I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who took part in the Fashion in Film Blogathon! Over two days, nineteen bloggers contributed some excellent and very insightful posts. I thoroughly enjoyed reading every single one of your posts and I’ve learned a lot from you all this weekend. Thank you so much for taking the time to write such excellent posts. Hopefully we can do it again next year!
Posted in Blogathons, Fashion in Film
Kellee from Outspoken and Freckled takes a look at the costumes of two of her favorite 1950s movies, Rear Window and Pillow Talk.
Marlene Dietrich’s costumes never failed to make a splash on screen, but her wardrobe in Shanghai Express is truly unforgettable. Head on over to The Lady Eve’s Reel Life to learn about Travis Banton and how he collaborated with Dietrich to create such memorable styles.
Speaking of Marlene Dietrich, The Best of Alexandra examines the costumes of one of my personal favorite movies, Witness For the Prosecution.
Lana Turner was another woman who never failed to turn heads. Jessica from Comet Over Hollywood tells us about Lana’s personal style and how she loved to have fun with fashion.
Bad girls also get to have a lot of fun with their wardrobes. The Nitrate Diva examines the clothes worn by some of cinema’s greatest femme fatales.
By 1967, the “Old Hollywood” system was dead and a new crop of filmmakers were coming in to shake up the system. Many of those “New Hollywood” filmmakers made movies set in the “Old Hollywood” era, and Carley of The Kitty Packard Pictorial is here to highlight some 1960s/70s-does-1930s styles.
Film Flare shines the spotlight on one of my favorite fashionable films, Federico Fellini’s 8½.
Posted in Blogathons, Fashion in Film
A great hat can really make a statement and nobody understood that more than Lilly Daché. Lily’s hats graced the heads of everyone from Marion Davies to Carmen Miranda. Kay from Movie Star Makeover is here to kick off the blogathon by telling us a bit about the legendary hat designer to the stars.
Sometimes, all you need to stand out on screen is a nice slip. Head on over to A Person in the Dark to take a look at some of cinema’s greatest slips.
Inspired Ground takes to Polyvore to create looks inspired by Audrey Hepburn, My Week With Marilyn, and Midnight in Paris.
Valley of the Dolls may have been one campy movie, but it did have some pretty fabulous costuming. The Gal Herself offers up some musings on Travilla’s work on this cult classic.
Louise Brooks was truly an icon of 1920s fashion, but her influence has extended far beyond the 20s. Kimberly from GlamAmor takes a look at Brooks’ most famous film, Pandora’s Box, and how it continues to set trends today.
I Luv Cinema shares some of her favorite film costumes, ranging from ones worn by Audrey Hepburn to Kiera Knightley.
Silver Screenings pays tribute to Lina Lamont and her lavish Walter Plunkett wardrobe.
It’s hard to talk about fashion and film and not talk about Marilyn Monroe and Travilla, the man responsible for some of her most iconic costumes. Dawn from Noir and Chick Flicks tells us about the story behind the infamous white halter dress from The Seven Year Itch.
Java’s Journey showcases Helen Rose’s work in The Tender Trap.
Caftan Woman ventures over to the dark side with a look at the costumes of the film noir classic Born to Kill.
Fashions of 1934 may not be one of the all-time great movies, but it is interesting for a number of reasons and Critica Retro tells us why.
When it comes to fashion, women don’t get to have all the fun. Christian from Silver Screen Modiste spotlights some of the most stylish men to grace the silver screen.
Posted in Blogathons, Fashion in Film
We’re just a couple of days away from the big Fashion in Film Blogathon! Are you ready?
If you’re participating, here’s how it’s going to work: On Friday and Saturday, a post will go live at about 9:00 AM Eastern for that day’s contributions. Just leave a comment with your link on that day’s post or e-mail it to me at HollywoodRevue AT gmail DOT com. Since Easter is coming up on Sunday, I know some of you might be busy this weekend. So if your post is ready before Friday, you can just e-mail your link to me or comment on this post and I’ll make sure it’s included in the post when it goes live.
So far, twenty-three amazing bloggers have signed up to participate and I think it’s safe to say we’re in for one majorly stylish blogathon! If you’d still like to participate, it’s not too late to join. Just let me know and I’ll add you to the list.
Posted in Blogathons, Fashion in Film
We’re already just two weeks away from the second (not quite annual) Fashion in Film Blogathon! If you would like to join in, just let me know. There’s still plenty of time to think of a topic if you haven’t already decided!
I thought it would be fun to start the festivities a little early by taking a look at one of the most stylish films ever made: Saturday Night Fever. I think it goes without saying that Saturday Night Fever is one of the most iconic films to come out of the 1970s. The opening credit sequence of Tony strutting through the streets of Brooklyn is one of the most famous opening credit sequences of all time. You can’t talk about disco without talking about the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. And when it comes to 1970s fashion, the first thing many people think of is the image of John Travolta in that white suit.
While many movie fans may admire the costumes they see characters wearing in their favorite films, not as many of them may know much about the costume design process. Renowned costume designer Deborah Nadoolman Landis seeks to remedy that with her new book Hollywood Sketchbook: A Century of Costume Illustration.
Nadoolman Landis does a wonderful job outlining the vital, yet under-appreciated, role costume sketches play in the process of producing a film. Most importantly, she gives credit to some truly unsung people in the costume design process, the costume illustrators. While some costume designers do their own sketches, not all of them do and that’s where the illustrator comes in. The costume illustrator takes the designer’s vision and interprets it as a drawing that is shown to producers, directors, actors, and is given to the cutter-fitters, who turn it into a real garment.
Not only does she offer a lot of insight to the importance of costume design, she’s found some incredible anecdotes from designers. My personal favorite story was about a time when Adrian was showing a sketch to Garbo, going into great detail about his reasoning for each of his design choices, while Garbo listened in absolute silence. Her silence was making him very nervous and when he was finished, she simply said, “Yes.” A moment later, she smiled, said, “Garbo talks!” and broke into a fit of laughter.
Hollywood Sketchbook isn’t merely eye candy, it’s a decadent feast for the eyes. Lavishly illustrated with several hundred pages of costume sketches by sixty-one designers and illustrators, anyone with an interest in movie costumes could easily spend hours marveling at all the spectacular sketches.
Although it features sketches of very famous costumes from movies such as Gone With the Wind, My Fair Lady, and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Hollywood Sketchbook is far from being a compilation of Hollywood’s greatest fashion hits. No film was deemed too unimportant to be represented in this book. In the section on Theadora Van Runkle, you can see sketches from The Godfather: Part 2 on one page and sketches from Myra Breckinridge on the next. I loved that Hollywood Sketchbook also avoids focusing only on glamorous gowns. There is no shortage of glamorous gowns to be seen here, but you also get a look at sketches for things such as togas from Animal House, hippie costumes from Hair, a suit of armor from Camelot, and a trooper costume from Spaceballs.
While the sketches of recognizable costumes are fascinating to see, the most intriguing part of Hollywood Sketchbook is the unidentified sketches. Many times, costume sketches are created for designs that, for various reasons, never make it to the screen and several of those sketches are included in this book. Looking at those unknown sketches, it’s fun to imagine which movie they might have been created for or who they could have been designed for.
Disclosure: I was given a complimentary review copy by Harper Design.
Posted in Books/Magazines, Fashion in Film
The Trendsetters:
Anna from Defiant Success takes a look at some of the greatest fashion trends set by classic films like From Here to Eternity, It Happened One Night, and Annie Hall.
Le over at Crítica Retrô discusses the impact Esther Williams had on swimwear.
Letty Lynton may have been pulled from circulation due to legal problems, but not before it had a chance to make a huge splash in the fashion world and Craig from Blame Mame is here to tell us all about it.
Designers:
Katie and Hillary of The Scarlett Olive podcast (and a special guest!) discuss the career of Walter Plunkett.
Vincent from Carole and Co. sheds some light on the life of Irene and showcases some of the work she did for Ginger Rogers, Doris Day, and of course, Carole Lombard.
No fashion in film blogathon would be complete without some Edith Head! Meredith from Forever Classics has ranked her top ten Edith Head costumes.
There is no such thing as too much Edith Head! Rianna from Frankly, My Dear pays tribute to Miss Head and showcases her sketches for some of her most memorable designs.
Eras:
David from Film Classics loves clothing from the 1940s and has given us an amazing overview of 1940s fashion for both men and women.
The always wonderful Carly from The Kitty Packard Pictorial discusses how Hollywood capitalized on people wanting to wear the clothes they saw in movies in the 1930s. (Can those stores please make a comeback?)
Over at True Classics, Brandie has written a great piece on costume design in the early days of cinema.
Movies:
Craig from Blame Mame takes a look at the story behind Bette Davis’ iconic party dress from All About Eve.
Elizabeth Taylor’s Cleopatra tends to get all the credit for being a trend-setting movie, but Yvette from in so many words… is here to showcase the stunning costumes in Cluadette Colbert’s version of Cleopatra.
Lauren from The Past on a Plate not only showcases the incredible costumes from Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon, she also gives us a few recipes, too! Can’t beat that combination!
Carol Irene over at An Elegant Obsession has given us this incredibly insightful post about the costumes in Singin’ in the Rain.
Ready for a little sci-fi? Krell Laboratories is taking a look at the styles seen in Flash Gordon.
Rachel from The Girl With the White Parasol has just made me want to re-watch A Letter to Three Wives with her fascinating look at its costumes.
When it comes to the infamous fashion show scene in 1939′s The Women, Adrian is often the one who gets all the credit for that scene. But as Lara from Backlots points out, Elsa Schiaparelli deserves some credit, too.
Who can forget the fabulous things worn by Rosalind Russell in Auntie Mame? Be sure to head over to Java Bean Rush to take a look at some of the things she wore.
Style Icons:
Who says women get to have all the fashion fun? Not Yvette from in so many words…! She also did a list of her top ten stylish men!
Natalie from In the Mood sure loves Barbara Stanwyck and is here to tell us all about Barbara Stanwyck’s collaborations with Edith Head.
Love Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton? I sure do. Head on over to As Time Goes By for a look at the iconic looks of both actors and how their influence can still be seen in today’s runways.
Who doesn’t love Cary Grant? Be sure to check out Sittin’ on a Backyard Fence’s tribute to Cary’s style.
Miscellaneous Articles:
Ever have a hard time deciding what to wear to work? FlickChick is here to help you navigate the “dos” and “don’ts” of dressing for the office.
Audrey from Fedoras and High Heels has a review of the book “The Way We Wore” by Marsha Hunt. I think I’ll have to see if they have this one up at my local library!
If only those stores that sold replicas of movie costumes still existed, maybe they could help Sophie from Waitin’ On a Sunny Day find some of her 10 favorite movie costumes!
Jessica at Comet Over Hollywood is all about incorporating her love of classic Hollywood into her everyday life. Today she’s talking about how she strives to dress just like some of her favorite stars.
Posted in Blogathons, Fashion in Film
10. Rita Hayworth’s “Put the Blame on Mame” dress from Gilda
On a lot of other women, that gown would have been pretty unremarkable. But Rita Hayworth had so much charisma in that movie and had such an incredible screen presence that she turned what could have been a forgettable gown into the most iconic costume of her career.
9. Elizabeth Taylor’s white slip from Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
This right here is proof that Elizabeth Taylor could take the simplest garment and turn it into a definitive screen costume. Nobody worked a white slip better than Elizabeth Taylor.
8. All of Norma Shearer’s gowns from Marie Antoinette
I’d be very hard pressed to pick just one favorite costume from Marie Antoinette. Adrian put an enormous amount of time and effort into designing all those exquisite gowns, no detail was overlooked. They are all works of art.
7. Debbie Reynolds’ “Good Morning” dress from Singin’ in the Rain.
Plain and simply, she looks absolutely adorable in it. She had a lot of wonderful costumes in Singin’ in the Rain, but whenever I think about her in that movie, this is the first costume that comes to mind.
6. Myrna Loy’s striped party dress from The Thin Man
I just think this dress is pure Nora Charles. It’s fun, but classy. She looks like the life of the party.
5. Grace Kelly’s black and white outfit from Rear Window
This just epitomizes Grace Kelly to me. It is so clean and simple, it’s not bogged down with a lot of accessories or jewelry, but it’s one of the most elegant dresses I’ve ever seen.
4. Jean Harlow’s party dress from Dinner at Eight
It’s slinky and ridiculously glamorous. This is Jean Harlow at her finest.
3. Marlene Dietrich’s tuxedo from Morocco
In an era when women rarely wore pants, Marlene Dietrich went all out and donned a tuxedo. Not shocking by today’s standards, but it’s no surprise that her tux caused a commotion when Morocco was released in 1930.
2. Gloria Swanson’s outfit from her first scene in Sunset Boulevard
This outfit tells us right off everything that we need to know about Norma Desmond. She looks rich, she looks like a movie star, and she’s definitely got some issues.
1. Charlie Chaplin as The Little Tramp
As far as I’m concerned, this is the most iconic movie costume of all time. It doesn’t just represent one movie, it represents Chaplin’s entire body of work and it’s a symbol for that whole era of film history. When you see that hat, the cane, those shoes, that mustache, there’s no mistaking him for anybody else. Even when people who don’t know silent films try to describe silent films, odds are they’re going to describe Charlie Chaplin and what he wore.
In my last Fashion in Film post, I talked about how costumes can reveal a lot about what a character is like and what they’re feeling. Now let’s move to the other end of the spectrum where the costumes might not be as insightful, but perfectly represent what the movie was supposed to be. Top Hat is one of the greatest musicals to come out during the Great Depression and one of the finest pairings of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Depression era musicals were all about escapism and fantasy and Top Hat definitely has plenty of that.
