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Gwendolyn M. Michel
To cite this article: Gwendolyn M. Michel (2019): “A woman with a hundred faces”, Dress, DOI:
10.1080/03612112.2019.1641994
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The Stella Blum Student Research Grant is awarded to an undergraduate or graduate student
for original research in the field of North American costume. The grant, first awarded in 1987,
is named in honor of Stella Blum (1916–1985), a costume curator, educator, writer, scholar, and
founding member and Fellow of the Costume Society of America.
“A woman with
a hundred faces”
The Dress and Appearance of
Anaïs Nin, 1931–1932
Gwendolyn M. Michel
Gwendolyn M. Michel is an independent researcher, designer, and educator. She holds a PhD in
Apparel, Merchandising, and Design from Iowa State University and an MS in Textiles from
University of California, Davis. She has taught at Ohio University; University of California, Davis;
California State University; and Monterey Peninsula College.
This study was generously funded
through the Stella Blum Student
Author and diarist Anaïs Nin was an important figure in feminist literary circles in the 1960s and 1970s. Research Grant sponsored by the
Costume Society of America Endowment.
Her diaries, first published in the 1960s, began with her life in France in the early 1930s. The wife of a Special thanks to CSA Committee Chair
banker, she lived a comfortable life, free to pursue her writing and bohemian living, including writing Dr. Ann Wass; Dr. Sara Marcketti, the
faculty advisor of this doctoral research;
extensively on her use of dress to distinguish herself. This report presents the first in-depth examination and Christina Bates, editor of DRESS, as
of Nin’s 1930s diaries and related primary sources from the perspective of dress history and calls for well as the Department of Special
Collections of the Library of University of
further research into the dress practices of this important literary figure of the twentieth century. California, Los Angeles and the Donohue
Rare Book Room of the Gleeson Library,
Keywords Anaïs Nin, 1930s, Paris, Henry Miller, June Mansfield Miller, bohemian dress University of San Francisco.
1 Anaïs Nin, Diary 30, 293, entry of April There was once a woman who had one hundred faces. She showed one
20, 1931, Anaïs Nin Collection,
Collection #2066, Department of face to each person, and so it took one hundred men to write
Special Collections, Charles E. Young
Research Library, University of her biography.1
California, Los Angeles.
TWENTIETH-CENTURY AUTHOR Anaïs Nin (1903–1977) (FIGURE 1) was well known in the 1960s
2 See Anaïs Nin, The Diary of Anaïs Nin,
Volume 1: 1931–1934, ed. Gunther and 1970s for her series of diaries revealing her life as a writer and detailing her life in
Stuhlmann (San Diego, CA: Harvest/ 1930s Paris and New York; 1940s New York; and 1950s New York, California, and
Swallow Press & Harcourt, 1966); Nin,
The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Volume 2: Mexico.2 These diaries, heavily edited, presented Nin as a self-supporting writer, part of an
1934–1939, ed. Stuhlmann (San Diego,
CA: Harvest/Swallow Press &
international literary and artistic coterie that included authors, artists, and film-makers.
Harcourt Brace, 1967); and Nin, The Nin—the bohemian diarist and author—lived a life centered around art, beauty, and the
Diary of Anaïs Nin, Volume 3:
1939–1944, ed. Stuhlmann (New York: development of her craft.3 In the 1980s, however, Nin’s second husband Rupert Pole
Harvest/Harcourt Brace
Jovanovich, 1969).
(1919–2006) published the first of a series of unexpurgated editions of Nin’s Paris diaries,
Henry and June, revealing some of what had been omitted from publication in the 1960s
3 See Elizabeth Wilson, Bohemians: The
Glamorous Outcasts (New Brunswick, and 1970s editions of The Diary of Anaïs Nin. This unexpurgated edition revealed Nin to
NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2000); have been a bourgeois housewife whose bohemian adventures and, indirectly, her lover Henry
Anita Jarczok, Writing an Icon:
Celebrity Culture and the Invention of Miller (1891–1980) were supported by her first husband, banker Hugh Parker Guiler
Anaïs Nin (Athens, OH: Swallow (1898–1985) (FIGURE 2). In addition to new information on Nin’s dress and appearance, the
Press, 2017).
unexpurgated series of diaries revealed the intimacy of Nin’s relationship with American author
FIGURE 1 Anaïs Nin by Natasha Troubetskoia, ca. 1932. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.
“A woman with a hundred faces” 3
FIGURE 2 Anaïs Nin and Hugh P. Guiler on board the SS Mauretania, May 1928, returning to Paris after 4 See Nin, Henry and June, from a
visiting New York. Courtesy of the Anaïs Nin Trust. Journal of Love: The Unexpurgated
Diary of Anaïs Nin, 1931–1932
(Orlando, FL: Harcourt, 1986); Nin,
Incest, from a Journal of Love: The
Unexpurgated Diary of Anaïs Nin,
1932–1934 (San Diego, CA: Harvest/
Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1992); and Nin,
Trapeze: The Unexpurgated Diary of
Anaïs Nin, 1947–1955 (San Antonio,
TX: Sky Blue Press, 2017).
diaries, dating from 1914 through 1966, are in the care of the Department of Special 11 Rupert Pole, “Preface,” in Nin, Henry
and June, ix. See Pole and John
Collections in the Charles E. Young Research Library at the University of California, Los Ferrone, “The Making of Henry and
Angeles. This report provides the first detailed summary and description of material on the June, The Book: Correspondence
1985–1986,” A Cafe in Space 4, 8–21.
dress and appearance of Anaïs Nin found in primary sources, with special focus on the ori- Further, although the book is titled
Henry and June, referring to Henry
ginal diaries that were the source of the content in Henry and June: The Unexpurgated Diary and June Miller, it focuses on other
of Anaïs Nin, 1931–1932 plus other primary and secondary sources.10 This specific period significant relationships in Nin’s life,
including her marriage to Hugh P.
was chosen because it was a pivotal period in Nin’s professional and private writing and in Guiler (“Hugo” in the book, later
known as the experimental film-
the lives of Nin, her husband, and Henry Miller. To underscore this, when selecting which maker Ian Hugo), her relationship
of her diaries to publish, Nin herself “chose to begin in 1931, her most interesting and dra- with her cousin Eduardo Sanchez, her
psychoanalysis with Dr. Rene Allendy,
matic period, when she had just met Henry and June Miller.”11 Nin was inspired by June and her relationship with Henry
Miller’s flatmate Alfred “Fred” Perles.
Mansfield Miller’s (1902–1979) bohemian style and quickly fell in love with her face, figure, Soon after publication, the book
and seemingly careless way of dressing. Enamored of June Miller that winter, Nin briefly inspired the 1990 film Henry and
June from Universal Pictures, further
emulated her “shabby,” bohemian style and even felt herself coming to look and sound like
4 DRESS 2019
indication that the events of the FIGURE 3 June Miller, early 1930s. Courtesy of the Anaïs Nin Trust.
period comprised a compel-
ling narrative.
FIGURE 4
Anaïs Nin by Emil Savitry, Paris, 1936. Courtesy of Francis Dupont. Cuban girls. Hugh’s first attraction
was for a fat girl. Everybody used to
comment on my slenderness and
Mother quoted the Spanish proverb:
bones only for the dogs. When I
went to Havana I doubted my being
able to please because I was thin.
This theme continues right down to
the moment when Henry hurt me by
his admiration of Natasha's
[Troubetskoia] body because such a
‘body seemed rich to him.’” Diary 34,
95–96, undated entry between April
25 and May 4, 1932.
[Dr. Allendy asked:] Do you realize how many women envy you your silhouette?—(This
kind of assurances I have often received. It is not the kind which heals; or I would be
healed. I know he must find a more profound way of communicating confidence to me—
Now he is talking as men talk to me.)20
When Nin discussed June Miller and Nin’s desire to play the role of femme fatale, Dr.
Allendy told her that this was a “game that was not really natural to [Nin]” (FIGURE 4).21
He encouraged Nin to find her “true self,” saying, “I do not despair yet of reconciling you
to your own image.”22 As they analyzed her appearance, Nin concluded that she used dra-
matic dress (FIGURES 1 and 7) as an “armor,” one that she wore both to Dr. Allendy’s
office and to bohemian Montparnasse with Henry Miller:
It was a mask. Aggressively dazzling in self-protection. The first day I came to see Allendy I
wore a draped costume and a byzantine [sic] hat, and I succeeded in intimidating him by my
strangeness. . . . A desire to be more interesting, more accentuated. A role. I played the role
of a sophistication which was not truly my own. In all this he seemed so right. I began to
see how much of an armour my costumes had been. I remembered that to please Henry I
wear for him softer and more youthful things, and that I hated when he decided to take me
to Montparnasse to meet people in these puerile clothes. I wanted so much my draperies
and Russian hat. Like an armour!23
Dr. Allendy’s opinion was that this use of bohemian dress as “armor” was a sign that
Nin had “lost her true rhythm.”24 When asked what her “true rhythm” was, Dr. Allendy
was hesitant to pronounce judgment but averred that, “As far as he could see, from
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25 Diary 35, 71, undated entry between FIGURE 6 Anaïs Nin, Paris, 1926. Courtesy of the
June 27 and July 6, 1932. FIGURE 5 Anaïs Nin, 1929. Courtesy of the
Anaïs Nin Trust. Anaïs Nin Trust.
26 “She had said she wanted nothing
from me but the perfume I wore,
and my wine colored handkerchief.
But I had insisted and she had
promised to let me buy her the san-
dal shoes. I made her go to the
Ladies room. I opened my bag. I
pulled out a pair of sheer stockings.
‘Put them on.’ I pleaded and apolo-
gized at the same time. She obeyed.
Meanwhile I opened the bottle of
perfume. ‘Put some on.’” Diary 32,
160–61, undated entry between
January 9 and January 16, 1932. “And
not knowing what else to say I
spread on the bench, between her
and me, the wine colored handker-
chief she wanted, my coral ear-rings
which she had looked for in shops,
[and] my turquoise green ring.’”
Diary 32, 163, undated entry
between January 9 and January
16, 1932.
FIGURE 7 Anaïs Nin in Spanish dance costume, FIGURE 8 June Miller, early 1930s. Courtesy of 31 Decades later, she corroborated con-
early 1930s. Courtesy of the Anaïs Nin Trust. the Anaïs Nin Trust. temporary accounts, affirming that
she “never wore stockings, my legs
were beautiful enough—if I couldn’t
afford the best stockings I wore
none. In fact[,] it was I who started
the fashion for bare legs,” Dick,
Henry Miller: Colossus of One, 120.
“No stockings because she had no
money for stockings.” Diary 32, 249,
entry of February 1, 1932. “There is
something inconsistent about a vel-
vet cape, shantung dress and no
stockings.” Bald, On the Left Bank,
89. “I saw she wore ugly cotton
stockings, and it hurt me to see June
in cotton stockings.” Diary 32, 158,
entry of January 9, 1932.
lipstick (referred to as “rouge”) and face powder, and painted her fingernails and toenails
8 DRESS 2019
entry between May 25 and May FIGURE 9 Anaïs Nin, New York, May 1929. Courtesy of the Anaïs Nin Trust.
27, 1932.
“I love [June Miller], as she is, as she is[,] I worship her. Disorder, chaos, incongruities, Lists, 1820–1957 [database online],
Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com
mindlessness—my antithesis. In every detail. I have tried wearing careless, sloppy clothes, Operations, 2010.
living in sloppy hotels—I can’t do it.”51 There, in her room in the hotel, Nin took inventory 44 “I made all the preparations—care-
of the articles of dress she had brought with her: less ones, unlike my usual self—I
didn’t care about appearances—
clothes, etc. I came away hurriedly.”
I observe my boots, my mocasins [sic] and my dressy shoes lined up regimentally in a Diary 32, 218, entry of January
corner of the room; my bottles lined up with exquisite symetry [sic]; my books close 25, 1932.
set and tidy. My desk tidy. My green comb broke in two. I keep half of it for Ruby’s 45 “I had not painted my eyes, barely
white hair, and half for my black hair, side by side. And only a minute or so ago I powdered, barely rouged my lips,
and not touched my nails.” Diary 33,
stood before the mirror and said irritably: If I must wear an oldish and shabbish 21, undated entry between February
black coat, there is no reason in the world why it shouldn’t hang just right. I must fix 6 and February 16, 1932.
that hemline.52 46 Diary 33, 22, undated entry between
February 6 and February 16, 1932.
As much as she admired June Miller, Nin found that she preferred cleanliness, order,
47 Diary 33, 21–22, undated entry
and comfort. between February 6 and February
16, 1932.
the Princess had come in my room nose in France in July 1932.58 The week before the procedure, Nin wrote of her plan,
and sat down—and an hour after
our meal together I was settled in an self-reflective of the irony in having limited money to spend on clothing:
ordinary hotel, where the imperson-
ality and impeccable cleanliness and These days I occupy myself with frivolities . . . [Nin’s ellipsis] I serve the goddess of
food that did not smell of cabbage
soothed my miserable mood. I had beauty, working for her that she may grant me gifts—I work for a dazzling skin, electric
run away from the romantic. I hair, for my health—True, I have no new clothes, because of Henry, but that doesn’t
wanted a rest from the romantic. I
liked having my dinner on time! I matter. I have dyed and altered and rearranged things. I’m going to risk on Monday an
looked around at the neatness of my operation which will forever efface the upward humorous tilt of my nose!59
dress and room and decided I was at
least not as romantic as June.” Diary
32, 247–48, entry of February 1, 1932. Nin’s self-awareness of how she valued her appearance is telling. Referring to her appear-
51 Diary 32, 245, entry of February
ance as a “frivolity,” she wrote that she “served the goddess of beauty” within her financial
1, 1932. constraints, dyeing and altering her existing wardrobe so she could give money to Henry
52 Diary 33, 9–10, entry of February Miller. At the same time, she was able to set aside funds to have her nose altered, suggesting
3, 1932.
that placed caring for her appearance on par with supporting Miller.
53 Fitch and Bair both wrote that Nin
dyed her hair sometime in late
December 1931 or early January 1932;
Deirdre Bair, Anaïs Nin: A Biography,
127, 548–49; Fitch, Anaïs: The Erotic “I do not try to be the femme fatale . . . I feel loved for myself—for my
Life of Anaïs Nin, 112.
inner self”
54 Deirdre Bair, Anaïs Nin: A
Biography, 548–49.
As their psychoanalytic sessions continued throughout the summer of 1932, Dr. Allendy
55 Nin, June Miller, and a contemporary began to see a change in Nin’s dress:
newspaper account described the color
of June’s hair in December 1931 and
January 1932 as having been blonde:
One of the things he observed was that I was dressing more simply. I have felt much less
“Her blond hair . . . ” Nin, describing an the need of original costume. I could almost wear an ordinary tailor[ed] suit now. Why?
evening with the Millers on January 2,
1932, Diary 32, 130, entry dated January Costume for me has been a very significant exteriorization. Not being certain of my
4, 1932; “her shoulder length hair, now beauty or strength I have designed original, striking clothes which distinguish me from
blond,” June Miller’s appearance on her
first visit to the Guilers’ home, as other women. I have compensated with an external expression for the secret lack of self
described to Kenneth Dick by June confidence [sic]. Having a sense of my own value I can wear a tailor[ed] suit without
Miller, Dick, Henry Miller: Colossus of
One, 199. To the journalist Wambly feeling effaced.60
Bald’s eyes, June Miller’s hair was “a
gold-kissed rust, almost red.” Bald, On Dr. Allendy attributed Nin’s switch to this “more simple” way of dressing to her
the Left Bank (January 12, 1932), 87. Fred
Perles, Henry Miller’s flatmate, later increased self-esteem, but Nin also saw being well dressed was an important means for
described June Miller’s hair as being
dyed black in the autumn of 1932, as it
enhancing her self-image in those times when she lacked self-confidence: “When I do
had been the first time he had met her, not have it [self-confidence], costume helps me, adds to my firm carriage, augments my
a few years prior. Bald described her hair
as having gone through several color poise. I suffered so keenly during my girlhood from being badly dressed, which added
changes: “Her hair is generally pinned so much to my sense of inferiority. Now I rely on clothes.”61
high in back, or she lets it fly in the
wind. Last year her hair was purple, the Nin decided that she did not want to be completely healed by psychoanalysis in this
year before it was mauve, next year it
will be platinum. Now it is dyed a gold- regard. She enjoyed dressing well, even seeing her need for a psychoanalytic “cure” as an
kissed rust, almost red.” Bald, On the
Left Bank, 87; perhaps she had changed
impetus for dressing dramatically: “But, I added laughing, now if I get happy and banal, the
it in the interim and then re-dyed it art of costuming which owes its existence then purely to a sense of insufficiency, will be
black by the autumn of 1932: “her jet-
black hair had grown a little longer and mortally affected—may even disappear.”62 Not wanting to give up dressing dramatically,
a little blacker still.” Perles, as cited in
Dick, Henry Miller: Colossus of One, 201.
Nin concluded that she would rather not be fully cured by Allendy, just enough to “gain in
strength” and “enjoy life more.”63
56 Diary 32, 180–81, entry of January 16,
1932; “[Saturday] Jan 16–9 h. [heures] As her romance with Henry Miller progressed, Nin found increased confidence in her
hair dyed black 12 h. Meet June for a
few moments.” Diary 32, fourth
physical appearance while simultaneously she felt loved for her “inner self,” of which she
page of “Journal of Facts.” had not just one, but many, with “a hundred faces” (FIGURE 10).64 Nin wrote:
57 “You know how she’d do it? Every There was once a woman who had one hundred faces. She showed one face to each
time she ordered a dress she told
the dressmaker to add a couple hun- person, and so it took one hundred men to write her biography. . . . [P]ersonality is not
dred francs extra to the bill. Then the geographical status lovers of unity would have us believe. It is a succession of
she’d give that to me [Henry Miller]”
as told to Barbara Kraft, “Henry reincarnations within the span of one human life.65
Miller: The Last Days: An Excerpt
from the New Memoir,” A Cafe in Nin came to feel more confident with time and the natural process of maturation, which
Space 13, 27.
was supported by Henry Miller’s admiration of her body and the psychoanalysis she under-
58 Diary 35, 113–16, entry of July went with Dr. Allendy. Her cousin, Eduardo Sanchez, attributed Nin’s new confidence
12, 1932.
purely to psychoanalysis.66 Uncertain who had helped her to accept herself, Nin wrote, “Is
it Allendy or Henry who are [sic] curing me?”67
“A woman with a hundred faces” 11
FIGURE 10 Anaïs Nin in the garden of the Guiler-Nin family home in Louveciennes, France, 1933. 59 Diary 35, 108, entry of Wednesday,
Courtesy of the Anaïs Nin Trust. July 6, 1932. I have concluded that
Nin’s cosmetic surgery took place on
Monday, July 11, 1932.
Anaïs Nin after noting differences between the Nin’s published diaries and two biographies. 65 Diary 30, 293, entry dated April
20, 1931.
To date, no other scholar has undertaken such a comprehensive examination of archival
materials relating to Nin, save her biographers. This study has underlined the importance 66 Diary 35, 64, undated entry between
June 27 and July 6, 1932.
of primary research; based on examination of primary material, this project noted signifi-
67 Diary 34, 159, entry of May 13, 1932.
cant differences in descriptions of Nin’s dress practices between Nin’s unpublished diaries
and one of her biographies. For example, rather than emulation, Nin dyed her hair to 68 “Lillian was reminded of the
Talmudic words: ‘We do not see
express her inner self. Given the large body of primary source material available in the things as they are, we see them as
we are.’” Nin, Cities of the Interior
form of Nin’s diaries and her correspondence, further research into the dress practices of (Athens, OH: Swallow Press,
Nin is called for, not just for the period examined in this report but her entire life. The 1987), 578.
description of Nin’s dress and beauty practices in this paper resonate with concepts of 69 Diary 30, 294, entry of April 20, 1931.
embodiment, self-esteem, sexuality, and personal identity that are of particular interest to 70 Diary 36, 26–27, entry of August
dress scholarship. Further study could expand on these concepts as well as provide further 28, 1932.
insights into this influential twentieth-century writer. While Dr. Allendy wanted to see her
find her “true self,” Nin recognized that she was not one but many selves. Nin knew she
had no one true self that was fixed and unchanging. Before meeting the Millers and Dr.
Allendy, she wrote “I do not resign myself to my one hundred faces.” 69 But by August
1932, she was comfortable being “a woman with a hundred faces.”
Must tell Allendy that I feel now a continuous sincerity even when I am the fatalistic
sombre [sic] sensual woman—it is no longer a role[,] it has developed from my maturity.
I am now those stronger roles I acted before. But I reached them as a natural
developement [sic], not by mental will. Because they grew and are not acquired, they are
real. Because they are real I am not strained and uneasy. I enjoy the variegated moods. I
am a woman with a hundred faces.70
12 DRESS 2019
What has emerged from this study’s findings is a picture of Nin as a changeable
woman, whose dress and beauty practices also were changeable. Her psychoanalyst tried
to steer her towards discovery of a true, unchangeable self that he believed would be
reflected in simpler dress. However, as she herself wrote, even though she felt change-
able and “variegated,” she felt a simultaneous “continuous sincerity.” She dyed her hair
to more accurately express her personality. She tried on June Miller’s shabby, bohemian
style but found that it disagreed with her. She enjoyed the use of cosmetics, regular
visits to the hairdresser, and shopping for dresses, jewelry, and cosmetics. Nin altered
clothing while diverting some or all of her clothing allowance to Henry Miller for his
support, yet managed to set aside money for her own cosmetic surgery. Insofar as she
confided to her diaries in 1931 and 1932, Anaïs Nin’s nature may have reflected a
woman with a hundred faces, but by late 1932, she was comfortable with her change-
able nature, especially as reflected in her appearance.