Classic Film Fashion #209: Melvyn Douglas corselet for As You Desire Me (1932).

It seemed the character I was to play in the film treatment was to be a military officer and, according to Fitzmaurice, European military officers of the period in question always wore corselets. Even now while we were talking about it, so the director said, M.G.M. specialists were finding out exactly how those corselets and fitted. I was to wear a corselet and he, George Fitzmaurice, was going to check each and every day of shooting to make sure it was on and properly in place under my costume. And he did precisely that! Whenever I came on set, good as his word, Mr. Fitzmaurice would touch my waist to make sure I had on my corselet. Unfortunately, discharging this directorial responsibility apparently so exhausted him, he was unable to muster a single additional comment about characterization throughout the making of the picture. From Melvyn Douglas and Tom Arthur See You at the Movies: TheAutobiography of Melvyn Douglas (1986).
Posted 4 months ago

1 note Tagged: As You Desire Me, Melvyn Douglas, classic film, vintage fashion.

Classic Film Fashion #208: Joanne Drus prairie couture for Red River (1948). Next to outright padding, the best thing to lend gravitas to a womans silhouette are puffed shoulders gathered to a narrow sleeve, which creates the illusion of broad blades. Joanne Dru makes fine use of them in order to stand up to John Wayne and Montgomery Clift. Better to bust up a gun fight with a wide shoulder stance. In prairie petticoat dresses, gingham, full skirts, nipped waist, tidy buttons, shes as imposing and stylish as a ladys countenance can manifest.
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Stellar Vintage #143: Susan Kohners skin outshines her taffeta frock.
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Classic Film Fashion #207: Carole Lombards bridal suit in Mr. and Mrs. Smith(1941). While still in the hypothetical, Robert Montgomery says he wouldnt choose marriage in a do-over because it costs men too much freedom. His exact grievance against agency is fairly vague, since he comes and goes as he pleases and retains a private dude club membership. However, the audience has a clear illustration of what marriage changes for many women when Carole Lombard pulls her wedding suit from the closet for repeat nuptials to correct the invalid service. I cant imagine anything hanging in the closet shrinking so much, she remarks as the maid hoists the sides together. Mrs. Smith complements her dark suit with the polka dot lapels and a matching blouse, gold fan clips at the neckline, a gardenia corsage and a Quaker-style hat. Yet at the side skirt zipper there are the telltale row of safety pins straining against the fabric. The extra weight bears proof of the marital condition for plenty of women far more readily than the official certificate. With genius designs by Irene, Lombard appears instantly slimmer once she bars the husband with a chain across the door.
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Stellar Vintage #142: Buster Keaton steadies a blade against an onion wearing a henley and crisp chinos with a wide belt.
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Stellar Vintage #141: Melvyn Douglas sports a dashing moustache and snazzy checked necktie.
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Classic Film Fashion #206: Humphrey Bogart in a varsity cap and jumper forSabrina (1954). For a small moment, Humphrey Bogart is humbled by his age difference with Audrey Hepburn. Not to the feature-length degree that Billy Wilder reserved for a middle aged lady such as Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard, where she was made to look like a perverse ghoul for taking up with young William Holden.

Still, Wilder allows an acknowledgement in the disparity of years by putting Bogart in the university cap and cardigan, so that hes Joe College with a touch of arthritis with an old timey record in tow to woo a very young woman.
Posted 5 months ago 1 note Tagged: Sabrina, Humphrey Bogart, classic film, vintage fashion.

Classic Film Fashion #205: Robert Redfords wide wale corduroy jacket for ButchCassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). Edith Head redeems the fabric from squaresvilles for fellas. Once the province of nebbish, nerd or the ineffectual dude, Head transforms the material into standard masculine livery, the apparel of choice for a tough guy, a card sharp and gun slinger. With a leather collar, the oat hued wide wale makes him look almost as cool as Paul Newman.
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Stellar Vintage #140: Model poses in a butterfly patterned gown designed by Edith Head, 1941.
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Stellar Vintage #139: Lauren Bacall wears a frock with gold fishnet overlay.
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Classic Film Fashion #204: Joan Crawfords shoulders and Mildred Pierce (1945). The first time Adrian saw me he uttered the unforgettable line: You, he said, are a female Johnny Weissmuller. I just stood there. What could I do? Five feet, four and half inches tall, with a size twelve hips and size forty shoulders! Well, we cant cut em off, he said finally, so well just make them wider. That was the start of a look that lasted for more than ten years. Broad padded shoulders, small waist, and slim hips. If a womans hips werent as slim as she would have liked, the shoulders made them seem so. I think thats one reason the style caught on so quickly. When I tried out for Mildred Pierce I showed up in a little cotton housedress that Id bought off the rack at Searsbecause that was the kind of thing Mildred would wear. The director, Michael Curtiz, had a reputation for being very difficult. It didnt take me long to find out how difficult. He took one look at me and snarled, You and your damned shoulder pads! reached out in fury, and ripped my dress from neck to hemline. Then he stared in shocked amazement. The shoulders were still there. They were real. I burst into tears and he strode off the set in total embarrassment. We got along pretty well after that. Joan Crawford in her style guide My Way of Life (1971).
Posted 5 months ago 11 notes Tagged: Mildred Pierce, Joan Crawford, classic film, vintage fashion.

Stellar Vintage #138: Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell at the Oscars 1942. Hes in a snappy pin stripe suit; shes in a jersey dress, pearls and sausage roll hair.
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Stellar Vintage #137: Eve Arden in a gem-stem branch patterned hat brim and ruffled blouse under a waistcoat. Lady antlers for an imperious turn.
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Stellar Vintage #136: Carole Lombard in a rocket emblem knit. Shes pure TNT.
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Stellar Vintage #135: Claudette Colbert in a metallic jacquard gown.

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Classic Film Fashion #203: Joan Crawfords wardrobe discussions and resignation for What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962). She wanted to wear her own negligees and dressing gowns. The negligees were low-cut and revealing, nothing an invalid or a recluse would wear. I managed to talk her out of that by saying they were too lovely and new, that her character should only wear clothes that looked old and dated. Afterall, she was crippled, and her sister, Jane, hated her so much she wasnt about to go to expensive stores to buy clothes for her. Joan agreed on that, and then we discussed the day wear. The dresses she wanted to wear were short. They were supposed to show off her famous legs. But again I explained that her character had been in a bad automobile accident and, having been an ex-movie star, Blanche was vain and would never want to show off her disfigured legs. She went along with that, and I designed two highnecked nightgowns for her, a peignoir, and a flowing monks-robe type of dress, which Joan insisted on wearing with a belt to show off her waist. When it was her turn to test her wardrobe for Baby Jane, Joan gave a full performance. The camera was on a track, said Bob Gary, the script supervisor. Aldrich wanted to see how every costume photographed and what the makeup looked like. You started full-shotthen you dollied in from head to

toe. By the time the camera got to Joans face, she was crying. She was wearing the dress she was supposed to die in at the beach, so she must have concentrated on that, and the tears began to fall. She is the only person I had ever seen who cried at her own wardrobe tests. Shaun Considine interviews costume designer Norma Koch and camera man Bob Gary regarding Crawfords attire for the film on Joan and Bette: The Divine Feud. They missed the point that Ms. Crawford does not go gentle into that good night. The lady always wanted to look her best onscreen.
Posted 5 months ago 5 notes Tagged: What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, Joan Crawford, classic film, vintage fashion,Norma Koch.

Classic Film Fashion #202: Bette Davis ensemble for running errands as Jane Hudson in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962). The outfit that Bette wore in public, when she drove to downtown L.A. to place her show-business ad in the newspaper, had to be big Janes idea of sexy, said Koch. The dress had a see-through top, which clearly showed her grayish-white brassiere straps. It also had chipped pearl buttons down the front. I deliberately made the dress a half-size too small, so she would look like one of those old chorus girls coming apart at the seams. The accessories were equally tawdrya black waist cincher, a black velvet beret with a zircon clip, an old fox fur piece she pulled out of the closet, and for her feet, she wore the classic Joan Crawford chase-me, fuck-me pumps. Yes, said Koch with humor, the shoes were the final touch. We tried various styles with the outfit some with stiletto heels, some were slingbacks; then someone, Im not sure if it was Bette said, Why not get a pair of those old ankle-strap shoes, the ones Crawford used to wear in the forties? We found a few pairs in the wardrobe department at Warners. Im not sure if they were Joans, but they fit Bette perfectly. Shaun Considine quotes costume designer Norma Koch about her Oscar winning work for the film in his engrossing Joan and Bette: The Divine Feud.
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Stellar Vintage #134: 1940s halo hats.

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Stellar Vintage #133: Debra Paget cuddles with a monkey in a scallop-lace frock.
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Classic Film Fashion #201: Alfred Hitchcock reserves the skirt suit as identikit for celluloid ladies in Rear Window (1954), Vertigo (1958) and The Birds (1963). Many articles have been written about the auteurs predilection for icy blondes, yet another thing the ladies have in common aside from towheadedness is their fondness for wearing skirt suits. Grace Kelly, Kim Novak and Tippi Hedren all appear in ensembles with minor variation, say, with a little alteration to buttons, lapel size or skirt length. Kelly and Hedren even wear nearly the exact shade of sage

green. Must be because a lady in a skirt suit means business. Its a visual shorthand for competence and social position, a woman were supposed to care about.
Posted 5 months ago 2 notes Tagged: Rear Window, Vertigo, The Birds, Hitchcock, Grace Kelly, Kim Novak, Tippi Hedren,classic film, vintage fashion.