Background/Story
Does anyone have the original card of these buttons?
Veronica Lake (Wikipedia) was an American actress, best known for her femme fatale roles in film noirs during the 1940s. Her signature peek-a-book hairstyle, caught by the camera in I Wanted Wings (1940) is thought to be the inspiration for these art deco-style buttons.
During World War II, however, she changed her trademark peek-a-boo hairstyle at the urging of the government to encourage women working in war industry factories to adopt more practical, safer hairstyles.
Her hairstyle, with long locks cascading over her right eye, was so popular that U.S. officials asked her to change it during World War II, fearing the ‘do might cause workplace accidents among women on assembly lines. (USA Today, 10/12/2004)
Here, we see 8 buttons with different colors, lovingly collected over many years. All of them are of acetate material.
On p.295 of About Buttons by Peggy Osborne, the first version was in molded celluloid and later reissued in ceramics.
Contributors: Elaine Cossman, Jocelyn Howells, Suzie Cohen
