The main ideas from the reading were:
Clothes were presented as spectacle and mechanisms for display. Distinction between costume and couture. Clothes functioning independent of the body, character and narrative.
Intersection between costume and couture; Chanel did some costume design well, but did not keep with it as she could not handle being bossed around. Palmy days 1931. Clothes were prioritised over narrative.
Couture= spectacle. costume= portray a character.
Cinema’s use of couture. Kika, Pretty Woman, trop belle pour toi! Voyager, prêt a porter. These are all films I wish to view, in order to get a more complete understanding of fashion, couture, and cinema.
Jean Harlow. Dinner at eight. 1930s Hollywood glamour.
Hollywood style was emulated in couture e.g. Crawford Letty Lynton, Elizabeth taylor A place in the sun. Quoting Hollander (1975 pp 349-50) “dressing is an act usually undertaken with reference to pictures-mental pictures, which are personally edited versions of actual ones. The style in which the image of the clothed figure is rendered…governs the way we create and perceive our own clothed selves.”
Sabrina pre paris- costume Edith head. Post paris. Couture Givenchy.
Aramrni. Gere, American gigolo 1980.
Chanel. Last year in Marienbad, les amants. Paco rabanne Barbarella.
Marlon brando The wild one. James dean. Rebel without a cause.
European cinema ascendance in early ‘60s created synergy between couture and costume. La dolce vita. A bout de soufflé. Darling, two for the road= shopping not designing. I would like to become more informed with a range of styles of film, other than simply those from contemporary hollywood.
Ralph Lauren. The Great Gatsby, Annie Hall. Obsessive nostalgia for a bourgeois past of leisure wear and natural fabrics in pale shades.
The changing course of consumption in the 80s changed the way film was seen. Hollywood- costume functioned to communicate character. However, in Eurpoean films, costume was flamboyant, as another art form. For example; Last year in Marinbad. I wish to see this film. It is relevant to fashion history as well, to understand Chanel's creativity in greater depth.
Arty couture costumes Gaultier- The cook, the thief, his wife & her lover. Kika, My life is hell, The city of lost children, Prêt a porter. I have not seen any of these films, and wish to view them all.
Trop belle pour toi! This is an interesting film as couture is shown as a barrier to identification and intimacy. This contrasts films such as Pretty woman, where couture is the catalyst for identification and intimacy.
Fashion- technological, iconic, verbal. – Barthes.
‘deliberately unspectacular fashion can still function in a spectacular way.’ this idea is very interesting, and connects to the idea of Chanel's, that for a woman to be seen as beautiful, her clothes will not be noticed, she will just be seen as beautiful.
Couturier as costume designer was conflicted between representing their fashion house, and representing the character of the film.
There was more choice after class was eradicated from dictation of dress. This led to direction being sought from movie stars. Class no longer differentiated, style differentiated.
Class Parody and Imposture. From the reading.
Deconstructs the myth of fashion and appearance, shows how fake it is. Constructed. Destroys the concept of class distinction, can use fashion to break through the barriers and create a façade. Presents status as a matter of appearances.
Vogues 1938, the women 1939 makes fun of tasteless socialites.
These film communicated fashion as a construct. The way it could be applied, and change one’s life. Social status assertion deconstructed and parodied.
Aspire to ideal Hollywood look. Start of the article, talked about how you have to choose your style to represent your identity. This section talks about masquerade. Creating a new identity. How clothes can transform who you are. Nothing to do with actuality. Doris day defying her identity. Dietrich.
Midnight. does not just change clothes, but mannerisms. To move from the Bronx to being a baroness. Arbitrariness of class signifiers.
Appearance was no longer a clear indicator of identity.
No comments:
Post a Comment