Like the celebrities of today, Louise Brooks’ name and image was used in a number of advertisements and advertising campaigns. Beginning in 1926 with the “Louise Brooks Evening Gown” and running through the LUX soap campaign in the late 1920s and early 1930s, Brooks’ name, image and likeness was used to sell all manner of products — not only in the United States, but also elsewhere around the world. Here is one unusual example, not for goods, but for a service.
Louise Brooks, or rather a drawn depiction of the actress, appeared twice in promotions for the Photoplay Shopping Service.This service offered dresses, shoes, and other fashion accessories sourced from fashionable New York City stores to Photoplay readers around the country. Depictions of Brooks modelling various items are featured in each of the two page spreads shown below, which ran in Photoplay magazine, one of the leading film / fan magazines in the United States. These two page spreads feature a description of a particular item, as well as its cost.
The first, “Buy on Fifth Avenue through Photoplay‘s Shopping Service,” appeared in the magazine in October, 1926. Along with three depictions of Brooks, this piece also features depictions of Laura La Plante and Lois Moran. The second, “Dress Like a Star on an Extra’s Income,” appeared in Photoplay in June, 1927. Notably, this piece, which contains four depictions of Brooks along with anonymous other figures, contains a reference to Coco Chanel, who is described as “the Lubitsch of the dress designers.”
“Buy on Fifth Avenue through Photoplay‘s Shopping Service”
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| October, 1926 | October, 1926 |
“Dress Like a Star on an Extra’s Income”
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| June, 1927 | June, 1927 |