Charles Dana Gibson

So The Flapper would come along and kick, uh, what was known as the Gibson Girl to the curb.

Uh, the Gibson Girl during the 1910s was, uh, created and popularized from an illustrator named Charles Dana Gibson.

And this was, like, if you think of the Edwardian sort of, uh, corset-wearing, uh, updo hair-wearing, uh, choker, you know, like, um, dress that goes, skirt that goes all the way to the, past the ankle and a, and like a choker up to under the chin.

Mm-hmm.

Call me pet names, dearest, call me a bird That flies to my breast at one cherishing word That folds its wild wings there nearer, dreaming of flight That tenderly sings theirs in loving delight Oh, my sad heart keeps pining for one fond word Call me pet names, dearest, call me a bird By the time you have finished, your solemn reflection in the glass will have changed to something almost as idiotic as the peach on the magazine cover.

without question the vulgar standards of expression these simpering sirens are setting for the impressionable young girl of to-day will degrade her just as surely as the wholesome high-bred type of womanhood evolved by charles dana gibson improved and developed all that was best in her sister of twenty years ago the theory that nature imitates art is much older than oscar wilde who owing to the carelessness of mr whistler is supposed to have originated it it is so old that mr g k chesterton any moment may rise to dispute it and announce to an astonished london that it is art that imitates nature nevertheless nature does imitate art Is it possible that there is method in all this magazine madness? Is it possible that these magazines being devoted, among other devotions, to ladies' attire, fear that too great an improvement in the female of our species would divert her thoughts from the imbecilities of dress to higher and less profitable things? Allah forbid! End of chapter 23

CHAPTER XXIV.

HAPPY HOUR.

Because even as a child, Evelyn had the kind of looks that turned heads.

By the time she arrived in New York, she was already a working model, posing for photographers and celebrated artists, most famously Charles Dana Gibson, an illustrator known for his popular Gibson Girl drawings.

And if you were a young woman in the 1900s, you wanted to look like a Gibson Girl.

Back then, they were the fantasy ideal of the beautiful and independent American woman.

And they literally used to write Paris models.

which is literally like the newest thing in paris they called it paris model this is what everyone should copy photography was becoming a huge thing before photography there were illustrations so now we're switching from illustrations to actual photographs a girl wearing the dress so not only can you see um the actual dress that you want to copy you can also see how she did her hair how she looks how her posture is you can see everything and copy it Instagram guys like literally this is the birth of Instagram we also have department stores it was huge at the time we had department stores before that but in the Edwardian era that's when it really boomed we have Selfridges, Harrods, Galerie Lafayette, Bergdorf Goodman there was also mail order catalogs even if you didn't live in London or Paris or these major cities you could also get them mailed like fashion was becoming very accessible trends were like circling around they were spreading around faster and easier we also have the gibson girl the gibson girl was an illustration created by american artist charles dana gibson so she created this visual idea of the modern woman so how a modern american woman would look like tiny waist always with the tiny waist exaggerated curves she had enormous hair she was very confident socially visible she was stylish and she was independent so it became so famous at the time to the point that there's this girl there's this actress called camille clifford she became famous for playing that role in in the london stage for now we can see there's many many things are happening at the same time we have fashion Circulating a lot of things are happening.

We have illustrations.

So we have the Gibson girl and then we have theater.

Yeah.

And one thing that we would just note, this is prior to the book, but, um, historically is that a particular silhouette of the wasp-waisted woman with really big hair was made famous in around the early 20th century, particularly by this, for a lot of reasons, um, uh, particularly due to this illustrator, uh, Charles Gibson.

Uh, and I, just as a peg here, I think the best person to read about this is Sabrina Strings-

Yes

The Germans nearly shot him for a spy.

Charles Dana Gibson drew him as the ideal American man of the age, the square jaw above the stiff collar, and half a generation of young men tried to dress like him, travel like him, and file copy like him.

He wrote fiction fast, and a great deal of it.

A Wasted Day was collected in 1911 in a book called The Man Who Could Not Lose.

One hour later, he made his appearance amid the gold braid and dignity of the plaza lobby.

The young man behind the desk, an exquisite creature done in Charles Dana Gibson's best manner, knew when to be affable.

He also knew when not to be affable.

Upon Mr.