The Enduring Allure of Hollywood Glamour: A Journey from Old Hollywood to Today's Icons

When we think of Hollywood Glam, we most often tend to think of one of the most well-known names in the fashion world, Marilyn Monroe. But glam has since taken a turn in the modern age of the 21st century, from sultry elegance to elaborate creativity. We take a look at the theme of ‘Hollywood Glamour’ over the ages.

The Making of an Iconic Style

True to its name, the glam style dates back to the 1930s, a time considered by many to be the “Golden Age” of Hollywood. Also known as, Hollywood Regency or Regency Moderne, Hollywood Glam is what it sounds like: a decor that embraces the decadent and fabulous from top to bottom. At the beginning, “Hollywood Glam” was sleek and elegant - from little black dresses, delicate jewellery and the small intricate details such as petite diamonds and natural makeup. Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Louise Brooks were upon the many names essential to this lavish lifestyle. Hollywood became an illusion to your average person, like me and you, since red carpets and luxury cars only seem to be in the movies. Ladies and gentleman treated like royalty and decoratively dressed.

The Woman That Started It All

Being one of the main faces of Hollywood Glam, Marilyn Monroe gave us some iconic looks. She had a certain elegance whilst still becoming one of the industries most popular Hollywood stars and a major sex symbol.

She began her career as a wholesome girl-next-door gracing the cover of magazines, America’s sweetheart. However, the foundation of Marilyn, was her unique blend of child like innocence and provocative feminine sexuality. In the 1950s Marilyn influenced the fashion industry by bringing body-conscious designs to the forefront of fashion, a feat in an era of Peter Pan collars, matching gloves, handbags and propriety. Perhaps one of Monroe’s greatest contributions to fashion and beauty was how she embraces her curvy, seductive figure.

Marilyn Monroe lit up a red carpet with her silk evening gowns and white fur stoles. She stole scenes in movies with her sequinned gowns and designer duds, and started new trends just by wearing them.

21st Century Hollywood Glamour

Today's glamour is far different from the original “Hollywood Glam”. The original glam majorly being focused on true elegance and the rich unlike the 21st century and it’s almost ‘the more elaborate and larger the dress, the larger the impression’ motive. This shows a substantial switch in what is considered as glam. For instance, we have had looks appear on the carpet that imitate meat plates and shadow monsters, when on the carpet in 1930s we only saw sleek silhouettes that highlighted the star’s beauty.

From Lady Gaga’s meat dress designed by Franc Fernandez to Billy Porter’s Tuxedo dress designed by Christian Siriano, the idea of glam has clearly had a drastic re-vamp. The looks vary from barely-there to full, extravagant skirts and head pieces as though in competition for best dressed and what’s more likely to get a reaction from the world. For instance the ongoing themes of the Met Gala that differentiate from Camp: Notes on Fashion and Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination, where the rich showcase their individual flamboyant outfits have definitely moved far away from the glitz and glam of Hollywood, evidently taking away the original meaning of Glamour.

Digging deeper into the costumes of today, the carpet seems almost to be a playground of the rich, with looks from

Kim Kardashian in an all leather catsuit that covers all except her pony-tail and Zendaya’s Cinderella look, that emphasises the different views towards real glamour, with garish colours and textures that you would not have seen on red carpets between 1930s and 50s.

One of the most dramatic and daring looks of its time was the black Versace dress designed by Gianni Versace and debuted by English actress and model, Elizabeth Hurley in 1994 at the Four Weddings and a Funeral premiere. The dress was held together by several oversized safety pins and was one of the first dresses to grace the Hollywood scene that didn’t follow the typical protocol of dresses worn by 1930s+ movie stars. Although the black dress was made from pieces of silk and lycra fabric, the dress was wide open at the front, from the neck down to halfway across the bosom, with two slimline straps on the shoulders. Each side of the dress featured a cut-away part, held together with six gold safety pins along the side, and one at the top of either cut-away, connecting it to the bosom section. This was the most shocking part about the dress since it had never been done before at this time. The dress is said to be punk-inspired, "neo-punk", and something which "emerged from the sari development" according to Gianni Versace himself.

Despite a large number of celebrities going against the authenticity of the traditional glamour of Hollywood, there are still a few, such as Julia Roberts and Jennifer Aniston that grace the red carpet in what I would consider the true identity of Hollywood. With their silk slimline dresses and simple hair styles accompanied by fine jewels and subtle makeup

that accentuates their beauty. Influencers, like Kendall Jenner modernising one of fashion’s most beautiful dresses worn originally by Audrey Hepburn to suit today’s society and Billie Eilish’s Oscar De La Renta gown worn as an ode to Marilyn Monroe, honouring one of history’s most beloved icons back to the forefront of the fashion world at the 2021 Met Gala.