La Mystique Féminine

If you've spent much time here at DJRD then you've probably noticed that I am a sucker for vintage color photography and could spend hours (and probably have) scouring the archives of places like LIFE magazine.  Here is another batch reminiscent of the circus photos I posted many many moons ago. This time it’s New York showgirls from 1958 and they are so lovely they make me want to cry a little.    

                

It's interesting when you think about how taboo being a showgirl must have been, what with the conventional, almost virginal, 1950s ethos.  That said, this was the very tail-end of all of that and not many years later America would be in the thralls of an all out sexual revolution. Clearly, all was not as clean-cut as we have been lead to believe!   

                           

   

                          


I also can’t help but wonder... where on earth did all of these costumes go?!??!

photos from  
GORDON PARKS’ NIGHTCLUB PORTRAITS / Life Magazine 
“Without the Girls, Show Biz Is No Biz"