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'Whatever she wore, she was always in control': why Marlene Dietrich was the original fashion influencer
“Cut! ...Then hold for stills.” Movie sets in the 1930s were obviously markedly different to those of today, but perhaps one of the best things about them was that between each scene, a stills photographer would emerge to take an extra series of images, just there on set, while the rest of the crew was setting up whatever was to come next.
It is arguably her capitalisation of these opportunities that has immortalised German actress Marlene Dietrich as a style icon of her times. Even now, on social media, images taken between scenes on Blonde Venus, Shanghai Express, The Blue Angel and more of her greatest hits are shared - and it is largely owing to the strength of the costumes that Dietrich was consciously displaying in them.
“According to her daughter, she gave more importance to the choice of the costumes than to the roles themselves,” the French gallerist Pierre Passebon tells The Telegraph of how her interest in clothing led her career choices, and dominated in every image of her. Passebon is the owner of one of the world’s most complete collections of portraits of the actress and now he has opened up his archives for a new book, Obsession: Marlene Dietrich. The edit includes incredibly rare stills, like ones that show how censorship was used when she was showing 'too much leg' in The Blue Angel.
Passebon calls Dietrich the “technician” of her own look, and “someone who was profoundly modern. She was the actress who actively collaborated most with the couturiers because it was of interest to her,” he says.
As the original, high profile androgynous dresser, and someone who could look equally graphic in a suit and tie, or feathers and sequins, Dietrich’s image still looks striking today.
“Marlene was avant-garde, and defined clothing for a modern woman, which was eventually adopted by all the fashion designers and the fashion of the street,” Passebon considers. “She first started wearing menswear on the set of the film Morocco in 1930. The idea of director Josef von Sternberg was to reverse the role, so Marlene dressed as a man to seduce a womanising legionnaire.”
The fact that Marlene presented an alternative feminine look on screen became a talking point, and had a ripple effect on those who watched. In steering her look away from all that was considered popular at the time, Dietrich became a pin up for those on the lookout for a different take on fashion.
“To Marlene it was already the clothing of a modern woman. She was obsessed by the image more than fashion and, as a daughter of a police lieutenant, she considered clothing as a uniform and a way to win someone over,” says Passebon. “I would say that both Coco Chanel and, later, Yves Saint Laurent were inspired by her style. Chanel loved a uniform, an idea that is the same as Marlene, and then Yves Saint Laurent, with his famous ‘le smoking’ tuxedo of course is a direct reference that came nearly 30 years later.”
In the book, Passebon and author Henry-Jean Servat dissect what exactly it is about her attitude that made her a lasting fashion star.
“I think when you look at any of the pictures, you will see that Marlene always dominates her image - whether she dresses in a mannish or girly style, she's still Marlene," Passebon says. "She never looked as though she'd had a fight with her outfits - unlike some other actresses. Whatever she wore, she was always in control."