max factor supreme face powder

This picture of Marlene Dietrich was taken on the set of Der blaue Engel, directed by Joseph Von Sternberg. The role of the provocative cabaret singer Lola-Lola would establish Dietrich as an international star: soon after the release of this film, she moved to Los Angeles, where she starred in six films directed by von Sternberg at Paramount [1].

Once in Hollywood, the reinvention of Dietrich’s look happened thanks to Max Factor, who created a very specific and dramatic look for her. When she filmed Der blaue Engel, the transformation was still to happen but Dietrich already used Max Factor products, as we can see from the round tin box sitting on her dressing table: it was Max Factor’s Supreme Face Powder.

[1] These films – Morocco (1930), Dishonored (1931), Shanghai Express (1932), Blonde Venus (1932), The Scarlet Empress (1934) and The Devil Is a Woman (1935) – created the image of the glamourous femme fatale that had so much importance in Dietrich’s career.

Thanks to Kailey for submitting this post.

This beautiful picture of the American actress was taken backstage at the Tivoli Theatre in Aberdeen (Scotland) in October 1933. Among the beauty products on her dressing table there are two particularly interesting items.

The first – in the round tin box – is Max Factor Supreme face powder, which was part of a theatrical make-up line.

The second is the iconic flacon bouchon coeur by Guerlain. The label cannot be read, so it’s hard to tell what fragrance it contained. We can make some assumptions, though.

This bottle was originally created for the extracts of L’Heure Bleue, Fol Arôme (both released in 1912) and Mitsouko (released in 1919). All of them were released way before 1933, so one of these could be sitting on Wong’s table.

Picture source.

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