Golden Era "worst dressed" lists?

[PrettySquareGal]

I'm just curious if the current media fascination with "worst dressed" and "least sexiest" lists is something relatively recent, or were there always images and aspersions published on poorly dressed stars (and was there such a thing back then??)? They seem to be getting more and more mean-spirited, too, focusing not so much on dress but more on personal attributes over which people have no control. [huh]

 

[Feraud]

There were best dressed lists so there must have been worst dressed ones.

 

[Fletch]

I would bet not. We didn't have a snark culture yet - we barely had sarcasm. Fashion journalism was somewhere between women's page service writing and light entertainment for the bottom half of the newsreel, and pretty much was written by women, who were probably happy to be working at all and didn't take a high profile.

My guess is it took Richard Blackwell, who started putting out Worst Dressed Lists in 1960, to change all that. He came out of the theater and Hollywood, where he had a design house; he had a head for publicity; and most importantly, I suspect, he was a gay man, which allowed him to be an "outsider" figure and say things women couldn't about one another, and do it with some showbiz and a sense of importance.

 

[ShortClara]

I bet with the Hollywood contract system, most starlets dressed well, because they were made to be fashionable by their studios. There are lots of dress patterns that have 30s and 40s stars' photos right on the envelope - so you could make your own dress and ape Ruby Keeler's style. Also, it wasn't an acrimonious relationship with the press, but a fawning one (even more than now.)

 

[Amy Jeanne]

I don't know if this would be exactly what you mean, but in the 1930s "Sylvia Of Hollywood" had a column in Photoplay where she chewed out certain stars for what she thought were their "flaws."

Sylvia would tell actresses they were fat, had a too large nose, tell them their eyes weren't alluring enough ----- and then write an article about how the star and the common readers could "fix" this flaw. Sylvia could be downright mean sometimes, but she says that that is what gets her clients results.

 

[Sefton]

Other than Hollywood stars who were under close studio supervision I'm sure we can find some famous names who didn't give a damn about making anyones list. I seem to recall it being mentioned here that F.Scott Fitzgerald wrote somewhere about Hemingway being less than his ideal of a smart dresser? Maybe not Fitzgerald...? Of course there's always Albert Einstein who might be the most famous "bad dresser". Anyone else come to mind?

 

[LizzieMaine]

Bing Crosby was notorious for showing up for his radio shows in a pair of baggy wrinkled slacks, an untucked Hawaiian shirt, and a fishing hat -- but he did so deliberately, as a way of encouraging a very casual, relaxed feeling for the program. Which worked, even though the rest of his cast showed up in business suits or evening clothes.

 

[happyfilmluvguy]

I don't know about clothes, but I've seen so many photos of Clark Gable with messy hair and an angry look on his face like he just got out of a fight.

 

[Twitch]

I guess one of the reasons I never did, and don't today, read movie fan magazines or view anything about "stars" or actors on their personal time is that I don't want the illusion shattered. I realize they are people, nothing more, but since they portray often complex characters in sometimes intricate movies I would rather keep them segregated from my regular life perception.

If I knew an actor was ultra conservative or liberal and spouted off where I read or heard it that would tarnish their image to me in the next movie I saw them in.

They are just meat puppets and don't even exist for me outside the theater. I guess it's kinda like how kids can't imagine their teachers having lives outs the classroom.

 

[Jovan]

That hasn't changed anything for me. I may not agree with the views of Bruce Willis, but that doesn't mean I don't still like him, and his movies.

 

[Feraud]

I don't know about clothes, but I've seen so many photos of Clark Gable with messy hair and an angry look on his face like he just got out of a fight.

That is the Gable I frequently see in photos too. The guy you would hate sitting next to in a bar.

He could really pull it together for a film tho'.