Movie of the Week - Grey Gardens

The Movie of the week is 'Grey Gardens' 1975 

Where to start? I had heard the words 'Grey Gardens' used a lot and always thought it was a softly spoken, Edwardian drama with Meryl Streep. Oh how wrong I was. 

I can't remember why it hit my radar recently but we rented it and watched it last week. It also happens to be the 40th Anniversary this year of the documentary being made. 

I have been missing Grey Gardens for all of my life, the missing reference has finally clicked into place! 

I don't know how to describe it or what to say about the film other than you have to watch it. It's not great cinematography or even a great documentary quality wise. But if this documentary hadn't been made we would not have met the two Edith Bouvier Beale's. If you are interested in crumbling grandeur and old socialites then this is for you. 

And don't you dare mock them, it's worse than blasphemy. 

Edith Beale aka Little Edie is a real hero and an inspiration. A style icon, a draping queen and the most entertaining would have been star that the world never met. Her story is tragically unfair.

I haven't stopped thinking about Grey Gardens since I watched it. I'm fascinated and obsessed. 

The house, how it was, what it became and what it now is, is all fabulous. Could Little Edie have been 1st Lady? A huge star? Of course. 

Best quote and why I love Little Edith Bouvier Beale ....  "This is the best thing to wear for today, you understand. Because I don't like women in skirts and the best thing is to wear pantyhose or some pants under a short skirt, I think. Then you have the pants under the skirt and then you can pull the stockings up over the pants underneath the skirt. And you can always take off the skirt and use it as a cape. So I think this is the best costume for today."

Heartbreakingly brilliant and a reminder to never EVER, EVER get a cat. 

Get the masters of cinema dvd version here

Little Edie got her chance to shine in the end. 

Filmed by Albert and David Maysles. 

Everything else - Little Edie and Big Edie. 

1950s American Beauty - The films of Douglas Sirk

Jane Wyman in A Magnificent Obsession.

 Douglas Sirk's 1950s classic melodramas are the epitome of fifties suburban design with beautiful colouring and stunning cinematography.

I have chosen these to inspire the next collection of floral dresses all with a fifties silhouette and theme. So what is it that makes Douglas Sirk's films so special?

Douglas Sirk was born in Hamburg, Germany. Already a well regarded director Germany he came to the US fleeing Nazi oppression like many of Hollywood's great artists.
Following a successful but altogether uncomfortable career at Universal, never gaining the critical and intellectual acclaim he deserved, Sirk retired in 1959 from directing in America and moved to Switzerland.
He became greatly admired in Europe soon after with critics casting him as one of cinemas great ironists and auteur's. He now inspires many of the modern directors and has a loyal cult following.
Douglas Sirk died in Switzerland 1987.

Cry Baby, Grease and Imitation of Life - Good Girls Gone Bad

Cry Baby - Good Girl Allison falls for Johnny Depp in John Waters 1990 film 

This weeks dresses are the gowns of the good girls and the bad girls of rock n roll movies.

Sugar coated almonds, Neapolitan ice creams and care bears cut with black lace, bust hugging bodices and heels to cause a serious injury. Just to dip our toes in the genre our good girls gone bad this week are Sandy in Grease, the Cry Baby girls, Sandra Dee and Susan Kohner .

Pastels can sometimes be tricky to stomach on their own without a good amount of styling to lift the sickly sweetness into something a little more sophisticated. We all really want to be a little bad! But if you've fallen in love with that lemon yellow prom dress or the blush pink coat, adding a splash of contrasting colour with hair accessories, a belt or even just bright red lips can make it more impactful.

Our favourite rocknroll bad girl Traci Lords as Wanda Woodward. We think she'd eat Rizzo alive!Cry Baby John Waters 1990 

And doing it better than Grease, Good Girl Allison turns bad with a Prison tune in a glittering red dress. Cry Baby John Waters 199

 If you haven't watched Cry Baby yet it's like a bad ass Grease on hard liquor with gutsy, gutsy characters.
Staring Johnny Depp and Iggy Pop alongside a pregnant teenage Ricki Lake, the fabulous Traci Lords and playing Hatchet Face the inspiring Kim McGuire 'the girl with a good body and an alarming face who is proud of it'.
The styling is legendary in the rock n' roll world with plenty to get you inspired like Wanda's polka dot wiggle dress (take a look here at Boo Boo Kitty Couture's fabulous piece on this dress) Allison's preppy fifties full skirts and lots of leather jackets. All the girls are bad and pretty soon Allison the square turns the baddest of them all in this sparkling red dress.

Take a look a Boo Boo Kitty Coutures blog posts on more 'Cry Baby' dresses here. 

The dance in Grease, poor frumpy footed good girl Sandy. Grease - Randal Kleiser 1978

And the ultimate transformation we all wish we could make. Oh to wear those disco pants. Grease - Randal Kleiser 1978 

The most famous good girl transformation has to be Sandy in Grease. Looking back at the film they really did style her to be as frumpy as possible. Those tan tights and mid healed t-bar sandals won't get many hearts ticking over. But all this made the finale so, so great. The disco pants, the mules (with a proper heel) , the red lipstick and that tight, tight ... top. One of films most fabulous teenage moments.

Susan Kohner in Imitation of Life Douglas Sirk 1959

Sandra Dee in Imitation of Life Douglas Sirk 1959

Sandra Dee and Susan Kohner - Imitation of Life Douglas Sirk 1959

And finally the original Sandra Dee. The beautiful Douglas Sirk remake of Imitation of Life 1959 takes a far more serious tone to the good girl gone bad theme. No one should ever have to be this bad in a tale of race and acceptance in four women's lives battling predjudice, motherhood and coming of age.
Teenage girls Sandra Dee, the good girl and Susan Kohner the (not really) bad girl are two contrasts metaphorically and physically in the film. Sandra Dee playing Susie is all blonde fluff and full skirts trying to gain the sex appeal of her mother. Susan Kohner playing Sarah Jane is beautiful, brunette, sexy and defiant in tight wiggle dresses and burlesque costumes.

I'd say these three films would make a great triple bill. Either start of finish with Imitation of Life depending at what time of night you want to be in floods of tears and dance yourself silly watching the other two.

Romantic Edwardian's - A Room with a View / Howard's End

Helena Bonham-Carter in Howards End

This weeks collection picks up on the romance of the Merchant Ivory films A Room with a View and Howard's End. Pretty creams and powdered hues, layers and layers of lace, tulle and cotton lawns. This is just a little dip into the films as inspiration and something we will return to in more detail later in the year.

Little snippets of black and beautiful tiers on Vanessa Redgrave's dress in Howards End. 

All that hair and lace and romance in A Room with a View.

A Room with a View and Howard's End are among my favourite films and have a firm place in my top ten*. They are the films that make it look quintessentially lovely to live in the English countryside and with blinkers in place it sometimes really is this chocolate box gorgeous.

The Edwardian based period dramas are wonderfully romantic with layered up laces, fine linens and cascades of thick curls atop of the British darlings Bonham-Carter and Thompson's heads. They visually have a nostalgic feel wrapping you in a warm vintage, feather filled, paisley blanket without being too cuddly. It also captures they way Britain was viewed from afar in a Liberty of London, Laura Ashley way just including all the femininity, freedom and hope.

The costume designers who worked on both films Jenny Beavan and John Bright deservedly won an Oscar for A Room with a View and have such an extensive knowledge of historical dress. John Bright went on to set up Cosprop, the costume stable of Oscar winning design in London. It's the accurate referencing and then re-styling that brings the characters in the film to life, the relaxed everyday feel to those cinched waists in the country.

I love Miss Honeychurch's embroidered sash and those little gloves matching the lace on her cape bodice. 

Watch these films on a lazy Sunday afternoon as a double bill and then take a lingering walk in the countryside to admire all that natural beauty around us.

Take a look at this delightful illustration by Becca Stadtlander of Howards End 

Here is a great article by DTSFT about costume designer Jenny Beavan.


*there may be approx one hundred films in my top ten.

Claudia Cardinale - Beauty on Film

Claudia Cardinale Publicity Shot 

This weeks inspiration is the glorious Claudia Cardinale. Her vivacious looks and sizzling attitude on film makes her one of our favourite actresses of all time.

A rival to the great Marylin and contender to Ms. Gardner, Claudia Cardinale bought pure womanly power to the Fellini and Leone films capturing the audience with her heart pounding beauty. But beauty isn't all Cardinale conveys on screen, she brings a mystery and sense of demure control in her roles never allowing herself to be objectified, just admired.

"I never felt scandal and confession were necessary to be an actress. I've never revealed my self or even my body in films. Mystery is very important." Claudia Cardinale A Tribute to Claudia Cardinale Claudiacardinale.co.uk

Claudia Cardinale, Henry Fonda, Sergio Leone, Charles Bronson and Jason Robards on set of Once Upon a Time in the West

The best (in our opinion) of her films are the greats, Once Upon a Time in the West with that black cotton dress gradually revealing a magnificent neckline throughout the story. This wondrous garment inspired our latest little black organic dress that has ever changeable necklines revealing as much or as little as you would like.

In a draped wrap dress in The Professionals

The Professionals as a damsel that doesn't need rescuing in a loosely tied wrap dress that eludes wildness.

With Burt Lancaster in Visconti's Sicilian epic The Leopard.

The Leopard as a captivating daughter in law steels the screen from Burt Lancaster in fabulous crinolined dresses and sweeping off the shoulder necklines.

And Fellini's 8 1/2 where she plays the stunning Claudia, a true star and lady.

Still working today as one of the hardest working women in film, hers are some of the greatest in film history.

Its Cardinales Sicilian spirit that is most inspiring, when designing we imagined the dresses being worn in a hot Italian city by a free spirited woman with a beautiful power.

Further watching ...........

Once Upon a Time in the West - Dir. Sergio Leone 1968
The Professionals - Dir. Richard Brooks 1966
8 1/2 - Dir. Frederico Fellini 1963
The Leopard - Dir.Luchino Visconti 1963
Claudia Cardinale's IMDB

A Tribute to Claudia Cardinale  www.claudiacardinale.co.uk

Happy Birthday Edith Head

Today is Edith Head's birthday, she would have been One Hundred and sixteen.
Bette Davis read in her eulogy "A queen has left us, the queen of her profession. She will never be replaced. Her contribution to our industry in her field of design, her contribution to the taste of our town of Hollywood, her elegance as a person, her charms as a woman - none of us who worked with her will ever forget."
As we earlier spoke about Edith Head working with Hitch and Grace on 'To Catch a Thief' HERE, this is just a celebratory post including my favourite Hitchcock/ Head collaboration. Rear Window.
Edith said about this film in the book 'Edith Head's Hollywood ...
"Hitchcock told me it was important that Grace's clothes help to establish some sort of conflict in the story. She was to be a typical sophisticated society-girl magazine editor who falls in live with a scruffy photographer, Jimmy Stewart. ...... Hitch wanted her to look like a piece of Dresden China, something slightly untouchable. So I did that. Her suits were impeccably tailored, her accessories looked as though they couldn't be worn by anyone else but her. She was perfect. "
" the black and white dress I used in the first live scene had a simple nec.kline which framed her face in close ups. Then as th camera pulled back, the beaded chiffon skirt immediately told the audience she was a rich girl. "
Watch it tonight to start of your Halloween festivities and gaze a the beautiful Grace in her divinely designed dresses. Happy Birthday Ms. Head, goddess of costume.
Rear Window by Alfred Hitchcock
Edith Head's Hollywood by Edith Head and Paddy Caliistro

Film Club - 10 Reasons To Watch - To Catch A Thief

To Catch A Thief - 1955 - Alfred Hitchcock

This film is a favourite of many and there are many, many, far more than 10 reasons to watch this film. Again.

1. Grace Kelly - not just for the beautiful ice blond but for the behind the scenes story too. This is the film that made her a Princess, she met Price Rainier on location.

2. Edith Heads design - each and every dress is breathtakingly Hollywood. Draped chiffon's, embroideries, start contrasts, They are all fabulous.

Edith said this of the film in her Biography 'Edith Head's Hollywood' .....
"When many people ask me who my favourite actress is, who my favourite actor is, who my favourite director is, and what my favourite film is, I tell them to watch To Catch A Thief and they'll get all the answers"

3. Cary Grants dressing - Cary Grant dressed himself as he did in many films and purchased his elegantly styled French wardrobe in Canne. His first outfit, the fine striped navy sweater, the red polka dot cravat all wonderfully fitted is the height of mens true style.

3. Vista Vision - created by Paramount in 1954 and used to full effect by Hitchcock with wide landscape shots of the Cote d'Azure. Beautiful picture postcard shots is great high res quality and colour were the result and sadly only used in a small number of films until 1961.

4. Technicolour - The blues, reds and the flowers market scene are spectacular. The colours aren't completely saturated and softer, more elegant than my favourite starkly contrasted films. Soft pinks, dusty blues and pastel yellows, all the colours of a 1950s rose garden along with a Parisian black and green for the night.

5. The first look at Grace Kelly on the beach - dressed in a yellow swimsuit and matching hat. She sits in the background long limbed and screen stealingly devine.

6. That black and white outfit - Edith Head said of this outfit "When Grace went to the beach, she wore a huge sun hat and the most beautiful black and white sun costume that I've ever done. It was striking - almost too striking."

7. The white dress - this is the dress that recently inspired the dress I designed for Nicole, The Niagara dress. It's a finely draped chiffon dress that wraps tightly around the body, is shaped in fine chevrons at the waist and then floats like a dream. One of the perfect white dresses in history.

8. Brigitte Auber - Yes, Grace is the there stealing the screen with her perfect beauty like an angel but the second female in this story is Danielle. So French, so chic and just gorgeous. She didn't get the beautiful dresses but did dress wonderfully defining European youth style.
Cleverly dressed in the red version of Cary Grants stripe sweater at the start with a rose red skirt giving the audience the biggest clue of the story.

9. The Gold Dress - made in a gold mesh and so huge and so expensive they had to be ever so careful to keep the dress perfect during filming. Hitchcock told Edith that Grace was to look like a Princess. The Marie Antoinette dress seems to float as she dances like a doll in a music box, it's so over the top but on viewing against the midnight blue sky of the ball its so very magical.

10. Hitchcock - he said about the dressing of the film " we are now in France. People dress here. It's the place style is created - so do it" Edith Heads Hollywood
He is the man who used Vista Vision, the man who directed and produced this beautiful film paying so much attention to detail as always and the man who I like to think made Grace Kelly a Princess. Awhh.


To Catch a Thief: 1955 
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cinematographer: Robert Burks
Technicolour Consultant: Richard Mueller
Starring: Grace Kelly, Cary Grant, Jessie Royce Landis, Brigitte Auber
Costume Design: Edith Head 

Time to Watch - On a Monday night to inspire you for the rest of the week.

Marie Antoinette - Costume and Film

Film and Costume - Marie Antoinette the influence on fashion

The influence of Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette is now a fashion cliche in the realms of Audrey Hepburn and the famous French macaroon. Manolo Blahnik designed the shoes and it's no surprise when things are this beautiful that the latest Dior campaign and countless fashion shoots have all been inspired by this iconic cult movie.
This is all down to the incredible Oscar winning designs of Milena Canonero.

The overall look of  the film is set in soft pastels, blues and silk tones (inspired by those Laduree macaroons) evoking the great Cecil Beaton photograph of Charles James ball gowns.
 The cinematography is bright and light with fresh summer skies and gorgeous grainy dusk's giving that intimate youthful aire. There are many eye level shots immersing the audience as a character in the room with Marie-Antoinette. This is then contrasted with huge wide shots of the steps at Versailles for grand scale of the location.

The soundtrack takes genre out of it's stuffy period-drama box and markets as a teen movie whilst the rest of the audience is filled with a nostalgic haze for the beauty of youth that Coppola captures so well.

It's not dramatic in the British period drama way leaving out the usual pout and hyper ventilation in tight corsets. Instead she opts for a cool casual aire.
Coppola positions Antoinette as a down to earth girl,  like any of her age, who doesn't really grow up in her candy box surroundings. The real Marie-Antoinette  was a teenager thrown into being the Dauphine of France at fifteen.

The sets are breathtaking, rooms to make your heart pound with indulgence, the real vast gardens of Versailles, the redecorated rooms at the Palace (which Coppola was given permission to use) filled with the specialist cake departments works of art and detail galore. Trims are trimmed and trimmed again.  Even inside the carriage looks divine papered in blue silks and gold swirls.
Just what you'd expect but in some way it all looks comfortable and real, not so staged.

This is also the feeling you get with the costumes, it doesn't feel like the actors have all dressed up, they wear their gowns and frock coats comfortably like modern clothing today. They are worn in such a relaxed manner. Canonero said In The London Times Magazine: "We squeezed the essence of the period, without reproducing it. Even if you think you know a lot about it," she argues, "you always have to look for a new angle. I simplified the very heavy look of the 18th century. I wanted it to be believable, but more stylised."

The first outfit Antoinette is wearing is pale blue velvet, we talked about the significance of pale blue earlier in the blog and the feminine romance associated with this specific colour.
The dress in Austria is altogether more modest, neat fitted jackets buttoned to the neck, fine ribbon hair bows, and softer hair. On becoming French the costume becomes more flamboyant in couture a low scooped neckline, an austere up-tight look with Tricorn hats and adornments all over.

This constricted look continues at the palace, the wedding dress with a bare neckline and very delicate jewels but powdered stiff hair giving an awkwardness at the occasion.
The 'ridiculous' morning dressing scene demonstrates control by disallowing her to dress herself, something to rebel against. I love all the frilled ladies in waiting surrounding the naked Antoinette and the soft simple smocks she wears to sleep in.
And then we have the famous couture shopping montage (yes the best fashion montage around) picking silk fabrics, the confectious shoes, feathers and ruffles. To compare this scene with the makeover scene in Clueless wouldn't go amiss and such fun indulgence in the characters personal style.
Check out the blue converse high tops lying next to the little shoes in this scene, this shot sums up the whole tone of the film.

The black ball gown is the first outing of Antoinette's chosen more confident defined style with the tulle eye mask (also used in the latest Dior ad) is rock modern with a t shirt cut to the bodice and sheer panels making her stand out against the colourful guests with 'a cool girl' mystery.

The colours in the palace maintain a soft pastel tone for most characters throughout the film with the occasional shot of colour for key roles in a deeper yellow, royal blue or red. Comtesse Du Barry shows off her sexual prowess in her rich reds, blues and purple silks against her cascading black locks as the scarlet woman. Contrasted with the yet to be deflowered Antoinette the costumes reveal the sexual undercurrent to the story.
And then there is the style change after the long awaited consummation and a child is born. Suddenly independence at Trianon with free fitting bohemian white dresses, soft voile's and lawns, reminiscent of Poiret or back to Austen days and romantic country cottage paintings. It makes me imagine the early days of Laura Ashley with all that Edwardian impressionist romance instilled in the designs.

On return to the palace the dress is austere again but with style details like the red velvet belt on the pale blue dress signifying the lustrous affair and longing love, many peoples favourite outfit of the film. There is a Japanese influence in kimonos, dressing gowns and a maturing style and black worn for mourning, the children softened with pale blue trims on black. The colours gradually then go to black and white then white with a black ribbon. And then the last outfits in smokey solemn blue fading to a dull denim grey.

Many people question this film, many say nothing happens and it is a quiet film but visually I don't think they could have done more to indulge the eyes. There are approximately 65 costume changes for Kirsten Dunst in this film. I lost count but you can see them all and read about them here on the costumers guide site. 
Each and every one expresses a part of the story, an emotion or event and this is just the main character. There are the supporting roles, the men, the children, the sets and the sounds that all make this one of the most influential films for fashion and style.

Marie Antoinette 2006, 
Director: Sofia Coppola
Cinematographer: Lance Acord
Art Directors: Anne Seibel and Pierre Duboisberranger
Costume Design: Milena Canonero
Plus a huge list of very talented people in the hair, make-up, art and costume departments.
All photos are taken from the film and are not to be used commercially.