M. Trilety’s Nose Shaper Model 25, a Wacky Beauty Treatment Used for Shaping and Correcting the Nose From the 1920s

The 20th century has seen a huge upsurge in the importance placed by Western society on physical beauty, particularly for women. The fashion, cosmetics and plastic surgery industries have thrived on 20th century preoccupation with physical appearance. It is a preoccupation that affects women in every sphere, whether they choose to pander to it or not.

For the first two decades of the 20th century, many of the attitudes towards beauty associated with the 19th century remained. In Victorian society, it was considered a woman’s duty to make herself beautiful. In the early 20th century, this was coupled with the idea of “self-presentation” as enjoyable, expressive and creative. However, some of the more bizarre and painful “beauty aids” of the Victorian age continued to be marketed well into the 1920s. A particularly unpleasant example is “M.Trielty’s Nose Shaper,” described as a “metal object ... held over the nose by straps buckled round the head and adjusted with screws.”

The Model 25 has “six adjustable pressure regulators, is made of light polished metal, is firm and fits every nose comfortably. The inside is upholstered with a fine chamois skin and no metal parts come in contact with the skin. Thousands of unsolicited Testimonials ….”

It’s incredible how long this company lasted, considering its offer of “your money refunded if you are not satisfied.”

Here, below are some Trilety’s ads from 1920s magazines:

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20 Amazing Photos of Crystal Gayle Posing With Her Knee-Length Hair

Crystal Gayle (born Brenda Gail Webb; January 9, 1951) is an American country music singer and songwriter. She is best known for her 1977 crossover hit, “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue.” Initially, Gayle’s management and record label were the same as that of her oldest sister, Loretta Lynn. Not finding success with the arrangement after several years, and with Lynn’s encouragement, Gayle decided to try a different approach. She signed a new record contract and began recording with Nashville producer Allen Reynolds. Gayle’s new sound was sometimes referred to as middle-of-the-road (MOR) or country pop, and was part of a bigger musical trend by many country artists of the 1970s to appeal to a wider audience. Subsequently, Gayle became one of the most successful crossover artists of the 1970s and ’80s. Her floor-length hair has become synonymous with her name.

As a child, Gayle’s mother kept her hair short. She was inspired to grow her hair to her knees after seeing a woman with similar hair in Nashville. When her hair increased in length by the late 1970s, Gayle’s fan club also significantly increased.

By the early 1990s, her hair had reached floor’s length. During that time, she considered significantly cutting her hair due to headaches and time spent maintaining it. However, she ultimately decided not to cut it. Gayle credits her daughter for discouraging a haircut. Gayle’s daughter told her, “You can’t cut your hair — you won’t be Crystal Gayle.”

Gayle also stated that it is easier to have long straight hair, “I know some people think: ‘Why does she keep it so long?’ I’d probably love to try all the different styles, but I’m not a beautician. So, I keep it long. It’s easy to wash and let it go.” However, according to Gayle, she still continues seeing a hairstylist. Within a year, she cuts 9 to 12 inches of hair.

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Strange Beauty Mask, 1940

March 1940 — At the International Beauty Shop Owners’ show in New York City, Ruth Scott modeled a mask to heat the face and tone up the skin. The scratchers on her fingers were brass thimbles to protect nail polish until it dried.

Newsweek - Mar 25, 1940

(via Weird Universe)

30 Vintage Photos Defined the 1940s Hairstyles For Women

Despite the war, women in the 1940s were still able to create jaw-dropping looks simply by styling their hair. They were encouraged to use their hair to ‘fix’ any flaws in their face.

If she had perfect, shiny hair with a good color, she should use it to frame her face. If she had a full face, she should use a 1940s hairstyle that piled hair on top of her head to distract from it. If a thin face was her problem, her hairstyle should be down and over her ears to make it look wider. All of these suggestions contributed to a variety to hairstyles in 1940s.

1940s hairstyles were largely inspired by actresses during an era of glamor that provided a sense of escapism from the war. While long locks were in at the beginning, the United States government encouraged actress Veronica Lake to cut her long locks to help influence women to cut their long locks that were hazardous while operating machinery.

Take a look at these vintage photos to see what women’s hairstyles looked like in the 1940s.

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35 Gorgeous Portrait Photos of Classic Beauties by Edwin Bower Hesser in the 1920s and ’30s

Born 1893 in Jersey City, New Jersey, Edwin Bower Hesser became involved in theatre, drawing, sculpture, painting, and commercial photography at the age of 17. He was a prominent photographer who worked in New York and Los Angeles during the golden age of Hollywood and developed his own color photography system known as Hessercolor.

Classic beauties taken by Edwin Bower Hesser in the 1920s and 1930s

Hesser was one of the few portraitist who regularly depicted sitters head on. His penchant for back-lighting so that hair seem lined with light, gave certain of his 1920s sitters a halo or aura. His portraits of movie actresses and stage stars were greatly influential images of glamour from 1925 to 1930.

The bulk of the collection consists of photographic materials such as negatives, prints, transparencies, and periodicals featuring Hesser’s work. The collection also includes paper materials, such as miscellaneous manuscripts, business papers and journals.

Hesser died in 1962. These gorgeous photos are part of his work that he took portraits of classic beauties in the 1930s.

Anna May Wong

Barbara Worth

Barbara Worth

Barbara Worth

Barbara Worth

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Beautiful Photos of Geisha and Maiko Without Kimonos During Meiji Era

A maiko is an apprentice geisha in Kyoto and Western Japan. Their jobs consist of performing songs, dances, and playing the shamisen or other traditional Japanese instruments for visitors during banquets and parties, known as ozashiki.

Portraits of geisha and maiko without kimonos in the early 1900s

Maiko are usually aged between 17 to 20 years old, and graduate to geisha status after a period of training, which includes learning to dance traditionally, play the shamisen, sing kouta, and, in Kyoto only, learn the Kyoto dialect. This apprenticeship usually ranges from a period of a few months to a year or two years, though apprentices too old to dress as maiko may instead skip to the stage of geisha, despite still being in training.

Here below is a set of beautiful photos from Okinawa Soba that shows portraits of geisha and maiko without kimonos in the early 1900s.

A geisha awake inside her own dream

A geisha gathering her hair

A geisha girl models an exotic take on western fashion

A geisha waits between poses as the photographer changes out lenses

A geisha with her hair down, holding white roses

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Behind the Scenes Photographs From a 1950s Casting Call for a Long-Haired Model

In 1959 Dallas photographer William Langley had a problem: he needed a long-haired model for a shoot—the woman’s hair needed to blow in the breeze. But no local agency had a model who could do the job. Their hair was all too short.

But then the Dallas Morning-Herald ran a story on Langley’s situation—a story which called long hair “as out of date as a raccoon coat.” So what happened? Regular women with long locks swarmed Langley’s studio, all ready to let their hair down.

LIFE photographer Thomas McAvoy dropped in to Langley’s studio to document the festivities for a story in LIFE’s June 15, 1959 issue titled “Baldy and the Long Hairs.” The headline conveys the general tenor of the coverage.

“Amid the great cascade of handsome hair falling down the backs of 30 attractive young girls, a lone and barren bald spot shone out,” LIFE wrote. “The owner of the bald spot, Dallas Photographer William Langley, was happily surrounding himself with a feminine commodity he had recently despaired of ever finding.”

In the 1950s female beauty icons had short-to-medium length hair, as befitting a neater and more contained era. Think about Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe, and especially Doris Day, whose “helmted” look was influential, and anything but unruly.

Then everything changed in the 1960s, as hippies let their freak flags fly and societal norms were turned on their heads, so to speak. The term “long hairs” that appeared jokingly in the 1959 LIFE headline would become synonymous with the counterculture of the 1960s. In short, Langley’s problem was very much of its day. In 1969 the photographer would have had a much easier time finding a model whose hair was meant to be blowin’ in the wind.

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Debra Jo Fondren Roller Skating in 1979

Debra Jo Fondren, who was Playmate of the Year in 1978, skating at Playboy’s Roller Disco and Pajama Party in 1979.

Debra Jo Fondren’s knee-length hair was so iconic that she was not allowed to cut it as long as she was under contract to Playboy Models. She was discovered by Playboy photographer Robert Scott Hooper during lunch at the Desert Inn Hotel on her first trip to Las Vegas.

The Amazing Story of Alla Ilchun, the Kazakh Muse of Christian Dior

Alla Ilchun (1926 - March 8, 1989) was the first Euro-Asian model who has worked for twenty years at Dior. She was famous for her waist of 49 cm and eyeliner arrows.

Alla Ilchun as a model in the 1950s

Information about the family and the ancestors of Alla Ilchun is not very much preserved. Her father, Zhuanhal Ilchun, was allegedly a railway engineer. He was able to get a decent education thanks to his wealthy father, who lived in Kazakhstan. He participated in the construction of Turksib, and on the eve of the revolution was in Harbin. This city was founded as a station of the Chinese Eastern Railway; accordingly, many Russians lived in Harbin. Zhuanhal Ilchun met here the beautiful Tatyana, the opera singer. They started a family, soon their daughter Alla was born.

However, life in Harbin in the early of the twentieth century was very troubled. The Soviet, Chinese and Japanese governments tried to take the city under its influence. Harbin periodically passed from hand to hand, and the residents didn’t add peace of mind. The family decided to go in search of a better life. Russia, where the October revolution had already taken place, did not attract them, it was decided to go to France.

Tatiana arrived in Paris with her daughter. Zhuankhal Ilchun, according to Alla Ilchun’s son, was caught and sent to the GULAG. The capital of France was in no hurry to caress two foreign women who decided to find their happiness here. But they firmly decided to start life anew in Paris.

Growing up Alla began working as a dishwasher in a restaurant. She did not dream of a model career, and she was not accustomed to complaining about her fate. She just knew for sure that everything in her life would be fine.

And then the Second World War began. Alla Ilchun joined the ranks of the French resistance. She lost one of her friends, Ariadnu Scriabin, and she herself repeatedly risked her life. And only after the war, Alla finally pulled out her lucky lottery ticket.

Alla’s friend dreamed of becoming a model and was a regular participant in all sorts of castings. On that day, the girl felt unwell and asked Alla to replace her at the casting with Christian Dior, who at that time was just beginning his independent path in the fashion world. Coming to the casting, she found only a team of workers in the fashion house. The girl cheerfully chatted with them and left, deciding that her friend had clearly confused time or place.

A few days later, a phone call rang in Alla’s apartment, and the secretary of Mr. Dior informed Alla Ilchun about hiring a Christian Dior fashion house. To the girl’s remark about the failed participation in the casting, the secretary cheerfully noted: Mr. Dior was among the workers, and the oriental beauty and graceful figure of Alla conquered him at first sight.

A new and unfamiliar life has begun for Alla. Since that day she was waiting for daily fittings, numerous shows and shine spotlights. Christian Dior called Alla his personal talisman, because every show with her participation had an unprecedented success. The stars were ready to buy the dresses demonstrated by the beauty immediately after the model left behind the scene.

She was femininely fragile and possessed inimitable grace. High cheekbones and slanted eyes gave her a unique charm, women around the world began to imitate the model, trying to reproduce the long arrows that emphasize the eyes. The fashion for them remains today, just few people know that for the first time the world saw such an unusual make-up on Alla Ilchun’s face back in the 1950s. Working with a French fashion designer became happy for the model itself. At one of the many photo shoots Alla met Mike de Dülmen, Dior’s staff photographer. She subsequently married him and bore two sons.

10 years, until the death of the master, continued the cooperation of Alla and Christian Dior. However, after his departure she did not remain without work, for another decade she worked closely with Yves Saint Laurent.

Alla Ilchun decided to finish her modeling career when she began to notice signs of age on her face. She wanted to remain in the memory of the audience and fans as the young and beautiful. For twenty years of work in the fashion world, her waist has grown from 47 centimeters to only 49, but the stamp of maturity was already visible on her face and body. After retirement, she did not participate in photo shoots and led a closed lifestyle.

Here, a collection of 40 fabulous photos captured portrait of Alla Ilchun as a model in the late 1940s and 1950s:

Alla in finely pleated mousseline dress by Christian Dior, photo by Georges Saad, 1947

Alla in gorgeous green satin evening gown by Christian Dior, photo by Georges Saad, 1947

Alla in gray wool redingote with velvet lapels and pockets, by Vera Boréa, photo by Georges Saad, 1948

Alla is wearing a coat designed by Dior in Emba mink, the first perfectly white variety of mink, photo by Willy Maywald, 1948

Alla in a simple gray suit with a checked blouse featuring a huge bow at the throat, natural straw sailor hat tilts over one eye, by Christian Dior, 1949

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'70 Fashion: A Look At Women's Fashion in 1972

By 1972, the feel of the peppy mod sixties had faded away. In its place was a style that combined elements from the hippy counter-culture – by now, no longer really even “counter”, but a mainstream ideal embraced by the largest generation ever, the Baby Boomers. Additionally, Women’s Lib had its impact, with pants for women suddenly being the “in” look.

But let’s stop talking about ’72 styles, and actually have a look at them. Here, gathered together from the far corners of the vintage fashion landscape (fashion magazines, college yearbooks, needlework pamphlets, and more) are some wonderful examples of women’s and teen fashions from the grand old year of nineteen hundred and seventy-two. Take a look:

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