W.E. | not a film review

Last night, I watched the film 'W.E.', a calamitous affair to be sure, but if you love 1930s clothing it's a veritable visual feast. It simultaneous follows the story of Wallis Simpson and a fictitious modern day woman living in New York city and that's all the plot synopsis I am offering. I was more than willing to excuse the lameness of the movie because the costumes are just the cat's pajamas, to borrow a phrase. Truth be told, I don't need any more fuel for my vintage clothing obsession, specifically my 1930s vintage clothing obsession, but alas, I've lead myself in the fire with this film. It made me instantly want to run to my closet and shop and pull out all the bias cut silk, crepe and rayon I could snatch from the racks and dance around with a martini in my hand. But we aren't just talking party attire here, the film is chock full of delectable daywear, dress suits, hats and even shoes. My instinct to hoard all 1930s garments has been lit ablaze.

Initially I thought to make a blog post of images from the film, but I have never figured out how to find good film stills to use, so I thought I would just pull things from my Pinterest board | 1930s Fashion that looked Wallis-esque. I went to my board and selected a few images to use and then thought, "hey, I'll just search Wallis Simpson on Pinterest, duh!". When I did I found two photos of her in garments nearly identical to the ones I selected from the 1930s board! As a matter of fact one of the dresses (in the last photo set below, the Mainbocher dress) WAS her actual wedding dress, ha! Ok, so, I KNOW I am tooting my own horn, but come on! I was so proud!

As a side note, I just love Wallis Simpson's quote, "[w]hen the little black dress is right, there is nothing else to wear. ". I love this particularly so because I have a healthy collection of little black dresses in my closet, say, over 30; but do I ever chose those to wear? No, I always choose something way less "little black dress-like" and much more fabulous. :)