Goering wore makeup and fingernail polish – but it wasn’t from any modern “divine decadence.” He came of an aristocratic class, and their use of makeup and other physical enhancements extended into the 20th century. He did it to piss off the commoner, Hitler.
One episode in my Stinz comic brought an unexpected result. A reader commented on how the issue in which Stinz goes to the big city reflected what had happened to his Scottish grandfather in the early 20th century. As a young man, he was drafted into the army. Coming from a society that had been closely allied with the French, and from a rural area – which are always 100 years behind fashion – as well as to protect his complexion, the man was wearing makeup. City boys on the train who were also assigned to the army tried to get on his case, and he trounced them soundly, leading, exactly as it did in the Stinz episode, to their being great friends.
The sleek line of dress uniforms was maintained by corsets. I recently asked a Marine if they wore corsets under the dress uniform, because it had that old-fashioned sleek look.
“No, ma’am,” he replied. “The corsets are built in.”
Trust the Marines to get one more thing out of the field pack.
Coming back to decadence, if any of you out there are still calling the Weimar Republic “decadent,” remember who started calling it that.
