Barbie Who?

Several of you mentioned the other day that Valeria, the Russian dingbat from my last post, reminded you more of a sex doll rather than Barbie.

Well, did you know Barbie was based on a sex toy?

I came across this information while at a toy museum a few years ago. The museum was having a special Barbie exhibit, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the doll.

Imagine my surprise, when I discovered Barbie was well...a rip-off.

This is the original Barbie Doll from 1959.

This is the Lilli doll, a popular German sex toy, in 1950.

Lilli was an immensely popular cartoon character in Germany during 1950s. The blonde, baby-faced 20-something-year-old secretary was sassy, brazen, materialistic, and vain. She slept with men for expensive meals and handbags. She played dumb when challenged by authority. Male readers loved her.

The magazine which ran the Lilli comic strip decided to make a doll out of its famous sex symbol. The doll was created with a racy hour-glass figure and a sexy red pout. She wore cute little night club clothes. The sex toy was sold at adult stores and tobacco shops as a gag gift.

But the lecherous men who enjoyed the comic strip could have cared less about the doll. To the magazine's astonishment, the Lilli doll became a sensation among little girls. They adored buying new clothes for Lilli and brushing her golden locks.

But parents didn't like going to sex shops to buy their daughters' favorite new toy, so the doll started being sold everywhere. Accessories, clothes, and doll houses were also made available.

In the mid-1950s, Ruth Handler, the wife of a Mattel co-founder, took a trip to Germany with her daughters. She spotted the Lilli doll and bought a few to take home. In 1959, she debuted her new teenage fashion doll Barbie to the American public.

It would become the most famous toy in the world.

Did you know about Barbie's German predecessor, Lilli?

American Beauty: Scandal of a Century

This is the tale of a scandal that was so gripping, even President Roosevelt was obsessed with every detail.

Evelyn Nesbit was born to an upper-middle class family in Pennsylvania. Her father, a lawyer, died in 1893, leaving large debts and virtually no money.

Evelyn, her mom, and her little brother lived in poverty. As a child, Evelyn would often catch her mother sobbing alone in the kitchen, clutching bills she had absolutely no way of paying. Desperate to escape her wretched homelife, Evelyn used to read fairytales and wished with all her heart she could be a princess.

When Evelyn was 14, she turned heads everywhere she went. The copper-haired girl was drop-dead gorgeous. She was eventually offered a job modeling for artists in Philadelphia. She was delighted to find it paid her family's bills.

When she was 15, Evelyn and her family moved to New York City. Jobs were shoved in her face. Everyone wanted a piece of her. She instantly became a famous fashion model. She became such a huge celebrity, her face actually inspired the iconic "Gibson Girl" illustrations. Young girls idolized her and powerful men wanted to meet her.

One of those powerful men was Stanford White, the most famous architect in New York. He designed Madison Square Garden, the Washington Arch, and Tiffany's. He was in his mid-40s.

Despite being a married man with adult children, Stanford had a weakness for young girls. He treated the sweet, naive Evelyn innocently at first. He bought her presents, befriended her mom, and paid for her dental work. The 16-year-old saw him as a father-figure, so when he invited her up to his apartment one evening, she didn't hesitate to say yes.

Once inside the apartment, Evelyn was mesmerized by what she saw. There was a plush, red velvet swing in the middle of his living room! She squealed with delight as he pushed her in it. And then he offered her champagne! Her mother never let her drink! After an hour or so, she began to feel woozy. Stanford forced himself on her and raped her. Afterwards, she sobbed, ashamed at her foolishness for trusting him.

A couple years later, Evelyn found herself pursued by a cocky playboy named Harry Thaw. The lazy bachelor lived off his parents' millions, had no job, and joked to friends that he majored in "poker" while at Harvard. He thought Evelyn was super hot and wanted to marry her.

After resisting his sleazy advances for two years, Evelyn gave up and married him. She figured since she wasn't a virgin anymore, this was pretty much her only chance to bag a decent husband. Evelyn entered the union with no secrets, however, and told Harry how Stanford had deflowered her two years before. Needless to say, Harry was outraged.

A year after they were married, the couple went to a play at Madison Square Garden. Harry spied Stanford in the crowd and freaked out. He went up to the middle-aged man and shot him three times, screaming he was getting revenge for Evelyn's sake. Horrified audience members trampled to the nearest exits.

Harry was hailed as a hero by the American public, rather than a homicidal maniac. People admired the husband who stood up for his wife. They cheered him on during his trial, which was splashed all over the newspapers. It was all everyone could talk about.

For his deadly crime, Evelyn's husband was put in a mental institution for nearly a decade. When he got out, he immediately divorced Evelyn, because there was pretty much nothing left between the two. She received no settlement.

On her own, Evelyn struggled with alcoholism and drug addiction, and moved around a lot to make ends meet. Her numerous suicide attempts were never successful. She tried her hand at acting and dancing. When she got older, she opened an unspectacular nightclub and then taught ceramic art. Sometimes Harry would help her with money out of pity, but it was never enough.

She died in 1967 at the age of 82.

Donna Summer Style

Whenever I'm in a bad mood, one thing that perks me up is blasting my Donna Summer greatest hits while I'm driving.

There is something so deliciously catchy about her rhythmic pop beats and sultry voice that totally lifts my spirits. It makes me want to dance. It makes me want to sing. It makes me want to love to love you, baby.

Well, this stunning 70s glam queen is not just a disco legend, she's also one of the greatest fashion icons in history.



Her glittery, sexy stage costumes were breathtakingly fabulous.



She never failed to seduce your eyes with a single pose.



Her style represented an era besieged by flower-adorned hippies, funky disco cats, and fresh-faced American pie youth in faded blue jeans.



With Hollywood-esque beauty and superstardom in her grasp, she epitomized the changing world of pop music.



Her success is astounding. She has won five Grammy's. She was the first artist to have three consecutive double albums reach #1 on the US Billboard chart. She also had four #1 hits in the US within a 13 month period.



I'm not gonna lie, despite her glamorous and enviable life, Donna hasn't been without her own dramas. When she shot to fame in the 1970s, it caused the 20-something-year-old to spiral out of control. She grew extremely depressed and attempted suicide several times. In 1979, however, she became a born-again Christian, which appears to have saved her life.

Today she lives in Nashville with her husband. She has three daughters (one who is even a gorgeous model) and four grandchildren.



Below, I have created an outfit inspired by Donna Summer's style from the 1970s. Do you like it?

What do you think of Donna Summer's style?

What movie star?

"I can't wait to be forgotten."
Kay Francis uttered this quote during a media interview in the 1930s.



Sadly, she got her wish.

It is odd to think most people in the world today have never heard of one of the most famous movie stars from the 20th century.

She was the Queen of Hollywood. She was one of the first fashion icons in American history. She was a bisexual goddess, illuminating the silver screen with her secretive smile and spiraling out of control when the cameras were off.



Kay was raised during the first decade of the 1900s by a single mother, struggling to make it as a stage actress. They frequently moved, making Kay's childhood an unforgettable blur of different schools, faces, names, and places.

Desperate to escape her unstable home life, Kay married the son of a wealthy businessman when she was in her late teens. But the marriage ended in divorce a few years later.



As a newly single young woman, Kay turned to her mother's profession to see if she could find success on the stage. She did. After making a splash on Broadway in the 1920s, Kay was encouraged to pursue films. Kay did not long to be a movie star, however. She only agreed to go Hollywood because of the higher salary.

Kay's exotic looks worked in her favor. Movie-goers were enthralled by the mysterious dark-haired beauty who randomly appeared in the most eclectic film roles Hollywood had to offer.



While her star was rising, Kay became increasingly irritated with the media's growing obsession with her personal life. She married several times and collected lovers like candy. Her sexual escapades with both wealthy men and famous women made her the talk of the town.

During the height of her career, Kay was the highest paid actress in Hollywood. She had also become the biggest fashion icon of the 1930s. Jaw-droppingly gorgeous costumes were created for Kay, who paid extremely close attention to the designs she wore on camera. It was joked in Hollywood that Kay's fans cared more about what she was wearing than the movies themselves.



She starred in dozens of big hits, including my personal favorite, Trouble in Paradise. But the sweet smell of success could not dampen her growing depression. She attempted suicide, by slitting her wrists, but was rescued by her maid.

She was sick of being treated like a puppet by movie studios. She kept falling in love with deadbeats who milked her fame and money.



Movie studios were so impatient with her irate behavior, they started placing her in terrible films. They began lavishing their attention on younger, more modern talents, such as Bette Davis, who would one day outshine Kay as a Hollywood legend and fashion icon.

As she got older, the offers for films started to dwindle. She began to drink heavily, and she gradually lost all her friends. Her past included a series of husbands, but no children.



In the 1960s, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and she passed away in 1968. She left the bulk of her estate to a non-profit organization that trains guide dogs for the blind.

And today, barely anyone even knows Kay Francis was once the most famous woman in Hollywood.

The magic of Erté

Most of you know I have an obsession with historical fashion.

Like, I would give my left arm (or saw off somebody else's) to go back in time and rock 1950s Dior gowns, or prance around in delicious cake-inspired Marie Antoinette creations.

I'm also obsessed with anything 1920s.

When you put both of my passions together, you get Erté.



Sit down, my little pupils, and let me tell you the story of one of the most famous pioneers in fashion history.

No other fashion designer, including Chanel or Dior, had greater influence in the 20th century than Erté. His flamboyant designs defined one of the most opulent and iconic decades in history: the 1920s. Traces of his style would later go on to mold fashion in the 1960s.



Erté was born as Romain de Tirtoff in 1892 to a wealthy family in St. Petersburg, Russia. When he was five, he stunned his parents by creating his first beautiful fashion design. It was a passion that took over his life. His father expected him follow in the family footsteps and become a naval officer, but Romain had other plans.



At 18, he changed his name to Erté (to avoid disgracing the family name) and became the apprentice for famed designer Paul Poiret in Paris. In 1915, he scored an enviable contract with Harper's Bazaar to design more than 200 covers.



In the 1920s, Erté introduced the world to "art-deco," a style illustrating the elegance, sophistication, and playfulness of the jazz age.



His fashion designs were in high demand from the biggest Broadway stars and Hollywood movie stars of the decade. He pieced together glitzy, sexy little showgirl costumes for the Ziegfeld Follies. He spent hours inspecting every detail of the glamorous, extravagant gowns created for films.



Erté's designs were deliciously exotic and outrageously impractical, which delighted both the working-class girls who worshipped his dresses from afar and the lavishly wealthy women who could afford to make him rich.



His gowns were painstakingly hand-made with beads, fur trim, lace, sheer draperies, leather, and glittering embroidery.



By World War II, however, the lust for his extravagance diminished, as society grew more practical. But his career revived in the 1960s.



Erté's designs can be found at the most famous art museums in the world.



The famous fashion designer died in 1990, at the age of 97.



Today, everyone from Anna Wintour to Karl Lagerfeld hails Erté as one of the most important figures in fashion history.

What do you think of his designs?

Edna St. Vincent Millay: the free spirit

She was once the most famous person in the entire world. And now barely anyone knows she existed.

Who was Edna St. Vincent Millay?



This red-haired, green-eyed beauty was born in 1892 in Maine to a financially-strained single mother and a household of talented, artistic sisters.



When she was 20, Vincent won fourth place in a poetry contest for Renascence, a poem which made her an overnight sensation on the East coast.

When it became known the young poet was living in poverty, a wealthy fan paid her way to Vassar College.

While in school, Vincent blossomed into a bisexual bohemian, writing some of her best poems by day and discovering delicious, passionate carnal pleasure by night.

As an undergrad, she not only became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for poetry, but she also published a best-selling collection of her work.



Upon graduating from Vassar, Vincent moved to Greenwich Village in New York City.

Her hippie lifestyle was almost half a century before its time. The gorgeous vixen lounged around her apartment, drinking booze and experimenting with drugs.

Dozens of men and women fell in love with her. Vincent slept with them all, but kept her heart at arm's length.



She quickly became the most famous woman in the entire world. Her poetry readings in the 1920s were more like rock concerts, with hysterical fans screaming for encores and hundreds of people desperate to catch a glimpse of the ethereal enchantress.

Every move she made was headlined in the tabloids. Millionaires around the world demanded her presence at their parties.



But it wasn't long before Vincent's dizzying glam-fest came to a screeching halt. The 20-something-year-old fell victim to alcoholism, drug addiction, and numerous embarrassing health problems, which hindered her travel and work.

Fortunately, the literary princess had a knight in shining armor waiting in the sidelines. To the shock of her friends and lovers, Vincent married Eugen Boissevain, a Dutch businessman.



The couple moved to a 435-acre dairy farm in upstate New York, which they named Steepletop. It would become the beloved home where they would spend the rest of their lives.

Instead of hindering Vincent's work, Eugen nurtured it. He allowed Vincent to retain her lovers and explore her sexuality. He desperately tried nursing her back to health from her addictions.

He simply loved her.



One year after her husband's death in 1949, Vincent tumbled down a staircase at Steepletop, breaking her neck and dying in a crumbled heap on the floor. She was only 58.

Many conspiracy theorists believe Vincent threw herself down the stairs, heartbroken over the loss of her soulmate, Eugen. Others speculated she was inebriated or had a heart attack.



Steepletop is now home to the Millay Colony for the Arts, which offers one-month residencies to visual artists, composers and writers.


My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends,
It gives a lovely light!

-First Fig, Edna St. Vincent Millay