Posts Tagged With: Natacha Rambova

It seems possible since the “dream lover” of the roaring twenties Rudolph Valentino is being revived in books, movies, magazine articles and exhibits. Even a few Valentino products have appeared in the marketplace. Women adored Valentino, but men were not too fond of him as he became a legendary star of the silent movies, and one of the first to endorse products, which almost all stars do today. The Valentino craze not only filled movie houses with adoring women but also stocked store shelves with brand-named products such as olive oil, cigars, candy and beauty supply tins. After he made his most famous film, “The Sheik” it became his nickname and it also became a part of the language. A “sheik” was a woman’s man. Several major magazines are reported planning articles on Valentino. The revival of the movie lover contains the staff for setting trends, styles, and fashions. Already a few products have appeared. Some major department stores have sold large beach towels showing Valentino in one of his love scenes. The love scenes from the romantic movies appear ready made for the manufacturers of bed linens and covers. There might have been more Valentino Pictures today if it wasn’t for a fight the actor had with Adolph Zukor, then president of Paramount Pictures. Valentino wanted a raise from his $350 a week. Many stars were making thousands of dollars a week. As a result, Zukor prevented Valentino, at the height of his career, from making films for two years. Meanwhile, Valentino endorsed products and made dancing tours with his second wife. His second wife was cosmetic heiress Winifred Hudnut whose stage name was Natacha Rambova. She became rather demanding of him in public. And she gave him a “slave bracelet” which men didn’t wear in those days. But he was still wearing it when he died, months after their divorce. Despite Valentino’s domestic problems his work as an actor is just as effective today. In the Valentino Era, men wore pegged pants. Spats, stick-pins, four-in-hand ties, collar clasps and suits of several cuts all of which would be a bit of a contrast to the looser more casual clothes of today. The slicked down hair look, though, could be another thing and a great contrast to the long hair of recent years. If it becomes fashionable it could cause a barber boom.

All Hollywood is talking over the fact that Natacha Rambova has decided to stop running her husband’s affairs and produce pictures of her own. Mr. Rudolph Valentino from now on will be his own manager. Miss Rambova has hired Alan Hale as her director and her first picture will be called “What Price Beauty” staring Nita Naldi and Pierre Gendron, a newcomer. Miss Rambova will design the sets and costumes.

Rudolph Valentino, confirms the Impression that his engagement to Miss Natacha Rambova, which has just been announced, is to result in their early marriage. They will, however, defer their honeymoon until summer when they will enjoy a motor tour of Europe and pay a visit to the War’s family in Italy, whom he has not seen for a number of years.  The bride-to-be. who is a daughter of Richard Hudnut. New York manufacturing chemist got her professional name when she became a premiere dancer with Theodore Kostloff

Thieves entered the Majorca home of Natacha Rambova, former wife of Rudolph Valentino and ransacked the establishment. They stole a revolver but did not steal any jewelry. Authorities investigated on the theory that the thieves were looking for papers. Miss Rambova would not comment.

Paul Poiret was the favorite clothing designer of Natacha Rambova who felt he understood her as no one else did when it came to making clothes that favored her flamboyant personality.

In 1879, Paul Poiret was born in Paris he interned at Jacques Doucet who was a famous couturier of the time. In 1901, he was hired by the famous Worth House of Design. In 1903, he set up his own Atelier of Poiret. In the early 1900’s which was considered one of Poirets influential periods in fashion he was interested in “The Orient” Russian and Cubism. Poiret claimed to have been a Persian prince in a previous life. Significantly, the first Asian-inspired piece he ever designed, while still at Worth, was controversial. A simple Chinese-style cloak called Confucius; it offended the occidental sensibilities of an important client, a Russian princess. To her grand eyes it seemed shockingly simple, the kind of thing a peasant might wear; when Poiret opened his own establishment such mandarin-robe-style cloaks would be best-sellers This had a great impact on Natacha’s own aesthetic which is what she became known for. In 1913, he came to NY and was a clothing designer to Cecille B. Demille. In 1923, Natacha first visited his Atelier which was documented in a Photoplay magazine article. His clothing displayed vibrant colors which managed to capture her personality. In Jan 1924, during another visit to his salon, Rudolph Valentino was quoted as saying that “he is the one costumier in Paris best suited to Natacha’s style, even temperament. We went to one or two other places and looked at their models, but for the most part they were wishy-washy things of pastel shades, with oddments of flowers here and there. Natacha cannot wear that sort of thing. She is not at all the type. She looks best in vivid colors, no one color over another, but all colors that are violent and definite. Scarlet’s, vermilions, strong blues, empathic greens, and loud voiced yellows”. Natacha’s next visit was Aug 1924; she came by his Atelier to pick up some dresses that she had ordered. In 1925, she staged a media event when she traveled from Los Angeles to Paris to pose for photographer James Abbe at famous clothing designer Paul Poiret’s salon. She modeled a pearl-embroidered white velvet gown and a chinchilla cloak, and declared Poiret her favorite couturier. In 1929, Poiret closed his Atelier because his aesthetics conflicted with modernism even though his designs back in the early 1900’s were advanced for the times. In 1944, Paul Poiret died in poverty virtually forgotten. However, through research a new generation has come to appreciate his genius in costume design. In 1927, when Natacha Rambova because a clothing designer in her own right, she did use Paul Poiret as an inspiration but with her own dramatic touch in the clothing that she designed.