Last week, in the middle of a howling blizzard, the Frick Museum in New York City held its annual Young Fellows Ball.  The theme: Diamond Deco. 

While the idea of accessorizing a satin gown with a pair of slush-defying rubber wellies had a certain irreverent appeal, Ms. Blume opted instead for a less orthodox solution: she went in drag, donning tails and a tophat.

Today Vogue honored her choice by showcasing her attire.

Ms. Blume’s get-up was an homage to one of her most beloved style icons, Marlene Dietrich - the most sparkling deco diamond of all.  The famous actress largely pioneered Victor-Victoria chic while wearing tuxedos to fancy-dress balls in decadent Weimar Germany.  In 1929, photographer Alfred Eisenstadt captured Ms. Dietrich in the iconic image below; Ms. Blume grew up looking at this picture in one of her parents’ coffee table books, and carefully referenced it again while devising her own ensemble for the Frick gala.

Ms. Dietrich’s particular brand of glamor continues to set a very important example for women of all ages: she invariably dictated her own style, as opposed to having it dictated to her.  “Fashion: don’t follow it blindly into every dark alley,” she once wrote.  “Always remember that you are not a model or a mannequin for which the fashion is created.”

The above quote is from Ms. Dietrich’s now-little-known, out-of-print book, Marlene Dietrich’s ABC.  In it, the star offers all sort of glamorous-yet-menschy advice and musings on alphabetized topics ranging from the meaning of elegance to the best recipe for beef broth.

The spirit, tone, and format of Ms. Dietrich’s book helped to inspire Ms. Blume’s forthcoming book, Let’s Bring Back, a cultural encyclopedia of nostalgia, celebrating all sorts of forgotten objects, rituals, personae, recipes, and landmarks from bygone eras. 

In Let’s Bring Back, you will learn more about Ms. Dietrich herself (and the great Mr. Eisenstadt), as well as many of her stylish contemporaries, including wildly imaginative designers Elsa Schiaparelli and Lilly Dache, delightful decorator Elsie de Wolfe, and Ms. Dietrich’s nemesis, the aloof Greta Garbo. 

In the meantime, you can follow Ms. Blume’s popular Let’s Bring Back column at the Huffington Post.  Ms. Dietrich makes appearances there quite regularly—usually with a tophat in tow, no matter what the weather is doing.

Let’s Bring Back will be released by Chronicle Books on November 1, 2010.
Photo credit for Vogue image: Hannah Thomson