Another Ugly Duckling Story.

Although in the Rocky movie series, the main character (Rocky) went through the biggest character transformation, there is a more subtle arc that occurs during the course of the movie.
When we first see Adrian Pennino (played by Talia Shire), she is a painfully shy girl who hides herself under chunky cardigans and glasses only people my grandma's age would wear. However, by the end of the story Adrian Balboa could not look more feminine.

Put together by costume supervisor Joanne Hutchinson and costumer Robert Cambel, Adrian’s outfits reflect a convincing shift in deep character from opening scene when she is too afraid to talk, progressing until she is a confident rock for her husband.

During their first scene together, Sylvester Stallone’s likeable Rocky Balboa regales Adrian with his terrible jokes and cheeky smile. Then, on their first date, she is dressed almost comically old-fashioned in a fleecy pull-on hat, long skirt and sixties cut double-breasted herringbone coat. The short lapels on the coat gives us the impression that she had probably borrowed it from her mother. Some items she wears look homemade.

As she and Rocky begin to fall in love, Adrian’s style of dress loosens slightly. There are telltale signs: she begins to unbutton her cardigan and even gets an edgier haircut. However, her most memorable outfit is still a shock.

In a red fur-lined wool coat with an empire waist and flared skirt and a white fur beret, Adrian is the picture of feminism. It is a classy look, even on the streets of low-income Philadelphia in the 1970s. After finally standing up to her tyrannical brother Paulie, Adrian is finally spending time and money on her herself. Thanks to Rocky, she has self-respect for the first time.

Yet, Adrian manages to outdo herself during the night of Rocky's last fight. Elegantly attired in a velvet suit with a ruffled white shirt and red boucle hat. At the time, women's trouser suits were just starting to take off, as they were the ideal choice for those with an independent, feminist spirit. This outfit completes Adrian's character transformation. She started as the beleaguered sister and became the doting lover because she took charge of her own destiny. Yo, Adrian! You go girl!

One plane ticket to England, please.

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London is hosting an exhibit on of dresses and accessories that once belonged to Grace Kelly.

A multitude of Kelly's most beautiful and memorable outfits are on display for the general public. However, in addition to the gowns she wore as the princess of Monaco, her frocks and costumes
will also be shown. One recognizable dress is the one Kelly wore in The Swan. This will probably be the biggest draw for visitors.

Look out for it in September, dear friends from across the pond!

How Movies Influence Fashion.

So that list got me thinking about how the movies have influenced fashion in the past and continues to do so today. Thanks to my pal, Google, I was able to find quite a few examples of this. Let's start with the man they once called "The King of Hollywood".

1934: After ripping Clark Gable ripped off his dress shirt to reveal a bare chest in It Happened One Night, it is said that undershirt sales dropped as much as 75%.

1938: Katherine Hepburn was the first woman to wear pants on screen in Bringing Up Baby. Between 1944-45, the sale of trousers for women more than quintupled.

1955: Not to be outdone by Clark Gable, James Dean decided to bring back the white shirt in Rebel Without a Cause. Young men rushed out to mimic his look.

1961: Breakfast at Tiffany's. Audrey Hepburn. LBD. Enough said.

1967: Brigitte Bardot is credited for popularizing the bikini which she sported in And God Created Woman.

1977: Annie Hall played by Diane Keaton made the androgynous look a big hit with American women, especially feminists.

1980: Richard Gere wears then newcomer Giorgio Armani in American Gigolo. I wonder if any of the 2.3 billion dollars they make annually in sales goes to him...

1983: Flashdance promotes the sale of leg warmers and ripped sweatshirts. Jennifer Beal's hit also started the 80s workout craze.

1992: Black suits and skinny ties became the look of "New American Cool" after Reservoir Dogs was released.

1994: The decision to let Uma Thurman strut around in a white shirt and revealing black bra was a good one. Women all over the world rushed out to make the 'simple but sexy' look their own.

2006: I think that it is only fitting for a movie about the fashion industry to spark new fashion trends. The Devil Wears Prada did just that. Anne Hathaway's look made designer handbags and over-the-knee boots must-haves.

Can you tell I love lists?

Here's an interesting tidbit for you. When designers from all over the world (Zac Posen! Vivienne Westwood! Giorgio Armani!) were polled on the most influential fashion movies, this is what they came up with:

1. Breakfast at Tiffany's
2. American Gigolo
3. Funny Face
4. Bonnie and Clyde
5. Desperately Seeking Susan
6. My Fair Lady
7. Pulp Fiction
8. The Great Gatsby
9. Thomas Crown Affair
10. The Graduate

Surprise, surprise. There are 3 Audrey Hepburn movies on there. That woman could wear a potato sack and look like she just stepped off a Givenchy runway.

To wear, or not to wear...

that is the question.

Have you ever watched a movie (ahem, Transformers 2) and wondered how a character could run through the Sahara desert avoiding gunfire and bombs while still keeping her white pants completely stain-free? Megan Fox, maybe you ought to take this one...

When Sandy Powell thinks up the designs for even the most luxuorious costume epic like Shakespeare in Love, she is careful to make sure that they look like clothes worn by real people. Of course they are beautiful, and sometimes a little extravagant. Yet half her genius lies in the fact that the velvets are slightly rumpled and the bows are tied casually. They look like clothes that these characters ran their morning errands in, not the ones that were steamed and pressed right before a fitting. The clothes tell as much of a story as the actual screenplay.

This has always been a conscious choice on Powell's part. "There's a beauty in dirt," she told the New York Times Magazine.

Powell's costumes for "Shakespeare in Love" are trimmed with beads, embroidery and metal filigree. But none of them have that garishly shiny look that says "I'm brand new". The brocades and metallic laces are a little corroded. After all in the 16th century, not even the rich people had many outfits. Powell also strays from accurately depicting fashion in the year 1593 in favor of order to let the clothes represent the personality or mood of the character who's wearing them.

Viola, played by Gwenyth Paltrow, has clothes that look as light and airy as her personality. She is a delicate, yet free-spirited. Powell decided to dress her in iridescent gauzes that shimmer in the sunlight- a peach ball gown, a pale blue dressing gown. Therefore when she wears her heavy, pale-gold wedding dress as she marries a man she doesn't love- an arrangement bound by law and familial duty- she looks stiff and restricted.

Isn't this what clothes were meant to do? I've always thought so. I've had more than one person say that my clothes are indicative of my personality. And my color palette can usually help you judge my mood.

At the moment I'm in a teal top with skinny jeans... So, how do you think I'm feeling? ;)

Who is this Edith Head person...

and how can I become like her?

I don't think women realize how much Edith Head has influenced the fashion of today. I know I didn't, until I wrote out that handy dandy list of Oscar-winning costume designers. Did you know she was nominated for 35 and won 8?? That's more than any other female!

Here is a woman who dressed the greats. I'm talking Bette Davis in All About Eve, Natalie Wood in Penelope, Grace Kelly in To Catch a Thief, even...

*drumroll pleaseeee*

Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday which has to be in my top ten all-time favorite movies, fashion-wise.

Interestingly enough, Edith started off with rudimentary drawing skills and actually went to art classes in order to improve them. In 1924, despite the fact that she had no experience, Edith was hired as a costume sketch artist for Paramount Pictures. Her big break came in 1944 when she designed a mink-lined gown for Ginger Rogers in Lady in the Dark. The costume was controversial because the second World War was still going on at the time. She became a close personal friend of Elizabeth Taylor. And was even said to be one of Alfred Hitchcock's favorite designers.

Edith was frequently 'loaned' out by Paramount to other studios at the request of their female stars. She was known for her restrained designs and was called the "queen of the shirtwaisters".

The most interesting thing I found out about Edith was that her trademark was her sunglasses. Yet the reason she even started wearing them was to see how clothes would look in black and white. Isn't that smart?? It's no surprise she managed to win all those awards.

There's No Business Like Show Business.

And what better what to start off this blog than with a comprehensive list of the Academy Award winners for Best Costume Design?

Note: Something I learned while doing my research was that between 1948 and 1966, the award was split into subcategories for color and black-and-white movies (with the exception of the year 1957 and 1958).

So here they are, ladies and gentlemen, the distinguished Oscar winners from 1948 to 2009:

1948 (B&W)- Roger K. Furse for Hamlet
1948 (Color)- Dorothy Jeakins & Barbara Karinska for Joan of Arc

1949 (B&W)- Edith Head, Gile Steele for The Heiress
1949 (Color)- Marjorie Best, Leah Rhodes, William Travilla for Adventures of Don Juan

1950 (B&W)- Edith Head, Charles LeMaire for All About Eve
1950 (Color)- Edith Head, Dorothy Jeakins, Elois Jenssen, Gile Steele, Gwen Wakeling for Samson and Delilah

1951 (B&W)- Edith Head for A Place in the Sun
1951 (Color)- Orry-Kelly, Walter Plunkett, Irene Sharaff for An American in Paris

1952 (B&W)- Helen Rose for The Bad and the Beautiful
1952 (Color)- Marcel Vertes for Moulin Rouge

1953 (B&W)- Edith Head for Roman Holiday
1953 (Color)- Charles LeMaire, Emile Santiago for The Robe

1954 (B&W)- Edith Head for Sabrina
1954 (Color)- Sanzo Wada for Gate of Hell

1955 (B&W)- Helen Rose for I'll Cry Tomorrow
1955 (Color)- Charles LeMaire for Love is a Many-Splendored Thing

1956 (B&W)- Jean Louis for The Solid Gold Cadillac
1956 (Color)- Irene Sharaff for The King & I

1957-Orry-Kelly for Les Girls

1958- Cecil Beaton for Gigi

1959 (B&W)- Orry-Kelly for Some Like It Hot
1959 (Color)-Elizabeth Haffenden for Ben-Hur

1960 (B&W)- Edith Head, Edward Stevenson for The Facts of Life
1960 (Color)- Arlington Valles for Spartacus

1961 (B&W)- Piero Gherardi for La dolce vita
1961 (Color)- Irene Sharaff for West Side Story

1962 (B&W)- Norma Koch for Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
1962 (Color)- Mary Wills for The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm

1963 (B&W)- Piero Gherardi for 8 1/2
1963 (Color)- Renie Conley, Vittorio Nino Novarese, Irene Sharaff for Cleopatra

1964 (B&W)- Dorothy Jeakins for The Night of the Iguana
1964 (Color)- Cecil Beaton for My Fair Lady

1965 (B&W)- Julie Harris for Darling
1965 (Color)- Phyllis Dalton for Doctor Zhivago

1966 (B&W)- Irene Sharaff for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
1966 (Color)- Elizabeth Haffenden for A Man for All Seasons

1967-John Truscott for Camelot

1968- Danilo Donati for Romeo & Juliet

1969-Margaret Furse for Anne of the Thousand Days

1970- Vittorio Nino Novarese for Cromwell

1971- Yvonne Blake, Antonio Castillo for Nicholas and Alexandra

1972- Anthony Powell for Travels with My Aunt

1973- Edith Head for The Sting

1974-Theoni V. Alderedge for The Great Gatsby

1975- Milena Canonero, Ulla-Britt Soderland for Barry Lyndon

1976- Danilo Donati for Fellini's Casanova

1977- John Mollo for Star Wars

1978- Anthony Powell for Death on the Nile

1979- Albert Wolsky for All That Jazz

1980- Anthony Powell for Tess

1981-Milena Canonero for Chariots of Fire

1982- Bhanu Athaiya, Madeline Jones, John Mollo for Gandhi

1983-Marik Vos for Fanny and Alexander

1984- Theodor Pistek for Amadeus

1985- Emi Wada for Ran

1986- Jenny Beavan, John Bright for A Room with a View

1987- James Acheson for The Last Emperor

1988- James Acheson for Dangerous Liaisons

1989- Phyllis Dalton for Henry V

1990- Franca Squarciapino for Cyrano de Bergerac

1991-Albert Wolsky for Bugsy

1992- Eiko Ishioka for Bram Stoker's Dracula

1993- Gabrielle Pescucci for The Age of Innocence

1994- Tim Chappel, Lizzy Gardiner for The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

1995- James Acheson for Restoration

1996- Ann Roth for The English Patient

1997- Deborah Lynn Scott for Titanic

1998- Sandy Powell for Shakespeare in Love

1999- Lindy Hemming for Topsy-Turvy

2000- Janty Yates for Gladiator

2001- Catherine Martin, Angus Strathie for Moulin Rouge!

2002- Colleen Atwood for Chicago

2003- Ngila Dickson, Richard Taylor for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

2004- Sandy Powell for The Aviator

2005- Colleen Atwood for Memoirs of a Geisha

2006- Milena Canonero for Marie Antoinette

2007- Alexandra Bryne for Elizabeth: The Golden Age

2008- Michael O'Connor for The Dutchess

2009- Sandy Powell for The Young Victoria


Exhaustive lists are exhausting to type! Who knew?