Vintage 365: Dazzling video of a 1932 fashion show featuring the WAMPAS Baby Stars

✯ Day 10 of Vintage 365 ✯

 

There is a number of things to love about this fantastic video clip of a 1930s fashion show that comes via one of Youtube's reigning queens of all things spectacularly vintage, Glamourdaze. First up, there's the sea of elegance that flows through the eveningwear fashions these beauties are sporting, followed by their impeccable 30s hairstyles (oh how I love those tight curls and rippling waves!), their chic make-up that would surely have charmed the fedora off any fellow of the day, and perhaps above all, the fact that these lovely ladies here were all part of the WAMPAS Baby Stars promotional campaign.

This project was spearheaded by the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers and involved selecting (and promoting) a different baker's dozen of hopeful young women that were trying to make it big in movie industry every year between 1922 and 1934 (if you’re interested in learning more about these women, I recommend checking out Roy Liberman’s engaging book “The WAMPAS Baby Star: A Biographical Dictionary”).

Each year the group of thirteen women was officially introduced (to the public) at a big party that was dubbed "The Frolic",  and which was widely covered by the media of the day. The batch featured in this clip were the ladies of 1932 and included such (soon to be household) names as Gloria Stuart and (Fred Astaire's dancing partner) Ginger Rogers. Though over the years, other highly known stars emerged from the selections as well, including Clara Bow, Fay Wrap, Dolores del Rio, Loretta Young, and Joan Crawford.

It's fascinating to look at these gorgeous and talented women now nearly eighty years later and know that while not all of them ended up making it big, amongst this group alone two of the most famous actresses of the 30s and 40s emerged. While not all thirteen of these WAMPAS Baby Stars went on to achieve lasting Hollywood fame, I think that each of them was a star - and certainly a vintage fashionista - in their own sparkling right, don’t you?