Lillian Gish’s Gown Worn to Theater Is Simplest (San Francisco Call – 1922)

 

Lillian Gish’s Gown Worn to Theater Is Simplest (San Francisco Call – 1922)

San Francisco Call, Volume 111, Number 79, 7 April 1922

Milady – By Norma Talmadge

Simplicity in Clothes Is Great Art; Lillian Gish’s Gown Worn to Theater Is Simplest

LOS ANGELES, April 7.

When I think of extreme simplicity in clothes, I think of Lillian Gish. Miss Gish, although always delightfully and attractively gowned, never seems to have a single unnecessary touch to her costume. Simplicity is a great art —in fact, it is art itself—but only the temperamentally artistic and women of unusual charm should adopt it exclusively—it is at once unusual and expensive. Many beautiful women cannot afford to truest to simplicity in dressing, for the simple reason that in order to have their beauty gleam and glow properly’, it must, like the ruby or emerald, have just the proper setting—and frequently that setting is ornate rather than simple. Not long ago I saw Lillian Gish at the theater and I was struck with the utter simplicity of her gown. It was of a soft shade of blue —French, I believe it is called —and the material was of heavy taffeta or brocade. It had a round neck, long flowing sleeves and a full skirt, and she wore it with absolutely nothing in the way of decoration. Her hands were ringless and the splendid string of pearls which I have sometimes seen about her neck was absent, while not a touch of so much as a single flower ornamented her costume. This was absolutely perfect for Lillian Gish —but, after all, there is only one Lillian Gish, and few, indeed, are the women I know, either in the social world or of the stage or screen, who could becomingly adopt so utterly simple a toilette.

Lillian Gish Publicity; Photographer – Kenneth Alexander (1922). Autographed photograph

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