CLARA BOW-THE ORIGINAL ‘IT’ GIRL

“We had individuality. We did as we pleased. We stayed up late. We dressed the way we wanted. I used to whiz down Sunset Boulevard in my open Kissel, with several red chow dogs to match my hair.

Today, they’re sensible and end up with better health. But we had more fun.” — Clara Bow

 

 

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I’m still pinching myself…I can’t believe I now own this extremely rare magazine from Sweden circa 1928.  This photo has been widely published but it is the first time that I have ever seen it on any magazine cover. A treasure!!!

She challenged even the relaxed mores of Hollywood. Born to a mentally ill mother who tainted much of her childhood, she came from poverty and abuse to remake herself into the eponymous IT girl; Clara Bow is the stuff of Hollywood legends.

 “Long before the term ever became fashionable amongst the glitterati, Clara Bow was the original It Girl, way back in 1927. This was the film that really launched her into the public imagination (though she had been acting for many years prior to this).

THE VIDEO BELOW BRINGS THE LOVELY CLARA BACK TO LIFE!

Clara was such a master at using facial expression and gesture to connect to the audience that when “talkies” came onto the scene she had a difficult time  with the transition , given no real preparation for the shift in format

Bow was the very embodiment of everything womanhood in the 1920s stood for; on screen she was usually cast as a typical ‘flapper’ girl, fast living, partying, dancing, make up wearing and flouting conventions. Never were these notions more apparent than in It — a phrase first coined by Elinor Glyn, a British novelist of the period, renowned for her free thinking and attitudes towards eroticism and sex. ‘It’ was a term she specifically coined to refer to sex appeal. Something Bow had aplenty.” — Imogen Reed,