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Juli Lynne Charlot-The Creator of the Poodle Skirt

When people think of 1950s fashions, the first thing that pops into their head, is the Poodle Skirt. This iconic fashion piece took the world by storm in the 1950s and remains a beloved symbol of the era to this day.

1950s vintage photo of a model in a poodle skirt posing with a poodle.

BUT! Did you know that the creator of the poodle skirt, Juli Lynne Charlot JUST passed away at the age of 101 on March 3rd, 2024? It’s true as you can see from the screen grab from the New York Times. Sad news, but what a long life!

Now after I saw this news (special shoutout to my amazing sister-in-law who brought this to my attention), I realized that I have never done a blog post on Juli before. Why? I have zero clue but today that all changes!

Let’s learn all about Juli Lynne Charlot’s fashion design path, see her creations and also view some items that are available for sale at the time of this post.

Let the fun begin!

Photo of the creator of the 1950s Poodle Skirt-Juli Lynn Charlot who lived to be a 101. She is posing with the famous poodle skirt.

Disclosure: Some of the links on my blog from Etsy , eBay are Affiliate Links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. 

NOTE: If you click on any of the items featured below and they are not available, don’t fret! Hit the search button and see what else is on the websites. There are 1000’s and 1000’s of items being listed daily.


Juli’s Early Life

1940s vintage photo of Juli Lynn Charlot, the creator of the Poodle Skirt in her early days as an actress & singer. Love her hair flower in her 1940s hairstyle.
  • Born Shirley Ann Agin on October 26, 1922, in Manhattan, New York.
  • At the age of 13, she started voice lessons. She had dreams of becoming an opera singer and would eventually change her name to be more “diva like”.
  • When she was a child, her family moved to Southern California. There, her father, an electrician, and her mother, an embroiderer, plied their trades at Hollywood studios.
  • She attended ‘Hollywood High School’ with friends like Judy Garland, Ann Miller & Lana Turner.
  • After high school, Juli participated alongside the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera as a singer and also sang with an orchestra directed by Xavier Cugat.
  • She made her Broadway debut in 1945 in the Victor Herbert operetta “The Red Mill,” and was cast as a singer in the 1946 film comedy “Night in Paradise.” (source)
  • Throughout her performing years, she designed her own wardrobe. Because she had refused to learn to sew (“I didn’t want to be a drudge, like my mother”), she hired a seamstress to realize her designs in cloth (source).

Juli also performed with the Marx Brothers, who asked her to tour with them at several military bases during World War II (source).

1940s photo: Juli Lynne Charlot, wearing a dress of her own design, with Harpo Marx.

1940s vintage photo of Juli Lynne Charlot (the creator of the poodle skirt), wearing a dress of her own design, with Harpo Marx.
  • She also loved love and was married four times, “to two millionaires, a royal count and a Baron”.

Juli the Fashion Designer

In 1947, at age 25, Charlot was invited to a Christmas party in Los Angeles and planned to create a dress for the event. Having little money (her current husband, Philip Charlot had lost his job around this time & Juli was no longer a working singer), she decided to make her own skirt to wear, instead. 

“I couldn’t sew seams,” recalled Juli Lynne Charlot, “so I cut a circle with a hole in the middle, put it on a waistband and had my skirt.”

Spokesman.com

“If I had known how to sew, or had the money to purchase better materials, I would have never made the circle skirt.”

Wikipedia
1950s Fashion: A Christmas Holiday Circle Skirt designed by Julie Lynn Charlot the creator of the Poodle Skirt
A Christmas Holiday Circle Skirt designed by Julie Lynn Charlot (seen in the first image)

The Skirt:  Charlot’s mother owned a factory which used felt, which allowed her to use that material. It was also the height of the New Look when fabric restrictions were lifted and skirts got fuller and longer. So Juli added some Christmas motif appliques to the skirt and went off to the party.

A week later, Charlot made two more circle skirts due to how wonderful they turned out. She took them to a Beverly Hills, California boutique just prior to Christmas 1947. They were sold immediately; this started the Juli Lynne Charlot California company (great logo typography btw) (source).

Source: Etsy-VINTAGEVAVAVOOMZ

The Iconic Poodle Skirt Is Born

After Christmas 1947, the boutique requested a non-holiday motif. They figured that dogs were popular so it was suggested that Juli Lynne make a dog-themed skirt.  She came up with the idea of three dachshunds: two females and a male.  The first dog was a flirty girl, the seconds one was a girl with her nose stuck in the air, and the third was the male who was trying to get to the flirty girl.  But all the leashes became intertwined so the boy dog could only get to the stuck up girl (Source-Vintage Traveler).

The skirts at the boutique in Beverly Hills were quite popular and sold out; in early 1948, Charlot designed a similar skirt with poodles, which was more successful than the previous skirts based on dachshunds (source).

The Poodle Skirt is born!

1950s Fashion / 1950s Vintage Photo of Juli Lynne Charlot the designer of the Poodle skirt wearing her design.
Juli Lynn Charlot in one of her first Poodle Skirt designs

Poodle Skirts & More!

Due to the incredible popularity of the skirts, Ms. Charlot soon had a poodle-skirt factory. She made skirts adorned with images of frogs and lily pads, Parisian street scenes, galloping racehorses, cascading flowers and champagne glasses and pink elephants, along with coordinating blouses, sweaters, dresses, hats and handbags.

Exclusive department stores, including Bullock’s Wilshire in Los Angeles, Neiman Marcus in Dallas and Bergdorf Goodman in New York, were carrying her designs. And by the early 1950s, her skirts were selling for about $35 apiece — some $400 in today’s money (source).

1950s Fashion: a 1950s Felt Circle skirt with a Paris scene designed by poodle skirt creator Juli Lynne Charlot
1950s Fashion: a 1950s Felt Circle skirt with flowers designed by poodle skirt creator Juli Lynne Charlot

Example of a sweater designed by Juli, a 1950s vintage novelty cardigan. Incredibly detailed applique throughout of a lively travel scene – mountains, buildings, boats and floral blooms (avail for sale at time of posting).

1950s Fashion: A Juli Lynn Charlot, 1950s vintage novelty cardigan. Incredibly detailed applique throughout of a lively travel scene - mountains, buildings, boats and floral blooms.

Source: Etsy-bellofbow

Charlot’s designs were so successful that one of them appeared in a national ad campaign for Maidenform bras in 1952 (seen below). Leading Designer Patterns, a mail order pattern company, also released one of her designs.

Juli was a huge success!

1950s vintage ad from 1952 for Maidenform bra's featuring a woman wearing a 1950s bra and a Juli Lynne Charlot Circle skirt. Juli was the creator of the poodle skirt.

Source: Pinterest

The skirts seemed to celebrate the postwar optimism in the United States and offer a canvas for the 1950s flood of consumer kitsch. The poodle skirt, especially for teen girls, also was a chance for an important style statement: I’m not wearing what my mom wore (source).

1950s vintage photo of two young girls in 1950s fashions. One girl is wearing jeans and plaid shirt and the other is wearing a felt circle skirt with an applique on it and saddle shoes.

Copycats Everywhere!

1950s vintage photo of a young woman in a 1950s circle skirt with poinsettias on the skirt putting decorations on a Aluminum Christmas Tree.

When one becomes popular, especially in the world of fashion, it is only a matter of time before others copy the designs. From mail order catalogues, to at home sewers (so many vintage sewing patterns out there), the skirts were seen everywhere! Especially because anyone could easily make it.

1950s vintage photo of a teenage girl in a circle skirt with Elvis Presley name on the skirt. The Circle Skirt aka the Poodle Skirt was originally created by Juli Lynn Charlot
A teenage girl wearing a circle skirt with Elvis Presley’s name on it.

Vintage 1950s Teenage circle skirt with poodle applique.

1950s vintage sewing pattern: 1950s Teen Age Circle Skirt with Poodle Applique

Source: Etsy-CloesCloset

1950s catalog page featuring a pretty felt circle skirt with floral applique and on the right a sewing pattern for women’s heart applique circle skirts (and one with just lines).

1950s fashion for young women as seen in this 1950s catalog page for 1950s circle skirt with floral applique and a women 1950s top and skirt.
1950s women's circle skirt vintage sewing pattern featuring circle skirts with hearts on them.

1956 Toronto Metropolitan University Fashion Design students sporting their own circle skirt designs.

Fun fact! I graduated from the fashion marketing program at TMU in 2003.

1950s vintage photo: 1956 Toronto Metropolitan University Fashion Design students sporting their own circle skirt designs with fun appliques on them. Like televisions and the Eiffel tower.

Juli’s Later Life

While in Mexico in the 1980s, Charlot took interest in a classic Mexican wedding dress and decided to create variations on it. This resulted in her purchase of a manufacturing plant in Mexico City to produce and export these dresses worldwide. The factory later collapsed during the 1985 Mexico City earthquake, forcing her to abandon the dress business (source).

Charlot died at her home in Tepoztlán on March 3, 2024, at age 101.

The Poodle Skirts Legacy

In later years, the poodle skirt became visual shorthand for the entire decade. Even now, a production of “Grease” or “Bye Bye Birdie” can scarcely be mounted without one in evidence (source).

I know when I worked as a waitress a 50’s diner in my hometown, we all wore poodle skirts as our uniform. Nothing else was an option.

Further Reading: Mini Guide To Holding The Ultimate 1950’s Themed Party

Butterick Sewing pattern-Children / Youth / Teen Sewing Pattern Girls' Circle Skirt / poodle skirt. Perfect for your next 1950s themed party, sock hop, kids party.

Source: Etsy-FindCraftyPatterns

Further Examples of Juli Lynne Charlot Circle Skirt Creations

1950s Fashion: a 1950s Felt Circle skirt with pink elephants with martini glasses designed by poodle skirt creator Juli Lynne Charlot

The Pink Elephant Circle Skirt-Source: New York Times

Would you like to own a stunning ‘Romeo and Juliet’ 1950s felt circle skirt designed by Juli Lynn Charlot that was ALSO seen on the late Queen Elizabeth II? Well as of the time of this posting, you could!

The story of this skirt & Queen Elizabeth II:

The time was 1951, and the place was Ottawa, where the woman was attending a hoedown at the home of Canada’s governor general. At 25, she had never seen a hoedown, and was tutored privately in its mysteries before the dancing began.

The woman, attired in a steel blue circle skirt by Ms. Charlot appliquéd with hearts, flowering branches and stylized figures of Romeo and Juliet, acquitted herself admirably, according to news reports.

Her name was Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor, and she would be known from the next year on as Queen Elizabeth II (source).

1950s vintage photo of Queen Elizabeth in a Juli Lynn Charlot 1950s Felt Skirt with appliques at a square dance in the 50s
1950s Fashion: A 1950s Circle Skirt with appliques featuring a Romeo and Juliet design by Juli Lynn Charlot, the creator of the poodle skirt.

Source: Etsy-VINTAGEVAVAVOOMZ

Vintage 1950s felt circle skirt with Samba Dancers and Palm Trees.

1950s Fashion: Vintage 1950s Skirt - Authentic Juli Lynne Charlot Felt Circle Skirt with Samba Dancers and Palm Trees - Rio. Juli was the creator of the Poodle Skirt.

Source: Etsy-FabGabs

Chess Game 1950’s felt skirt. All of the appliques are decorated with sequins and beads.

1950s Fashion: Juli Lynne Charlot Chess Game -1950's Felt circle Skirt. Juli was the creator of the Poodle Skirt

Source: 1stdibs.com

Last but not least a Fun Liz fact! I own my own 1950s vintage felt circle skirt that I picked up years ago at an amazing vintage store in Toronto, called ‘Gadabout‘. It has a giant accordion, musical notes and a conductor. It’s a prized possession in my small but mighty vintage clothing collection. Take a look at a video I made of the skirt below (video link).

Liz Note: After looking at the quality of these skirts from this post, I am beginning to wonder if my skirt was a Juli Lynn Charlot design? There is no tag but the skirt is incredibly well made. If anyone knows, please comment below!

@tovintagelizzie I love Accordions! Especially on a 1950s true vintage circle skirt in my collection. 🎶 #1950s #1950sfashion #accordion #vintagetiktok ♬ Music Box Polka – George Staiduhar

Further Reading: Interview with Juli from the Vintage Traveler


Thank you for taking the time to read all about Juli, who was an incredible woman who struck gold with an idea that was just simple in it’s design. I am happy to have been able to of shared her story.

Question Time: Did you wear a poodle skirt / circle skirt? Own one? Hate them, love them? Share any thoughts on this topic in the comment section below.

Further Reading from the Vintage Inn Blog (archived posts):

Thanks for dropping by!

Liz

Ruth Brown -The R&B Singer Who Built Atlantic Records

One of my all time favourite singers is Ruth Brown, like I really really love Ruth. Her music from the 1950s (and beyond) is just outstanding and since it’s ‘Women’s History Month‘, I thought it would be the right time to finally do a post all about Ruth…..the legendary R&B singer who built Atlantic Records aka “The House That Ruth Built”.

1950s vintage photo of R&B Singer, Ruth Brown in 1955 in a beautiful 1950s dress.

Before we get into all things Ruth, we are going to start with my favourite song of all time…’Lucky Lips‘ from 1957. I could dance to this song, 50 times over in a night. It’s SO GOOD! Enjoy!

About: The song was her second hit on the US pop chart, after “(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean” in 1953, reaching number 25 on the pop chart and number 6 on the Billboard R&B chart (source). (video link)

Ruth Brown’s Early Life

Ruth Alson Weston was born Jan. 12, 1928, in Portsmouth, Virginia, and was the oldest of seven children. Her introduction to music was from her father, a church choir director (and dockhand), who wanted to make sure that Brown was steered away from “the devil’s music”. This devotion to God like music was not going to last for Ruth though, who in her teens would sneak away to play at USO clubs and clubs. She was inspired initially by jazz chanteuses Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, and Dinah Washington.

“No, I was a bad girl,” she says. “What saved me was my daddy worked at the shipyard and his hours changed to where he was working nights, 4 to 12. When I got out of school I would run home long enough for him to see I was in the house before he’d leave. As soon as he’d bend the corner, I’d be flying back to the USO. But it was like a Cinderella story because I always had to get back in before 12.”

The Washington Post

In 1945, aged 17, Brown ran away from her home in Portsmouth along with the trumpeter Jimmy Brown, whom she soon married (this is where she became ‘Ruth Brown’), to sing in bars and clubs. She then spent a month with Lucky Millinder’s Orchestra (who fired her for some silly reason) (Source).

1950s vintage photo of R&B Singer, Ruth Brown in a 1950s Dress posing for a publicity photo.

Early Career / Discovery

The firing by the Lucky Millinder’s Orchestra, stranded Ruth in Washington where she was taken in by Blanche Calloway, sister of Cab and owner of the nearby Crystal Caverns, one of the town’s hottest nightclubs in Washington DC.

Blanche put her to work for tips when one night, Willis Conover, the future Voice of America disc jockey, caught her act with Duke Ellington and recommended her to Atlantic Records bosses Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Soon after, Atlantic Records offered her contract (first female artist) and a debut concert at the Apollo in New York City (and a manager in Blanche).

HOWEVER……..En route to New York to sign the contract and perform at the Apollo, Brown was in a car accident that crushed her legs. She signed a contract with Atlantic in 1949 from her hospital bed. She spent months recovering and had to wear leg braces for a time afterward (source). Ruth’s husband would abandon her during this difficult time.

Atlantic Records Success

With the accident somewhat behind her (some sources said she was still in braces during early recordings), Brown releases her first recording, “So Long” in 1949. Abetted by Atlantic’s cofounder Herb Abramson and songwriter Rudy Toombs. It went to No. 4 on the R&B chart (source).

(video link)

Initially, Brown recorded mainly ballads and jazz standards but her second hit, 1950’s “Teardrops From My Eyes,” marked a firm turn in her style toward the “hot” rhythmic style for which she became famous (source).

The song went to No. 1 for 11 weeks and it went on to became her signature song. Soon she was known as “the girl with the tear in her voice,” a reference to the “squeak” she made on her high notes, as if her voice was breaking with emotion (source).

The Crooner Frankie Laine christened her “Miss Rhythm” in 1951 after this huge hit.

1950s album cover for Ruth Brown-Miss Rhythm in 1959 featuring Ruth on the cover in a 1950s dress.

Source: Discogs

Video: “Teardrops From My Eyes”. Live 1954 Performance from a Rhythm & Blues Revue.

She followed up this hit with “I’ll Wait for You” (1951), “I Know” (1951), “5-10-15 Hours” (1953), “(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean” (1953), “Oh What a Dream” (1954), “Mambo Baby” (1954), and “Don’t Deceive Me” (1960), some of which were credited to Ruth Brown and the Rhythm Makers.

Video: Ruth Brown – “Hey Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean” (Live) (video link)

Between 1949 and 1955, her records stayed on the R&B chart for a total of 149 weeks; she would go on to score 21 Top 10 hits all together, including five that landed at number one. Brown ranked No. 1 on The Billboard 1954 Disk Jockey Poll for Favorite R&B Artists (source).

1950s vintage photo of R & B Singer, Ruth Brown-Publicity Photo.

She toured ceaselessly throughout the South, and her popularity was surely helped by her vibrant stage presence. Her big eyes, expressive body language and joyful smile. Atlantic soon became known as “The House that Ruth Built.” due to the big earnings this young label was now bringing in (source).

1950s vintage photo of R&B singer, Ruth Brown performing a concert for young 1950s teens.

Her first pop hit came with “Lucky Lips” (my favourite), a song written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and was recorded in 1957. The single reached number 6 on the R&B chart and number 25 on the U.S. pop chart. The 1958 follow-up was “This Little Girl’s Gone Rockin“, written by Bobby Darin and Mann Curtis. It reached number 7 on the R&B chart and number 24 on the pop chart.

She had further hits with “I Don’t Know” in 1959 and “Don’t Deceive Me” in 1960, which were more successful on the R&B chart than on the pop chart (source).

1950s vintage concert poster for Ruth Brown at the Mambo Feb 1st featuring Ruth in a stunning 1950s dress.

End of a Historic Relationship

Ruth may have built Atlantic Records, but Atlantic didn’t pass the wealth on down to Brown. She was required to pay for touring and recording costs out of pocket (Labels not only scrimped on Black artists’ fees, but also charged them unaccounted “production costs”, which were held against payments for their reissued material (source)). When Atlantic ended their professional relationship in the early 1960s, Brown had no savings to fall back on. She moved to Long Island, New York, and spent a decade and a half working a series of low-paying jobs, often as a single mother. Her recordings fell into obscurity (source).

1970’s Resurgence

Vintage 1970s/1980s photo of Singer Ruth Brown

She returned to music in 1975 at the urging of the comedian Redd Foxx, followed by a series of comedic acting jobs. This launched her career in TV, film, and stage. Roles included playing, DJ Motormouth Maybelle in John Waters’ 1988 Hairspray…..

(video link)

A Tony-Award winning performance in ‘Black And Blue‘ (a musical revue celebrating the Black culture of dance and music in Paris between World War I and World War II).

Video: Ruth Brown wins 1989 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical (video link).

and a Grammy-winning 1990 album, ‘Blues on Broadway’ (best jazz vocal performance, female).

(video link)

Ruth Brown was also inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.

Video: Ruth Brown accepts Hall of Fame Award at the 1993 Inductions (video link).

Ruth Gets the Last Laugh

Brown then used her new fame to leverage Atlantic Records into paying back her royalties. Supported by the Rev Jesse Jackson, they persuaded Atlantic and its owner Warner Communications to change the system (more details below).

Brown received $20,000 and was forgiven all “debts”. The royalty payments system was then reformed to favour pioneering artists, and other labels followed, including the conglomerate MCA. Atlantic also agreed to contribute $1.5m to launch the Rhythm & Blues Foundation—a non-profit organization dedicated to providing financial and medical assistance to musicians as well as educational outreach and other efforts to preserve the cultural legacy of rhythm and blues (source).

Rhythm & Blues Foundation Logo

More Ruth Brown Successes

  • She is also the reason that R&B music had a pop music style to it’s sound during the 1950s.
  • She hosted the radio program Blues Stage, carried by more than 200 NPR affiliates, for six years, starting in 1989
  • 1989: Rhythm & Blues Foundation Pioneer Award
  • Inducted into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame in 1992
  • Her 1995 autobiography, “Miss Rhythm”, won the Gleason Award for music journalism.
  • Toured with Bonnie Raitt in the late 1990s.
  • Nominated for another Grammy in the Traditional Blues category for her 1997 album, R + B = Ruth Brown
  • 2016: Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
  • 2017: Inducted into National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame (source)

Ruth passed away November 17th, 2006.

Final Words

Brown was a musical pioneer — so why is her early R&B work not better known? NPR, said it best….

Much of this has to do with the racial and genre segregation and sexist double-standards of the music industry. Before Billboard renamed its “Rhythm and Blues” chart, its name, “Race Music,” denoted songs by and for Black people. So while today, Brown’s music might sound indistinguishable from early rock ‘n’ roll, white audiences of her era didn’t see it that way. Brown even said herself that R&B became rock ‘n’ roll “when the white kids started to dance to it.” And while Brown’s singles repeatedly hit the top of the R&B charts, they rarely crossed over onto the pop chart — but when white performers covered her songs, they often scored the pop chart successes in her stead. Patti Page’s version of “What A Dream,” for example, made it to No. 10 on the pop charts, while Brown’s version, though it reached No. 1 in R&B, never made a mark elsewhere on the charts. The early stars of rock ‘n’ roll, too, were all men. It wasn’t until 1962 that a solo black woman artist — Motown’s Mary Wells — would break into the Billboard top ten with a recognizably rock ‘n’ roll tune.

In some ways, it seems that Brown’s later career — more focused on blues, jazz and show tunes — has eclipsed her early career. But those chart-topping contributions to the canon of American popular music should not be forgotten. With her backbeat-heavy sound and saucy vocal style, the fabulous Miss Rhythm broke new ground as a truly exceptional artist.

NPR-Forebears: Ruth Brown, The Fabulous Miss Rhythm

Source: Deezer

Well readers, I really hope you enjoyed learning all about Ruth Brown. I loved putting this post together and learning a lot of new things about my favourite artist.

Please share any thoughts on this topic in the comments section below. I love hearing from my readers.

Further Reading: Vintage Women’s History Archived Blog Posts 1920s-1960s

Thanks for dropping by!

Liz