100 Years of Skin Food by Weleda!
1926 brought many inventions that are still relevant today
100 years old and still absolutely trendy. Weleda Skin Food is an icon in skincare. As modern today as it was back then. It was an exciting, vibrant time when this special plant-based skin cream was invented. What else was happening in 1926?
Creation of the iconic Skin Food
Weleda’s first cosmetic products were hair oil, hair tonic and mouthwash. This was followed by toothpaste, birch elixir and iris cleansing milk. In 1926 the products on offer expanded to include massage oil with arnica, rosemary bath milk, cold cream – and Weleda Skin Food. This “green skin cream” containing extracts of pansies, chamomile, calendula and rosemary has provided natural and healthy skin care for nearly a century.
The year 1926 was set amidst an exciting, vibrant time full of new movements and ideas.
Charleston is Dance of the Year 1926
With steps such as the “bee’s knees”, swing kicks and “around the world” legs, the Charleston took the dance world of the 1920s by storm. It shares the same name as the city in South Carolina, and it conquered the world from America. The new dance got its name from the Broadway tune “The Charleston” composed by James P. Johnson. Josephine Baker, who performed it in a banana skirt in Berlin, made the dance famous in Germany.
Green Wave
The first traffic lights began to take over the cities of the world in the 1920s. Until 1924, a policeman managed traffic on Europe’s busiest square, Potsdamer Platz in Berlin. Calling attention to himself with a horn, he was known as the “trumpet angel”. In 1926, the city tried to regulate traffic centrally. All of the traffic lights switched from red to green at the same time – resulting in the first traffic jam. This is also the origin of the “green wave”.
First Traffic Lights in Berlin
World Vegetarian Congress
The 6th World Vegetarian Congress of the International Vegetarian Union took place in London in 1926. Delegates from Denmark, Germany, France, Great Britain, Holland, Portugal, Sweden, Spain and Czechoslovakia met from May 25 to 30. The menu, according to The Vegetarian Messenger was as follows
Menswear becomes sporty
|
Sportswear found its way into leisurewear. Men wore club jackets from the tennis club, balloon caps and knickerbockers – wide trousers ending shortly below the knee. These were previously only worn during sporting endeavours, such as hiking, bicycling or golf. |
Back to nature
Light baths and nudism, naturopathy, the anti-alcohol movement, sport and healthy nutrition – many people longed for a reconnection with nature and free expression in the wake of industrialization and urbanization. The “life reform” movement in Germany and Switzerland emerged as a counter movement, where people adopted a more conscious diet, spent more time in nature, and made their daily lives more natural overall. This movement also gave rise to the first health food shops.
The “little black dress” by Coco Chanel
Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel revolutionized women’s fashion in the early 20th century by banishing the corset and introducing calf-length skirts and airy trousers. She designed a simple black dress without frills, without lacing, without ostentation. The "Little Black Dress" (LBD) became a symbol of freedom, style, and self-confidence. In 1926, it appeared on the cover of Vogue magazine in the United States. Since then, this timeless classic has found a place in nearly every woman’s wardrobe.
Elisabeth and Marilyn
On April 21, 1926 Elizabeth Alexandra Mary was born from Windsor in Mayfair, London. Six weeks later, on June 1, Norma Jeane Mortenson was born at Los Angeles General Hospital. They met only once in their lives, when they were both 30 years old. Marilyn Monroe travelled with her husband Arthur Miller for a film premiere in London, and was received at Buckingham Palace.
Reconstruction of the Goetheanum
The Goetheanum is a unique building that expresses the ideas and thoughts of Anthroposophy in the language of art. The first Goetheanum was destroyed by fire on New Year’s Eve, 1922/23. One year before his death, Rudolf Steiner prepared a model for the second Goetheanum, which was built using fireproof reinforced concrete from 1925 to 1928. It was one of the first monumental, sculptural buildings in the history of architecture.
Red telephone box
The architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott won a competition organized by the Royal Fine Arts Commission with his design of a red telephone kiosk. In March 1926, the first red box was installed at Charing Cross in London. Making phone calls was new and exciting. In the same year, a lecture on this innovative subject was held for the first time in Berlin at the Urania scientific society, titled “Telephony – once, now and in the future".
