Sophie Rosenberg

Sophie Rosenberg

The discovery of a feature in Dance Magazine from December 1924 about the New York modiste Sophie Rosenberg has sent me on a slight detour from my current research. It would appear that she was a significant figure in the New York fashion design world from 1915 right through to the mid 1950s. Taking her inspiration from her yearly trips to Paris, Rosenberg created original designs with a Parisian air. Her enterprises evolved in 1915 in conjunction with her husband under various names and in 1935 she entered into a rather disastrous and short-lived business arrangement with Gloria Vanderbilt before re-establishing her independence.

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Erna Carise

Erna Carise

I particularly love an art deco sketch by Erna Carise from 1927 that I discovered in one of my Parisian magazines simply called ‘Jazz’. So I decided to do a little digging and discovered that she had been a rather glamorous dancer and songstress in Paris, Berlin and New York from the late 1920s through to the 1940s and also had a talent as a costume designer or artist.

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The Rocky Twins: Norway’s Outrageous Jazz Age Beauties

The Rocky Twins: Norway’s Outrageous Jazz Age Beauties by Gary Chapman

Admired for being stunningly handsome, the Norwegian Rocky Twins were dancers who had a ten-year career in Europe and America appearing on stage and in film between 1927-1937. Their beauty, their androgynous look and their outrageous antics made them legendary

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Dancing World Magazine

Dancing World Magazine

A few years ago I acquired a magnificent run of 25 copies of the rare British magazine The Dancing World. It is a remarkable publication spanning the period from May 1920 to at least March 1924, and at the last check, only one copy is held by the British Library. As a result this is a truly unique find that will be invaluable to researchers of the Jazz Age. But the bigger picture is that it also sheds light on the activity of William Mitchell who created the Palais de Danse in Hammersmith and Birmingham and was also behind Rector’s Club, one of the most fashionable nights-club rendezvous in London.

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Dolly Tree: A Dream of Beauty

Dolly Tree: A Dream of Beauty by Gary Chapman

A long lost artistic genius of the Jazz Age, Dolly Tree was famous on both sides of the Atlantic, for her extravagant creations that appeared in stage shows, cabaret, couture and film in the glamorous 1920s and 1930s. It is now time for her to be reclaimed as one of the great British dress-designers of the 20th century

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The Dolly Sisters in Pictures

The Dolly Sisters in Pictures by Gary Chapman

The glamorous life of the Dolly Sisters as seen in 200 photographic images. Capturing their rise to fame and fortune, from their birth in Budapest, through Jazz Age New York, London, Paris and the Riviera, it reveals their full story in pictures

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Dolly Sisters: Icons of the Jazz Age

The Dolly Sisters: Icons of the Jazz Age by Gary Chapman

The  Dolly Sisters biography is a  dizzying cocktail of delight, extravagance and pathos. Teeming with fantastic and fascinating stories from the Jazz Age of the twenties and thirties, it tells a true story every bit as dramatic and engrossing as the best fiction

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The Chateau de Madrid

The Chateau de Madrid was regarded as perhaps the best and finest restaurant and summer resort of Paris in the Jazz Age. A favourite rendezvous of Americans in Paris and Parisian society, it’s allure was because you could dine and dance outdoors under the trees in the cool night air at the height of the Paris social season.

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