The ageless charisma of Marlene Dietrichich
With unique beauty and an undeniable mystique Marlene Dietrich burst onto the world stage in the Thirties. We explore the timeless allure of the screen siren who continues to inspire us today
Her unwavering confidence, gender fluidity and firm stand against Nazism helped make Marlene Dietrich a revolutionary and an icon. She inspired the greatest designers and photographers of her time and continues to embody the essence of glamour and female independence today. She was certainly a woman ahead of her time and had no qualms about scandalising the world with risqué comments and rumours of bisexual love affairs. At a time when high fashion meant feminine dresses and screen costumes were extravagantly beautiful, Dietrich cultivated a personal ‘brand’ that was a complete contrast. She was heavily influenced by the nightclubs of Twenties’ Berlin which were havens of nonconformity. Her androgynous style set her apart and inspired designers for years to come. One of the earliest designers to both influence and be influenced by Dietrich was Paramount costumier Travis Banton. Along with film director Josef von Sternberg he helped create the look known as Hollywood Baroque with figure-hugging styles in sumptuous, heavily embellished fabrics. The two men coached Dietrich on the correct posture and demeanour to carry it off and mentored her in the art of lighting and photography. “Glamour is what I sell, it’s my stock and trade,” Dietrich said and she worked tirelessly to maintain that. She was a perfectionist and a technician overseeing every detail of photography sessions and refusing to do any poses that didn’t appeal to her. Every eyelash and strand of hair had to be perfectly in place. She remains the embodiment of a liberated woman. While many starlets were controlled and exploited by the Hollywood machine Dietrich, both in life and on screen, gave the impression of never needing or being willing to be managed by any man. But perhaps the most important style lesson we can learn from Dietrich is that the right attitude is everything.
‘I dress for myself. Not for the image, not for the public, not for the fashion, not for men’ Marlene Dietrich
All an illusion
When Dietrich took her cabaret act on tour to entertain US troops during the Second World War, she commissioned designer Irene Lentz Gibbons to create stunning ‘illusion’ gowns. These exquisite long-sleeved, floor length dresses, created by sewing strategically placed beads and sequins onto a sheer bodice, did a lot to boost morale on the front line. Photographs soon appeared all over the world and the illusion dress became a key part of Dietrich’s signature style. Some years later, as a fierce anti-fascist, the German-born Dietrich was understandably anxious about playing a Nazi sympathiser for the 1948 film A Foreign Affair. For the film’s nightclub scenes she wore those same illusion gowns in an effort to remind the public whose side she was really on during the war.
Dietrich turned to illusion-style dresses once again in the Fifties for her cabaret show at the Sahara Hotel, Las Vegas. She literally and figuratively dazzled audiences in a $25,000 jewelencrusted turquoise dress created by Jean Louis. The gown included a cloak with a 5ft train and the whole ensemble weighed in at 10lb.
Her masculinity appeals to women and her sexuality to men’ Film critic Kenneth Tynan