Cinematic Fashion (Episode 2)

Hello all !

Are you ready for the second episode of our series about inspirational movie closets? This episode’s movie is Gone with the Wind (1939). If you’re ready, roll down slowly and don’t beware your comments please (your thoughts make our day!).

2) Gone with the Wind (1939)

No need to say anything about the fame of the glorious movie: Gone with the Wind, and how it made the year 1939 a banner year in the history of cinema. With its 4 hours running time, the tragedy of Scarlett O’Hara, performed by Vivien Leigh, locks us up to the screen. The story passes during the period of Civil War in America. Scarlett is a free-spirited, charming lady that men around her can’t help falling for her. She has a socialite lifestyle and she gets whatever she wants, but the tragedy is waiting her ahead.
  

The story gets tragic with the Civil War, but the romance overrides the movie when Scarlett falls in love with the discountenancing married man, Ashley (Leslie Howard). Scarlett turns into a helpless, simpering and greedy lady who is running into the arms of a few husbands. Rhett Butler (Clark Gable), however, loves Scarlett and desires a family with her – kindda soap opera, right?
 

The most memorable moment of the movie is probably when Clark replies Scarlett’s question: “Where shall I go? What shall I do”, as “Franckly my dear, I don’t give a damn”. Probably most of you have already heard (or been using) this phrase.

There are many things in Gone with the Wind that makes it a masterpiece, and one of them is definitely its captivating storytelling through the eyes of a manipulative lady who delivers every emotion through the movie. No wonder why the movie swept the 1940 Oscars: Best Actress in a Leading Role, Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Best Director, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Screenplay…
 

The characters are brilliantly portrayed. Dialogues are well-thought. Cinematography is amazing. Casting is brilliant…and the costumes are unforgettable. The corsets, petticoats, velvet dresses, belts and shoes, hair bows, white lace collars and draping back skirts of the Civil War era, as well as the sharped dressed men in dashing suits or uniforms.

"Here in this pretty world Gallantry took its last bow…Look for it only in books, for it is no more than a dream remembered...A Civilization gone with the wind."

Did you know that? : On the opening date of Gone with the Wind in Atlanta on December 15, 1939, the governor declared a state holiday and ticket prices increased 40 times that day. lol

Cinematic Fashion (Episode 1)

Hello dears,

I've been thinking to make a series of short writings under specific subjects. As long as I'm free, I'll be publishing one post each week. (I want to talk about different aspects of movies with you, but I’m experiencing lack of time nowadays.)

So. Do you want to take the ride with me?

This episode's subject is: the inspirational closets that inspired us (and still inspiring). Have you seen a movie and been dazzled by the costumes more than the movie itself? I'd love to hear your ideas. Please share your comments with us.

There are some movies that became known for their admirable closets. They brought us ideas beyond our time, gave us courage to be inspired by their characters. It was a flattering invitation for women or men to revise their outfits. Here is one of them:

1 ) Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
 

A bank robber couple: Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, were the guests of our cinema salons at the end of 60s and it was not so after that they became the legends of many ordinary lives. They were both looking for adventure. But what did people, knowing that the movie is adapted from a thief and murderer duo that darkened many lives in 30s with brutality, like in these two brutal characters. However, with this movie, the director Arthur Penn broke many taboos of its time: sex and violence; and moderated the movie with the moments of comedy and intimacy.

Even though François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard rejected beforehand to direct the movie, Arthur Penn, the director, was heavily inspired by French New Wave film techniques. Without even mentioning the visual beauty and successful storytelling of the film, putting the fiction aside, the movie itself greatly influenced the fashion industry.

Maybe Faye Dunaway was not aware of this during its production, but she, for sure, became a major screen actress thanks to her role as Bonnie. As well as her role, the costumes of Bonnie were very inspirational too. Bonnie was modernizing her look by mixing styles: berets and tweed jackets, skinny jeans and flats, high-waisted skirts and knit cardigans; but especially the tilted berets and patterned scarfs became the milestone of her style.

Did you know that? : Warren Beatty, who played Clyde, wanted the movie to be in black&white, but Warner Bros rejected the idea. Good decision. Don't you think ?
  

Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's

Elegance and grace should be the words that best describe her... During her long acting career, Audrey Hepburn carried out a life with both style and purpose.

Hepburn was 32 when she performed in the stylish romance, Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), that adapted from Truman Capote's book of the same name. Although Capote wanted Marilyn Monroe for the role, however, after producers got "will not play a lady of the evening" from Monroe's personal acting coach, Audrey Hepburn was chosen for the role Holly Golightly, jet set socialite, free-spirit lady who loves parties, window shopping on Manhattan streets and makes a living through the company of rich men. Hepburn later calls her role "the jazziest of my career". Between the iconic beginning of the movie and its unforgettable dialogues, as we learn more about Holly, we see Hepburn in a lonely, wants-nothing-but-love character and maybe relate the untouchable and sophisticated Hepburn with this girl.

However, the biggest fault of the movie, which was subjected to many criticisms, is the japanese character, Mr. Yunioshi, the neighbor of Holly. Although there is this unfortunate racist portrayal of Asian community of America in 1960s, the part which Hepburn sings "Moon River" in a dreamy atmosphere is nothing but radiant and the most memorable moment of this romantic comedy.

"Nothing is impossible, the word itself says 'I'm possible'!"
-- Audrey Hepburn

"I was born with an enormous need for affection, and a terrible need to give it."
-- Audrey Hepburn

Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's