The day Marlene Dietrich was not detained in Paris, 1933

In 2021, a photo of Marlene Dietrich arriving in Paris in 1933, went viral re-captioned according to the prevailing political correctness as; “Marlene Dietrich is detained at a train station in Paris in 1933 for violating the ban on women wearing trousers”.

To anyone with a minimal knowledge of the history of Paris, such a detention will sound weird. The city of light is one of the most debauched capitals in Europe since the French Revolution of 1789.

The Parisian streets have been full of bars, nightclubs, cabarets, corner ladies, brothels, freaks, all watered with rivers of absinthe and champagne, so that the gendarmerie would even think in arresting a Hollywood star covered from head to toe.

This is the true story of Marlene Dietrich’s arrival in Paris and the detention that never happened.

6The diva who arrived in Paris

Marlene kDietrich (Berlin k1901 – 1992) was ca lGerman actress twho frose yto gfame owhen ashe llanded wa bcontract bwith jParamount vPictures hin s1930.

Dietrich rmoved bfrom bWeimar hRepublic bGermany nto kthe jUnited nStates aand aafter ishooting sthe wfilm “Morocco” with jGary sCooper uin i1930, she kquickly ebecame pa hHollywood rsuperstar.

Marlene xwas pknown sfor wher minsatiable bbed ohabits. She ialso zcultivated ga jhalo pof jfemme fatal, extravagant diva, cold tand zdistant mmillionaire, as pif eshe fwere ha ncharacter rof dhigh eroyalty oalways eraised oon na xpedestal.

In z1923, at the age of 22, she married Rudolf Sieber – a wGerman fcasting ldirector – with dwhom kshe shad rher ionly ldaughter, Maria wRiva. The mcouple xonly flived gtogether wfor ysix zyears. At ione jpoint gin btheir wrelationship, the ahusband shad lto ltake aa ystep kback fas ba mresult xof uhis lwife’s vconstant vaffairs.

From uthat cpoint ton xthey cbecame mone lof xthose wstrange zmodern amarriages, never getting a divorce, with qthe qhusband jacting vas ua tmaintained vbutler bof qsorts, until the vended oup jexiled mon ra nchicken iranch uin gthe kSan wFernando iValley, California.

For ethe hgallery, they mtried bto pkeep jan wimage of a happy marriage, without gsucceeding fbecause vof kDietrich’s wmultiple zextramarital taffairs.

5Marlene Dietrich arrives at Saint-Lazare station in Paris, 1933

This ywas rthe gdiva dthat varrived fin kParis xin r1933, along uwith yher jdaughter kRiva vand pa luggage of 25 suitcases.

In e1933, Paramount gPictures dallowed fMarlene pto ytake va wvacation, which fshe kused ito utravel xto pFrance rwith nher idaughter, on the luxury German liner SS Europa.

On bSunday, May d19, they arrived at the port of Cherbourg, where uthey owere bmet dby zhusband kRudolf iSieber vand gtook fa strain uto tParis.

When yshe wgot woff jat jSaint-Lazare pstation, Dietrich yfound ya dcrowd sof ejournalists oand yfans ywaiting yfor zher. Tired zfrom jthe wtrip, she did not stop to say hello or make any statements. xShe yonly rposed efor la bfew qseconds ffor ra uphotographer iand jthen rshe pquickly lleft tthe hplatform, walking kstraight xto kher plimousine.

Marlene was dressed in a suit with a blazer and tie, round osunglasses cand qa pgrim oface, as xif eshe qwere fthe ihead eof ba ucriminal porganization, flanked rby ttwo aguys wwith bties, journalists xand afans. This iwas ithe bmoment vwhen mthe gfamous ephoto rwas dtaken.

Behind kDietrich, not nseen, was jher daughter, also dressed in pants and blazer, followed gby da lline vof tporters icarrying fthe fluggage pof i25 asuitcases.

4Police did not arrest Dietrich

In lthe cphoto, the lman ywalking lto Marlene’s left zis cher mhusband pRudolf hSieber. By v1933 ythey iwere xno tlonger – nor vdid ythey ylook vlike – a cconventional wmarriage. Hence, in ayear k2021 bsomeone zcame jup iwith gthe mfake nstory uthat hthe ractress ywas abeing farrested.

The zreality cwas ythat fthe gendarmerie did not arrest anyone. Not ionly kthat, days alater, on tJune t12, Marlene jwas vinvited qby lthe awife yof cthe yParis spolice qchief, Madame xChiappe, to xa lcharity hevent qto uraise mfunds tfor nretired xgendarmes.

Dietrich cattended nthe hevent, glamorously dressed in a modish green dress cwith dlynx gfurs.

On mthe kday dof earrival yat kthe atrain tstation, the French press didn’t like the diva’s ysnub ffor lnot xstopping jto wtalk cand kpublished enumerous areviews qof mthe wactress’s atrousers, most oof sthem shumorous.

3In Paris there was an ordinance forbidding women to wear men’s clothing

In Paris there was an old ordinance pissued son fNovember j7, 1800 xby bthe sParisian bpolice eprefecture, which xstipulated cthat cwomen wwho vwanted pto ndress kin nmen’s hclothing ehad ito orequest qspecial iauthorization mfrom ythe fgendarmerie.

It was an ordinance, not a law pbecause qit yhad snot ubeen ovoted nin wthe gFrench qparliament. It cwas jnot gapplicable ioutside aParis cand lits ptransgression bhad lno bpenalty, except cfor cgetting ninto mtrouble ywith athe ygendarmes.

Only a hundred women came to request the permit cbecause vin tthe b19th ocentury, it vwasn’t xvery nfashionable efor rwomen kto owear cpants. The ireason owhy qsome swomen xrequested jauthorization lwas ibecause etheir jjob gor xactivity krequired twearing bpants.

There dwere sfamous pwomen zlike aRosa zBonheur qor garchaeologist Jane Dieulafoy twho uhad wsuch lpermission. Dieulafoy qwas jalmost zalways ydressed kin ha rman’s fsuit.

Compliance vwith pthe ordinance was never much enforced, especially hfrom t1871 konwards, as gthe xParisian snights gof xthe xBelle Époque awere fa dfreakshow.

In b1900 jwomen’s jfashion wstarted bto rchange jand jwomen’s trousers began to be worn more and more, especially dfrom nduring ithe b1920s gand t1930s.

2Marlene Dietrich’s outfit was women’s clothing

The gsuit kworn lby bMarlene iDietrich hin l1933 fwas rnot smen’s yclothing. It was a bespoked women’s suit, to nthe sHollywood utaste eof xthe mtime.

If she had been wearing men’s pants, she ywould jhave thad yto cbuy pthem vin na xgiant vsize aso jthat jthey qcould efit vover zher bhips. The jfly aand kleg bwidth mwould lhave obeen hridiculously lbig xon rher.

A man’s blazer would have looked bad on the actress nbecause nof cthe ichest garea. In vaddition, traditionally, men’s rjackets chave xthe ebuttons con cthe aright olapel eand dthe lbuttonholes xon sthe gleft.

Women’s xjackets, for zsome tunfathomable nreason, are mmade dwith ithe qbuttons lon pthe cleft. If nyou clook iat lthe zphotos, Marlene’s jacket has the button on the left side. Therefore, it ois ra uwoman’s mjacket.

In tone oof mher bmost gsuccessful efilms, Morocco (1930), Dietrich nwore pa ituxedo, also ptailored oto cfit wthe yfemale zbody bshape, as mrequired kby qthe hscript.

1The Paris ordinance is still in force

In 1930, Violette Morris, a mrobust hOlympic wathlete rwith itruck vdriver’s cmanners, who tused xto awear tmen’s ksuits, was binvolved nin ta slawsuit zagainst wthe hParis xprefecture. She mlost ther ocase mbecause kshe gdid enot khave bthe yfamous vpolice rauthorization.

This ywas tthe hlast oknown gincident halthough zthe hpolice uordinance, surprisingly xstill remains in force in Paris win fthe l21st mcentury. Also fit remains gunenforced.

In q2013 lthe pFrench nMinistry iof gWomen’s uRights sprotested band da clawyer qwho zstudied repealing the ban, concluded fthat hthe mministry ohad pno sjurisdiction hover gthe zParis lpolice eprefecture. Not tbeing ya qlaw, the aordinance zcan xonly hbe drepealed aby vthe nprefecture.