Editing Vernon and Irene Castle (section)

==Film and fashion==
[[File:Vernon_and_Irene_Castle_dance_Maxixe_in_two_sketches_by_Marguerite_Martyn_1914.jpg|thumb|right| [[Marguerite Martyn]] sketched the Castles dancing the [[Maxixe (dance)|maxixe]] in 1914.]]
[[Image:IreneCastle-hoop-1914.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Irene, costumed by [[Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon|Lucile]] for ''[[Watch Your Step (musical)|Watch Your Step]]'', 1914]]
As America's premier dance team, the Castles were trendsetters in a number of arenas. Their enthusiasm for dance encouraged admirers to try new forms of social dance. Considered paragons of respectability and class, the Castles specifically helped remove the stigma of vulgarity from close dancing. The pair's image as a harmoniously married couple further promoted the [[Progressive Era]] ideals of a wholesome domestic relationship that was achievable through social dance.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Malnig |first=Julie |date=1997 |title=Two-Stepping to Glory: Social Dance and the Rhetoric of Social Mobility |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25757912 |journal=Etnofoor |volume=10 |issue=1/2 |pages=128–150 |jstor=25757912 |issn=0921-5158}}</ref> The Castles' performances, often set to ragtime and jazz rhythms, also popularized [[African-American music]] among well-heeled whites. The Castles appeared in a newsreel called ''Social and Theatrical Dancing'' in 1914 and wrote a bestselling instructional book, ''Modern Dancing'', later that year. The pair also starred in a feature film called ''The Whirl of Life'' (1915), which was well received by critics and public alike.

As the couple's celebrity increased in the mid-1910s, Irene Castle became a major fashion trendsetter, initiating the vogue for shorter, fuller skirts and loose, elasticized corsets.<ref>Castle, Vernon and Irene. ''Modern Dancing'' (1914), pp. 145–47</ref> She is also credited with introducing American women in 1913 or 1914 to [[Bob cut|the bob]] – the short, boyish hairstyle favored by [[flapper]]s in the 1920s.<ref>[http://blog.fidmmuseum.org/museum/2010/06/irene-castle-dancing-cap.html "Irene Castle dancing cap"], FIDM Museum, 1 June 2010, accessed 13 January 2015</ref> The elegant, yet simple, flowing gowns Irene wore on stage and screen were regularly featured in ''[[Vogue (magazine)|Vogue]]'', ''[[Harper's Bazaar]]'' and other fashion magazines. These were often supplied by the famous couturier [[Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon|Lucile]], but Irene also designed some of her clothes herself.<ref>"Lucile Goes A-Rainbow-Chasing to Gown Mrs. Vernon Castle", ''Vogue'', 1 February 1915, p. 52; "Irene Castle Treman Pauses to Delight in the Loveliness of Costumes by Lucile", ''Vogue'', 1 February 1921, p. 46; and Bigham, Randy Bryan. ''Lucile – Her Life by Design'' (2012), 140–45</ref> The slender, elegant Castles were pioneers in other ways: they traveled with a black orchestra, [[James Reese Europe]]'s Society Orchestra,<ref>[http://www.redhotjazz.com/eso.html "Europe's Society Orchestra"], Red Hot Jazz Archive (rehotjazz.com), accessed 19 September 2013</ref> and had an openly [[lesbian]] manager, [[Elisabeth Marbury]].

The Castles endorsed [[Victor Records]] and [[Victrola]]s, issuing records by the Castle House Orchestra, led by [[James Reese Europe]], a pioneering figure in [[African-American]] music. They also lent their names to advertising for other products, from cigars and cosmetics to shoes and hats.{{citation needed|date=September 2016}}