A magnificent Jean Harlow photographed by Clarence Sinclair Bull for a fashion spread, 1934. A few photos from this session appear in the August 1934 issue of Photoplay, and this particular dress is described in it:
”Dinner time finds Jean dining out, so she wears a black and white polka dotted gown with a slight train. And what furs! Magnificent silver fox for the cape and big muff. A great cartwheel straw hat puts that final touch of formal elegance to this stunning Harlow costume.”
Multiple frocks and outfits were tried on for this session, all furnished by the exclusive I. Magnin & Co department store. A notable exception, however, is the white fringe dress shown above; it was her wedding dress to Paul Bern in 1932, and a frequent part of her personal wardrobe.
I. Magnin opened various locations throughout Hollywood and Beverly Hills from the 1920s to the 1940s. Their most famous location on Wilshire Boulevard opened in 1939.
I’m still sleuthing to figure out if Jean had these portraits taken at an I. Magnin location, and which one. I. Magnin had three stores in Los Angeles in 1934, and one in Pasadena. It seems most likely it would have been their flagship on Hollywood Boulevard, which expanded the same year.
Harlow had taken fashion portraits the previous year at the Bullocks Wilshire, who also dressed her. A few of those will be featured soon, as well.
Here are a few period fashion ads to give us an idea of I. Magnin and their clothing. All from the year these portraits of our Jean were taken.
Hope you enjoyed learning a little about these particular Harlow shots.
On an unrelated note, I’m also in the process of collecting massive amounts of quotes. I’m putting together probably hundreds of sources. I’ve been working on this for awhile, and Jean deserves to have her actual thoughts be heard. Harlow “quotations” usually come from the bowels of the Shulman book. Catty phrases like “I like to wake up each morning feeling a new man!” can be directly traced back to that heaping pile of garbage.
This will take a little bit like the last installments of Jean Harlow in the 1920s. There’s lot of citing involved and I like to be thorough. Lots of smaller posts will be up in the meantime, though.
See you next post on Harlow Heaven!
Harlow Heaven 