I am forever grateful for those who approach me with makeup they no longer want or that they feel belongs in the Museum. While 2020 was another hellish year for me personally and the Museum, as well as basically the whole world, I believe a record number of donations were received. Here's a brief overview of what was graciously bestowed upon the Museum this year.
First up is a mint condition Max Factor gift set. A very nice woman in Canada donated it, noting that it was a birthday present from her father to her mother one year. According to newspaper ads it dates to about 1948. I love the suggested use for the box lids as "party trays"!
Next up is a slew of awesome ads and postcards from the '80s and '90s, donated by an Instagram buddy from Argentina. Such a sweet note too!
This next one is super interesting. Normally the Museum does not include hair products, but the donor is a fellow collector and very knowledgeable about Russian culture, having lived in Moscow for several years. This vintage hair dye was made in East Germany and exported to the USSR.
Next up are some lovely Elizabeth Arden objects. These were donated by a woman in California whose mother worked at the Elizabeth Arden counter at a department store. Here we have the Napoleonic compact which was introduced around 1953, Faint Blush, the famous Ardena patter, and some Color Veil (powder blush) refills.
Near as I can figure, the Faint Blush was a sort of foundation primer, but it seems like it could also be worn alone. I love the plastic pink rose packaging, as it's very much of its era (ca. 1963-1973).
I think the patter and the Faint Blush are my favorites from this bunch.
Then, another very kind Instagram friend and fellow collector sent a huge lot of vintage powder boxes and compacts. The Museum did not have any of these…some I hadn't even heard of and some I had only admired them from afar. I just about died when I opened the package! Clockwise from top left: a 1930s eyeshadow by a company called Quinlan, a 1920s Harriet Hubbard Ayer Luxuria face powder, a powder dispenser by Cameo (probably from around the '30s), a '20s Marcelle compact tin, an extremely rare Red Feather Rouge tin (ca. 1919), an unmarked lipstick and floral powder tin, a Princess Pat compact from about 1925, a Yardley English Lavender tin (ca. 1930s) and a Fleur de Glorie face powder compact (ca. 1923-1926). In the middle is an amazing pink plastic 1940s Mountain Heather face powder case, a line manufactured by Daggett and Ramsdell.
I love each and every piece, but my favorites are the eyeshadow compact, and an adorable Mondaine book compact (with the original box!) that was also included. Bookworm that I am, I want a whole "library" of these designs.
Not all of the donations were vintage. I was so happy to have received these two nail polishes from another IG friend. They were the result of a 2016 collaboration between Cirque Colors and the Met in honor of the latter's Manus x Machina exhibition.
I'm sure you remember the kindness of makeup artist Amelia Durazzo-Cintron, who shared her memories of working for Kevyn Aucoin back in July. For some reason she felt the need to thank ME instead, and did so by donating a really cool Black Swan makeup kit. How nice is her note?!
Another Instagram friend and lipstick fanatic has been making lipstick swatch books. These are kind of a new trend and in my opinion, far easier than taking photos of your lipsticks. Once again a sweet note was enclosed.
This lipstick swatch book is particularly lovely for its sprinkling of cosmetics trivia and important dates. (It also reminds me that I never started working on my daily makeup history calendar, sigh.) If you want one of your own you can purchase it here.
And that wraps up MM donations in 2020! I'm so incredibly grateful for these kind souls generously helping to build the collection. And while physical objects are amazing, it's the notes and messages that come with them that mean the most. :) Also, if you have a makeup object you think is historically significant, an object from the Curator's wishlist, or anything else you'd like to give, please check out the Museum's support page. I'm always looking for old fashion/women's magazines too, along with ads and brochures and such…I can never have too much paper memorabilia!
Which one of these is your favorite? What's the best gift you've ever received?
The husband and I were wandering around the neighborhood last week and spotted this very cute little vintage store called Bottle of Bread. I didn't see any makeup, but I summoned my courage to ask the owner whether she ever came across vintage compacts or makeup ads. I'm glad I asked because she had several stored away in a back room – she had just moved locations and hadn't put them out yet! So I got to take my pick from a few she had obtained at an estate sale. I settled on this very glam Volupté clutch. I loved all the details – the sharp edges, the brushed silver tone with mirrored sides, the dainty chain and the blue rhinestone clasp.
The inside is chock full of neat little compartments, and looked to be in great condition.
Apparently you could put your cigarettes in this compartment.
There was also a hidden compartment behind the mirror – how cool is that?
Of course I was curious about this particular type of clutch so I set about doing a little research. I found a few that resembled it, including this one which has green rhinestones and a fancy silver buckle, but no chain. The seller says it's from the 1950s so I have some sense of the date of the one I purchased.
(image from bagladyemporium.com)
This one is also nearly identical except for the rhinestones and lack of a chain.
Instead of a chain, there's a black fabric bag.
(images from ebay.com)
I came across many others like this, but most of them were gold-toned with a bar in the front. The mirror didn't have a compartment behind it but rather two small clips for a comb. Other than that, the interior was the same.
(image from etsy.com)
I found out that these sorts of clutches were named the "Sophisticase" by Volupté and featured their patented "Swinglok" mechanism. For the most part they didn't have chains but rather black fabric carrying cases. My hunch is that they came out with slightly different models over the years, so that's why mine is a little different than most of the ones I came across online.
(image from ebay.com)
I did manage to find one other Sophisticase with a chain, so the one I bought wasn't an anomaly. The seller claims this one is from the '40s though, so I really can't say with certainty which decade mine is from. I'd say it's definitely '40s or '50s, which was when Volupté, along with Evans, dominated the carryall market.
(image from ebay.com)
What's even more intriguing was the lipstick that happened to still be inside the bag. The previous owner stashed an Elizabeth Arden lipstick in the compartment. It's a nice tube in excellent condition, but it wasn't the tube that made me curious.
It was the "A" with a pair of wings engraved on the cap that piqued my interest.
I had never seen this motif before so naturally I had to see if there was a story behind it. I found this rather striking ad from the early '40s for Victory Red lipstick (you can read about the original photo here).
(image from pinterest.com)
And here's the lipstick itself where you can see the wings on the cap.
(image from pinterest.com)
There was also a very nice Victory Red set that featured a gold-toned lipstick case with the wing motif stamped in red.
(image from etsy.com)
Here it is again – the tube looks identical to the one I have except mine doesn't seem to have the wings in red. I don't think it wore off, I think it's because maybe only the Victory Red shade had the wings engraved in red whereas other shades didn't? In any case, while I found these tubes to be the same, I still don't have an exact date. The set above is listed as being from the '50s, whereas the lipstick below is listed as being from the '40s.
(images from ebay.com)
Anyway, a few years after the launch of Victory Red the company released Winged Victory.
(image from ecrater.com)
According to this newspaper ad, it was available starting in January 1945.
(image from news.google.com)
So I'm assuming the wings came about to complement the variations of Victory Red, which was created at the start of World War II in 1941, and continued with the introduction of Winged Victory in early 1945*. I'm curious to know whether the V shape formed by the wings was intentional since seemingly every product was advertised with a "V for Victory".
The company continued to use the wing design on many other products after the war was over. If you look really closely at the items featured in these ads, you can make out the wings.
(image from etsy.com)
(image from ebay.com)
Here's a shot of an actual jar of Pat-A-Creme:
(image from pinterest.com)
(image from ebay.co.uk)
The use of the wing design continued through the 1950s.
(image from hprints.com)
Interestingly, this ad was done by Carl "Eric" Erickson, who also did illustrations for Rouge Baiser.
(image from americanartarchives.com)
(image from pinterest.com)
The wings were still fluttering in 1959 for this tie-in to Chrysler's Imperial car.
(image from rubylane.com)
According to the description at Ruby Lane, Chrysler launched a new ad campaign for the Imperial in the January 1959 issue of Vogue with product sponsorship by Elizabeth Arden. The car was available in Arden Pink, which was allegedly Jackie O's favorite lipstick shade, and you could order the car from Vogue directly. Additionally, for $25 you could purchase the exclusive Imperial Travel Case to go in the glove box.
(image from imperialclub.com)
Anyway, the description at Ruby Lane also states that the wings in this case are connected to the bird emblem on the Imperial, as seen on the left in the ad above. I'm not sure I agree, but it's interesting that they continued to use it.
Speaking of Arden Pink, here's an ad from 1960.
(image from hair-and-makeup-artist.com)
1966 was the date of the last ad in which I could see the wing motif appear on the products.
(image from etsy.com)
What does all this mean for the lipstick? Well, unfortunately, like the clutch itself, it could be from several decades. (I googled the shade name on the bottom – New Fashion – and turned up nothing.) The shape of the tube was identical to several tubes of Victory Red I came across, but those were listed by the sellers with varying dates, so since I don't know the exact years they were made I can't pinpoint it for the lipstick I have. The ads didn't seem to show those types of tubes either so no help there. As for the wings, I couldn't find a satisfying answer as to their significance and usage throughout the years, but perhaps it's in this book.
So…thoughts? Do you ever come across vintage finds in your town? I gave the store owner my card, so hopefully she'll be in touch with more vintage makeup goodies. 🙂
*The Glamourologist had a post on Elizabeth Arden and wartime makeup so I was hoping there would be some mention of those wings in it, but I keep getting the dreaded "The page you were looking for does not exist" message when I click on the link. I searched both her new site and Facebook page and couldn't find it. I couldn't even find an email address to contact her! But I bet if anyone has information on Elizabeth Arden during wartime, it would be her.