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Sunday, 29 August 2010

Whatever happened to Chen Yu?


An ad from the Thirties. Made in USA. So this was a brand consciously adopting an Oriental-type image. Must have been very trendy in the Thirties or something. I find long talons absolutely freaky-gross so this puts me right off, I confess. I admire the art work though and I suppose the long nails were essential for the spirit of the thing.


Same brand but none of the Oriental influence this time. I don't know how the US felt about all things Eastern after Pearl Harbor but I can imagine that things Japanese and (maybe?) Chinese weren't that popular. Chen Yu sounds Chinese to me but it could be totally made up. 




This is Forties. Look at the 3 colours at the bottom! And this was a summertime collection? Not sure about the gold jewellery but I adore the jacket, shirt and hat.

I googled Chen Yu and there is still a cosmetics brand of that name but it doesn't have an online shop so I wonder where it's sold. Anyone know?

Jen



5 comments:

  1. ooo I love these adverts..so cool :-)

    Hope you are well hun xx

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  2. Love these old ads. Thx for sharing :)

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  3. chen yu is also the name of one of my ex boyfriends lol. chen is a surname, very common, and yu is a name :)

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  4. I don't know if it started off as an Asian brand or it was special marketing by a US company. I think it was always-US. Just wanted to be exotic maybe. I'm fine here in Croatia, Rebekah. Thank you!

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  5. That first image gives me the creeps, those nails are very Nosferatu! Chen Yu looked a very classy brand, loving the model's hat. xxx

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