Sunday, November 24, 2013

Channeling Old Hollywood

Hollywood isn't anything like it used to be. For example, if you visit Hollywood and Highland, home of historic theaters such as the Egyptian, Grauman's and El Capitan you will find tons of tourists, gaudy souvenir shops, a lot of trash and a few men dressed up as Spiderman or Jack Sparrow running around trying to make a buck off of people having their pictures taken with them. But I like to remember Hollywood the way it used to be during its golden age, with impeccably dressed movie stars and gorgeous architecture.

Today we went to see the Hollywood Museum which is admittedly a huge tourist trap, but it actually contains an interesting glimpse into the bygone years of starlets and the movie industry when it was at its peak.

In the spirit of Old Hollywood, I thought I would dress up a little bit and what I wore ended up channeling the 1940s. Below I am wearing my Anthropologie "Stilt Strider" skirt with a parade of flamingos and Madewell polka dot sweater. Tucking in a sweater is sort of a new concept for me, but I thought it added a more "polished" effect. To top everything off I paired my creation with a clutch from Lauren Merkin.

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The Hollywood Museum occupies what used to be Max Factor's makeup studio. Opened in 1935, this salon is where all of the starlets, including Marilyn Monroe and Lucile Ball, had their makeup and hair done. Decorated in Art Deco style, this salon also features a unique color scheme. There are four main rooms, each one having a color scheme designed to compliment a particular color of hair. Blondes have blue, Redheads green, Brownettes have some form of peach, and Brunettes have a room clad in pink.


While my hair used to be very blonde, with time it has turned into more of a dirty blonde/light brown, so I started off in the Brownette room, which to be quite honest did make my hair look pretty great. I guess Max really did know what he was doing!




The pink room featured a contraption known as the beauty calibrator that is supposed to find flaws in your face that are invisible to the naked eye. Once your flaws have been identified the make up artist can work on concealing them. Personally, this just looks like a Medieval torture device!



The rest of the museum is dedicated to costumes and artifacts from television shows and movies. They have everything from Micheal Jackson's Bad outfit to Marilyn Monroe's Cadillac to artifacts from silent films and beyond. Below you will find a picture of the outside of the building, which must have been pretty impressive to walk into if you needed to buy some makeup or have your hair done by Max Factor.


Oh, and one more thing. You can't go to Hollywood without taking a stroll down the Walk of Stars. I walked a little bit, taking a gander at the names as I strolled. It's sort of amazing how many people are recognized and how many I have never heard of (or perhaps just don't care about). Phil Collins was among the most exciting of those that I encountered.


Skirt: Anthropologie Stilt Strider 
Sweater: Madewell "Spotted Snowfall"
Clutch: Lauren Merkin
Shoes: Pink Studio
Bow Belt: Kate Spade

1 comment:

  1. Thanks Felicia! This is one of my favorite skirts; I love anything with quirky animal prints!

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