Film Fashion Friday: Fashion Show February: Designing Woman (1957)

Since I missed last week's post, for which I feel so horrible about, I am making up for this week by posting three films, Designing Women (1957), Roberta (1935), and Neptune's Daughter (1949). All of these films have fashion shows that are very similar and function in similar ways. Since next Friday is the last one in February, I will be doing three posts as well, two on films that are available on DVD and a post on some of the films that are not available on DVD that show on TCM frequently, but showcase fashion shows and are really wonderful! I will be offering copies for anyone who is interested. So, without further ado, here is Designing Woman. (Just as a side note, I cropped the screen shots to make them fit better with my formatting here on my blog).

Main Cast

Lauren Bacall.....Marilla Brown Hagen

Gregory Peck.....Mike Hagen

Dolores Gray.....Lori Shannon

Sam Levene.....Ned Hammerstein

Gown By Helen Rose

Directed By Vincent Minnelli

Synopsis

Mike meets Marilla on vacation and after a whirlwind romance, marry before returning to New York. Once back in "real life" the two realize that they have little in common: Marilla is a fashion designer who lives a fancy lifestyle, spending her time with actors and the elite, while Mike is a sports writer, lives a simple life. When Mike gets intertwined with the mob, mayhem ensues, causing Mike to go into hiding. How will the couple's relationship fair? Will the two end up together at the end or divided by their different lifestyles?

Fashion Review

While I have only included screen shots from the fashion show sequence, the entire film is packed full of drool worthy outfits, which is a trend we will see throughout this whole series. One would assume that the clothing designer in the film must be the model of example of the latest trends and what was to be considered the most fashionable, ergo all the beautiful pieces we can see Lauren Bacall wearing. The casting of Bacall is utterly fitting, being the trendsetter that she was in the 40s with the suit from To Have and Have Not (1944) being recreating by numerous department stores and sported by many young ladies. In this film, Bacall's clothing exudes elegance and showcases the height of 50s fashions, something many of us vintage gals strive to look like on a daily basis. Many times, Bacall looks as though she stepped out of a VOUGE or MCCALLS magazine, really bringing to looks that these fashion magazines present to females to the screen.

Helen Rose was the costumer for this film and no doubt, did a FANTASTIC job. If I could steal a movie's wardrobe, this would be among one of the films I would select. Rose is among some of the designers of Classical Hollywood that I wish got more recognition. Her work can been seen in many different genres of film and was able to dress some of Hollywood's most lovely leading ladies, including Lana Turner, Betty Grable, and of course Lauren Bacall. She worked with some of the greats in Hollywood, such as Walter Plunkett, and worked exclusively for one studio (MGM) for most of her career. Rose studied at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts before she moved to L.A. in 1929. Her first professional job designing clothes was for Fanchon and Marco. F & M supervised the costumes for selected musical numbers at Fox and they allowed Rose to do the designs for three of their films. After her work with Fox and F & M, in 1942 Rose moved to MGM where she stayed until her retirement, working pretty much only for them. In the 60s, Rose opened her own design business and staged traveling fashion shows, which is helpful to consider when thinking about her work here. Rose also had quite the wedding gown client list, creating gowns for Grace Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, and Elizabeth Taylor to wear on their big days.

Fashion Show Evaluation: Fashion Show as Promotion

The sequence itself is placed into the film in a very organic way, integrated into the plot as so it wouldn't disrupt viewers. The show is staged and filmed in a way that showcase the model's routines as promotion for the articles of clothing. The set is a lavish boutique set up with a runway and on either side chairs and tables for prospective customers to take a ganger at the latest designs. Each time a model comes out from behind stage, we are presented with a close up of her outfit, followed by long shots of her walking around, showing off the garment. There are also two audiences to contend with, the one on screen and the one off. The camera shows us the customers sitting, viewing the garments. We even get reaction shots of their opinions. However, the audience of the film itself is the second audience, as we too are viewing the fashion show much like the characters on screen are. The close ups and establishing shots of the model as she emerges from backstage is the "sales pitch" to the audience, the model is addressing the audience directly. This is where audience has the illusion or may feel like they are attending a fashion show, thus the styles are being promoted within the film.

In my next post, I will cover another aspect of how fashion shows function within the film, where the sequence is done in a similar manner. Check the post underneath this one for more on this.

Designing Woman is available on DVD and is widely available to rent.

Film Fashion Friday: Musical Month Round Up

Well, this is the last installment of the Musical Month feature here on Film Fashion Friday. I hope at least one of the films featured throughout the course of the month was a new discovery! For the last week, I decided to feature three films with not any one of them being a main selection. All three films are available on DVD and can be rented through Netflix or may very well be at your local video store..... if you still have one close by. All of the Blockbusters around here have shut down and we now have to rely on a small regional chain, which is still a great place to rent from, but unfortunately doesn't have a good classics section. Anyways, on to the films!!

The first film and probably the best this week fashion-wise is Neptune's Daughter (1949) starring Esther Williams and Red Skelton. This was one of the first Esther Williams' film I had ever seen and immediately fell in love with the water dancing! If you haven't checked out Ms. Williams yet, this is a great starter film and is typical of most of the other MGM and William's collaborations. The plot is zany and the costumes and hairstyles are drool worthy.

The plot is kinda confusing, but it basically follows Esther and her sister and the trouble her sister creates when she falls for Red Skelton, whom she believes is a famous polo player. The real polo player has it bad for Esther and there begins all the craziness of the film. Esther's character is a swimsuit designer and her designs are fully showcased throughout the course of the narrative. Irene designed the costumes for this one and did a really brilliant job. I have featured a few other works by Irene, so if you want to know more, just click the label. Overall, this film is a great inspiration for summer looks and contains some serious vintage bathing suit eye candy!

I couldn't do a musical month without featuring at least one Judy Garland film! Out of all her wonderful pictures, I choose Till the Clouds Roll By (1946). This is a true all star cast with many of the big names when it comes to musicals. The film is based on the life story of Jerome Kern and showcased a plethora of fantastic costumes spanning a few decades, not to mention the lovely stage costume creations, all the work of Helen Rose. Again, another costume designer I have featured on here before. As with Irene, click the label to see more on Ms. Rose.

As a whole, I would call the dress in this film a bit more artistic, but there are several scenes where there is "street clothing" being presented. With all that being said, I could totally picture someone integrating the saloon girl look in the middle picture into one of their daily looks. I really love the glitz and glam of this film and I hope you will too, if you haven't seen it that is!

The last film for this week is South Pacific (1958), undoubtedly one of the most famous musicals of all time, for both the stage and filmic renditions. What I found interesting about this picture is that off the rack clothing was used for a great majority of the film and none of the wardrobe managers had much of a career before or after this film, kinda one hit wonders if you will. Nevertheless, I am loving the beachy outfits that could totally transplant themselves into any vintage gal's summer wardrobe. Plus, this movie really makes me want to visit the beach!

I hope everyone enjoyed the musical month..... I know I did!! :)

Keep sending in suggestions; I love to here from you!! Film Fashion Friday will resume its regular postings on June 11th. Stay tuned!!!!

Emily

Film Fashion Friday: Tea for Two (1950)

***Sorry this is up SOOOO late!! I had it saved as a draft and never actually hit publish!!****

So the main film for this third week of Musical Month is Tea for Two (1950). I figured I couldn't have a musical month and not feature at least one of Doris Day's films! I really like this film for a variety of reasons, but mainly for its great songs, Doris Day's amazing voice, and great showgirl fashion. I don't know a whole lot about Doris Day and which of her films are the most popular, but I am assuming that most everyone has seen The Pajama Game, so I went with this film. The film tells the story of a rich heiress (Day) and her quest for making it on broadway. To do so, she bets her uncle $25,000, the amount needed for the show to go on, that she can go two whole days without saying yes. What Day doesn't know is that her uncle made some bad investments right before the crash, making him essentially broke. The film is told in flashback and is set in 1929. While the era is suppose to be the late 20's, this film definitely presents the fashion in a very late 40's early 50's style. Leah Rhodes designed the costumes and even though she wasn't able to capture a correct representation of the 1920's, I still feel she did a wonderful job. I especially love all the scenes with the showgirls in their practice clothes. I know I will be using their costumes as some of my summer clothing inspiration. Tea for Two is on on of TMC's Doris Day's box set and is currently an instant on Netflix.

My first recommendation is another Doris Day film, Love Me or Leave Me (1955). The film stars James Cagney alongside Day in a quasi-biographical account of jazz singer's Ruth Etting's life. As with Tea for Two, the film is suppose to take place in the late 20's onto the 30's, but the film's costume suggest otherwise. While I really adore Helen Rose, I do find that one fault with this film's portrayal of the past, although I find this to be the case with many films of the Classical Era and their representation of the past. Having said all that, Rose worked frequently in the musical genre and it shows in this film, with the use of dynamic colors and detailed showgirl costumes. Love Me or Leave Me is on DVD and is currently an instant on Netflix.

My second recommendation for this week is Down Missouri Way (1946). Being that this film was made by one of the poverty row studios, Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC), I had never heard of it until I was searching Netflix for some new films to add to my instant queue. Since it was only a little over an hour, I thought, why not watch it. It actually turned out to be quite good, especially for a poverty row production. The film stars Martha O'Driscoll as a college professor who lives on a farm. When a movie crew comes into town and is looking for a trained mule for their picture, O'Driscoll and her mule are thrown into the mix of a film production. The songs are nicely integrated into the film: the mule won't cooperate unless O'Driscoll sings to her first. From a vintage style perspective, this film holds a lot of inspiration, especially for the coming warmer months. I am really loving the farm look that is so nicely presented, mainly through O'Driscoll's maid. I am also digging the use of plaids and O'Driscoll's glasses. The costumes were done by a PRC costumer, Karlise, who had an extremely short stint in the film fashion world. Karlise only has eleven films to her credit, which is not surprising since many poverty row studios were only in business for a year or two before they ran out of money. Even with her short career, I still think her work on this film made it memorable and certainly worth watching.

Only two more musical posts!! :)

Emily

Film Fashion Friday: Netflix Instants

It seems that I have a theme going for March, featuring a few films from selected specific areas. This week I am focusing on some of the films you can stream instantly through Netflix. I love Netflix and have been very happy with their service. It's also really nice that they have a lot of great classics to stream live from your computer or PS3. If you haven't tried Netflix before, I highly recommend taking advantage of their free trial. If anything, you will have access to a plethora of instant films, including the ones featured in this post.

I absolutely adore this first film, Father's Little Dividend (1951). It's a really cute film with some classic '50s looks designed by one of my favorites -- Helen Rose (please pardon my miss-spelled name in the photo). I love the cast in this film too, which includes Elizabeth Taylor, Spencer Tracy, and Billie Burke.

The next film, My Man Godfrey (1936), is often considered among the best of the screwball comedies and I fully agree. I love the premise of the story: a rich man decides to take a job as a butler and then falls into a love triangle of sorts. Plus the on-screen chemistry between William Powell and Carole Lombard is hard to miss. If you are into '30s glamour and haven't seen this film yet, you definitely need to check it out! The gowns by Brymer are simply divine!!

The last film for this week is Cleopatra (1963). I decided to add this one in becuase it was recently just added to the instant section and I feel the wonderful make-up by Alberto De Rossi makes it worth watching. The costumes were designed by two different people; Novarese took care of the men and Renie designed for the women. This film made me really get into the egyptian look because I felt the costumes were more egyptian inspired than authentic, plus Liz has like a million costume changes!!

Since I sorta have a self imposed mini series going on, next week will conclude the weekly themes for Film Fashion Friday and the following week I will return to more normal posts. Keep sending in your requests!

Emily