Iconic fashion- feathers, corsets and velcro.
Fashion in Film, Christopher Laverty’s new book, tells the stories behind 10 stylish films.
Top Hat, 1935
“The film is well known for the feather dress. Obviously, it’s black and white, but the dress was pale blue. It’s interesting, because you get into what hues work well for black and white. The dress was on trend for the time, with that bias cut and the low back. It was a collaboration between Bernard Newman, the costume designer, and Ginger Rogers. She got involved with designing a lot of her gowns.”
Wizard of Oz, 1939
“One of the most interesting things about Dorothy’s dress is that it is poorly made – the seams and the stitching are uneven. You could argue this is because her character is a poor farm girl and her dress would likely have been homemade, but I think it was more the case that Adrian, the costume designer, was under astonishing pressure. He did over 1,000 costume sketches for characters in the film. It was a hard production for them both. Garland was 17 and they were trying to make her look 12 by strapping her breasts down.”
My Fair Lady, 1964
“Cecil Beaton was the costume designer and art director and his look is all over it. The main sequence is Ascot, which was based on when Edward VII died and they had this ‘black Ascot’, when everyone was encouraged to wear black. He did the same thing, but in white. This dress worn by Audrey Hepburn is the most ornate costume I have ever seen. It had silk linen underclothes. It’s the one that is meant to announce her arrival as a lady, but it’s completely unwearable. She couldn’t sit down in it when they were filming it. You couldn’t wear it for anything other than a film.” Read more from The Guardian
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