as Roberto Cavalli’s last collection where he paired 30’s silhouettes with textures like leather, beading, and fur. So yes the holidays are over but we can still find a reason to dress up in our latest fashion reminiscent of a gorgeous time gone by. This January reignite your passion for fashion!