Clara Bow
The original “It” girl
This October, the Lumière film festival and the Auditorium of Lyon present a rediscovery, in film-concert format, of a silent screen legend of modernity and wild audacity, whose persona continues to inspire today, from Damien Chazelle’s Babylon to Taylor Swift’s 2024 track, “Clara Bow.”
When a new director takes over for his father at the helm of a department store, a young salesgirl sets out to seduce him... Clara Bow becomes an icon, emerging as the first “It girl” in film history in this irresistible comedy, a smash hit of the Roaring Twenties.
Our thanks to James Mockoski (ArtCraft Pictures) and to Carlotta Films
“Clara Bow was the first ‘It girl.’ She was an extraordinary actress who was adored
by the entertainment industry, only to be tossed aside when Hollywood moved on to the next trend.”
-TAYLOR SWIFT
She was one of the first sex symbols of the silent era. Barely sixteen when she placed first in the “Fame and Fortune” acting contest, the New Yorker secured her ticket to Hollywood. After a challenging start, she got her first break in 1925 thanks to Kiss Me Again by Lubitsch. She became Victor Fleming’s muse, then the heroine of William A. Wellman’s superproduction Wings in 1927, which she followed with It, propelling her to legendary stardom.
In the eyes of the world, thanks to a feature published in Cosmopolitan, Bow became the first “it girl” in history: a young woman who possessed the famous “it” factor—that elusive je ne sais quoi quality, setting her apart from common mortals.
“Self-confidence, and indifference to whether you're pleasant or not —
and something about you that gives the impression you're not cold at all. That’s IT.”
-Elinor Glyn in Cosmopolitan magazine
However, due to her nature, deemed too free-spirited and too modern, Clara Bow became the subject of false rumors that brought her career to a grinding halt. At just 25, after being fired by Paramount—which had made her its brightest star—she chose to seclude herself on a ranch in Nevada. She would go on to act in a few more talkies until the early 1930s, before retiring permanently from Hollywood and public life.
Clara Bow’s troubled legacy would be perpetuated by the tabloid press and by Kenneth Anger’s book Hollywood Babylon. The original embodiment of the successful young woman, Clara Bow would be forgotten by the annals of Hollywood history, overshadowed by Louise Brooks, Greta Garbo and Gloria Swanson.
Clara Bow served as the primary source of inspiration for the character played by Margot Robbie in Damien Chazelle’s 2022 film Babylon.
