Carey Mulligan | Vogue | The Great Gatsby

via

Beauuuuuuuuuuutiful beyond belief photoshoot from Vogue that does the trick whetting the whistle for The Great Gatsby film. Not to mention setting my affinity for 1920s & art deco dresses aflame. Wow. 

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. :)

he'll be the mirror

Bill Cunningham New York Trailer from Gavin McWait on Vimeo.

Street style "blogging" may be new, but shooting street style isn't new; Bill Cunningham, a 1940s Harvard dropout and later a photographer who contributed significantly to fashion journalism. I'd love to see this, of course!

I saw the film The Duchess this evening and while the movie was nothing amazing, the styling was, particularly the hats, some of them were large enough to require their own zip code (and of course I wanted them...talk about "practical"...) and it all reminded me of this great photoshoot by Steven Meisel from Vogue Italia, March 2008. I saw these posted on another blog with a pretty fantastic name (Les Yeux sans Visage) that if I am not mistaken is lifted from the Billy Idol song "Eyes Without a Face", but in French obviously.

At any rate, I have a secret affinity for all things Baroque, music and clothing included, and the film was a feast of the eyes with all the amazing hats and dresses. This photo set (that looks so completely painted and not like photographs at all) from Steven Meisel takes a modern twist, albeit for the macabre of that Baroque fashion styling.

It's actually going to be quite painful

I plan to go see The Edge of Love this weekend, and I am well aware that the styling/clothing will all but bring me to utter tears. But I will also enjoy that. It's sometimes hard to digest THAT much inspiration. I felt that way when I watched Brideshead Revisited, oh and Atonement. I actually do not have a particular fondness for Kiera Knightly although she is in two of the films. I am sure after leaving the movie I will curl my hair (meaning sleep in sponge rollers) for at least a week and buyu up every liberty print I can find!

Paris vu par

We are lucky enough to have the Detroit Film Theater nearby, and from the looks of their schedule I'll be there a lot in the near future, first to see Six in Paris, (Paris vu par), 1965 , which looks like something I cannot miss. From the description, "this remarkably engaging, rarely-seen complilation of six short tales, each set in a different neighborhood of Paris. As every neighborhood everywhere has a distinctly different character, so too do these stories, which range from hilarious to romantic to chilling, and which share the intelligence and imaginations of their gifted creators". I am predicting some fashion inspiration, n'est pas?

Next I think I'll go see, Shall We Kiss, "Gabriel (Michael Cohen) and Emilie (Julie Gayet) meet on the streets of a provincial French capital. He offers her a ride, and the ride turns into a pleasant dinner with clearly romantic overtones. But when Gabriel attempts to plant a good night kiss, Emile pulls back—even one kiss, she admonishes him, can have unexpected consequences. We then proceed to the story of Emilie’s friends in Paris, Judith (the wonderful Virginie Ledoyen) and Nicolas (director Emmanuel Mouret), and the consequence of her reluctance to accept even just one kiss. Wry, observant and also deeply touching, the richly rewarding Shall We Kiss? is a very contemporary and highly entertaining meditation on the ever-surprising wages of infidelity and indiscretion–and an unforgettable lesson as to what "just "one kiss can do. Mouret’s intelligent, successful characters deluge their emotions and instincts with very open rationalization as to why they’re doing what they’re doing, trying to appear as if they’re in control–while it’s clear to everyone else they haven’t got a clue."