In 2016 I posted A look at the Metropolis: from Prostitutes, Lustmord, and Cabarets, to Economic Recovery in Weimar Germany and the New Objectivity
This posting will look at female androgyny in lifestyle and fashion.
Otto Dix, Portrait of the Journalist Sylvia von Harden, 1926. |
Otto Dix, The Dancer Anita Berber, 1925 |
Anita Berber frequently danced in cabarets totally nude. Her drug addiction and bisexuality were no secret. Besides alcohol, cocaine and opiates she was partial to chloroform mixed with ether. She frequently would be in a hotel lobby nude but partially covered with a fur coat.
The more traditional couple in the background are gossiping about the absurdity of Fräulein Mia a man wearing high heeled shoes or a woman in a man's jacket and tie. The short hair style, in the popular Bubikopf, could be that of a woman.
Liebende Frauen (Women in Love), 1929
Lebende Frauen was one of several lesbian magazines published during the Weimar Republic. |
Poster for German version of The Blue Angel, 1930 |
Josef von Sternberg, the Austrian American film director was invited to make the first feature-length full-talkie in Germany, The Blue Angel (1930), a co-production of Paramount and UFA. English and German versions were made simultaneously. Dietrich played Lola Lola, a cabaret performer in a top hat and with her legs exposed.
Marlene Dietrich in The Blue Angel, 1930 |
Later that year Von Sternberg bought her to Hollywood. They made six more films together. In her first American film Morocco (1930), Sternberg insisted that she wear a black tuxedo. Her insatiable sexual appetite for both women and men started in Germany, but received its notoriety in America. Dietrich had affairs with men who had had affairs with woman that she had affairs with.
Marlene Dietrich in Morocco, 1930 |
Publicity still for Morocco, 1930 |
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