The song "These Foolish Things" from the 1930s is a classic love song. The lyrics are lovely and evoke a sense of longing for a lost love. This has been one of my favourite songs for years, and recently I looked it up online, and there's a story that goes with it. Apparently the man who wrote the lyrics had an affair with the actress Anna May Wong, and wrote this song about her after they had parted ways.
I've only seen Anna May Wong in one film (Shanghai Express, the film where Marlene Dietrich looks her most meltingly beautiful), but she was unique for being a Chinese film star in the 1920s and 1930s in an era of film-making when western folks would play asian folks. Bad idea, if you ask me, but that's how it often went.
So I thought it might be nice to write a post exploring the fashion of Anna May Wong, a beautiful Chinese film star.
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| A unique fringe. |
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| Lovely Chinese dress! |
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| Wearing a gown designed by Editih Head. |
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| LOVE this hat! |
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| A dress from the 1930s, similar to the one pictured above. |
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| With Sid Graumann, Conrad Nagal and I think that's Norma Talmadge (it is, I checked). |
Whether wearing more traditional, Chinese-style fashion...
Or Western garb, she was always elegant and stunning.
So nice to hear the story behind the song! And I LOVE that hat!!!
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love that first photo of her! I think her face looks much more lovely with that smile than looking all serious. The hat is amazing!
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