GLADYS PARKER A Life in Comics, A Passion for Fashion

This fascinating biography explores Gladys Parker, a creative force to be reckoned with. She first took over Flapper Fanny, a highly popular syndicated comic strip. Then she left to create her own strip, Mopsy, that ran from the 1940s to the 60s in both newspapers and comics. Meanwhile, she created her own clothes line, designed dresses and pants for Hollywood stars, put on exhibits, lived with two famous men, and it doesn't stop there. This beautiful book offers a rarely seen collection of the best Mopsy panels, Sunday pages and stories and many of Parker’s earlier strips, as well as lots of examples of all her other work. She even did advertising art for big, major companies in the 1930s and 40s. As with Frida Kahlo, it was impossible to tell where her art left off and its creator began. Parker mixed fashion and comics, also creating hand-made clothes for film stars like Lana Turner, Joan Crawford, Hedy Lamarr, Jeanette MacDonald and Dorothy Lamour, and here are the pictures to prove it! And the lovely and strong-willed Mopsy was an exact double for Parker herself. Tarpe Mills and Dale Messick both dressed to kill and included paper dolls featuring their heroines’ chic 1940s wardrobes. Tarpe Mills and Lily Renee were fashion models before they drew comics. But Gladys Parker was a full-fledged fashion designer with a successful line of clothing while at the same time drawing an equally successful comic strip. Parker’s dresses bearing the Gladys Parker label were sold at her own New York shop and at high-end department stores across the country! Who better to chronicle the story of Gladys Parker than comics historian Trina Robbins, who in the 1960s designed clothes for hippies and rock stars out of her East Village boutique, while drawing underground comix? Packed with great photos of Parker in both her hometown New York City and from her Hollywood years; great Mopsy strips, many in full color, and all aspects of her art and career. This book was first announced early in 2019 and we've been eagerly looking forward to it ever since. Trina has done a wonderful job of offering us an insider's look at Parker's world of glamour and creativity, a woman who lived life to fullest and knew her mind in all things. Short, beautiful, feisty, smart, innovative, brilliantly funny with strips that are still completely enjoyable today...