Cinema Connection--1940s and 1950s Cinema Style Rules the Red Carpet at 2014 Oscars

Sunday was the 86th annual Academy Awards and there were a record number of people watching this year's show.  Of course there were likely even more enjoying the red carpet beforehand, with coverage coming from television channels all over the world.  As always, I hope the audience was able to see just how much classic cinema acted as inspiration for many of the gowns that graced the presenters, nominees, and soon-to-be winners.

More than those winners, what we largely talk about afterward are the trends that emerged on the red carpet.  Some are strong, some are subtle.  Sometimes it's a silhouette.  Sometimes it's a color--this year, whites, nudes (often with shimmer and sequins), and pale metallics were very popular.  Kate Hudson, Naomi Watts, Cate Blanchett, Julie Delpy, Sally Hawkins, Sarah Paulsen, Jessica Biel, Kristen Bell, and Jennifer Garner all tapped into this trend with their ensembles.  Sometimes red carpet trends simply reflect what's "in" fashion--not a surprise since these gowns generally come from the most recent runways.  In many ways, though, the red carpets of award season become their own runway.  And the bigger the show, the more style seems to revert back to what is frequently referred to as "Old Hollywood glamour." 

"Old Hollywood glamour" does not always mean the same thing.  The Golden Age of Hollywood stretches from the late 1920s to the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, and much of the 1960s.  Obviously, that encompasses a lot of different style.  When The Artist swept much of the awards at the 2012 Oscars, many gowns had an Art Deco feel a la the 1920s and 1930s.  That also happened to be a strong trend in fashion at the time, which started with the influence of The Artist itself and didn't end until Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby premiered.  Then that same year, at the 2012 Golden Globes, gowns took much of their inspiration from film noir of the 1940s.  Costumes from The Killers, The Postman Always Rings Twice, and Gilda were just some of what influenced the design of dresses on the red carpet. 

This year, the 1940s were popular once again.  There's usually at least one gown that owes something to Rita Hayworth in Gilda (1946) on any red carpet, and this year's Oscar nominee (and past Oscar winner) Sandra Bullock came closest with her Alexander McQueen.  Many of the hair styles, including Sandra's, also played homage to Rita and Veronica Lake with their long loose waves.  The 1950s made a strong style statement, too, with references to that era's icons Grace Kelly, Elizabeth Taylor, and Marilyn Monroe.  This is just the beginning.

What was impressive this year was that there were far fewer dresses that took directly from the costumes of classic cinema, but rather took inspiration from different design elements.  The gown for Lupita Nyong'o, for example, seemed like a combination of Grace Kelly's ice blue chiffon in To Catch a Thief (1955) and Elizabeth Taylor's white chiffon in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958).  The gowns for Kate Hudson and Julie Delpy were very different, but both seemed to make some reference to Marilyn Monroe's gold gown in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) and even a little nod to Bette Davis in Now, Voyager (1942).  Without question, the gown for Angelina Jolie took its lead from the many illusion gowns of Marlene Dietrich. And the gown for Charlize Theron reminded me of a couple great looks from Ava Gardner, but also made me think of John Singer Sargent's late 19th century painting Madame X (one of my favorites).  Of course there were many more references to classics at the 2014 Oscars, and all show just how much iconic costume design continues to impact the way we dress.  This is only part of our ongoing conversation.  

Cheers!

Charlize Theron in DIOR

Madame X by John Singer Sargent in the late 1800s

and Ava Gardner in the 1940s

The illusion straps on Charlize's Dior made me think of this neckline on

Ava Gardner in Helen Rose for 1954's The Barefoot Contessa

Sandra Bullock in ALEXANDER MCQUEEN

Rita Hayworth in Jean Louis for 1946's Gilda

and her signature side-swept hair

Kate Hudson in VERSACE

and Julie Delpy in JENNY PACKHAM

Marilyn Monroe in Travilla for 1953's Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

and Bette Davis in Orry-Kelly for 1942's Now, Voyager

Lupita Nyong'o in PRADA

Grace Kelly in Edith Head for 1955's To Catch a Thief

and Elizabeth Taylor in Helen Rose in 1958's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Angelina Jolie (with Brad Pitt) in ELIE SAAB 

Marlene Dietrich in Irene during 1945 USO tour--same gown also used in 1948's A Foreign Affair--

and in Jean Louis for her 1950s Las Vegas show

Thanks to Getty for red carpet images

Happy 4th Birthday, GlamAmor!

February has been such a busy month, but it's time to do a little celebrating.  GlamAmor has just turned four!

Though four years is a relatively long time online--for perspective, Twitter was formed only eight years ago--it hardly seems long enough to capture all that has happened with GlamAmor.  This is especially true of the past year.  GlamAmor just passed its one millionth unique visitor on the site and has social media that extends from its own YouTube Channel to pages on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, Google+, and Instagram.

Offline, I've continued to be a guest speaker for presentations on THE STYLE ESSENTIALS: HISTORY OF FASHION IN FILM 1920s-1970s and share pieces from the carefully curated GlamAmor vintage study collection to show the impact of costume design on fashion.  These presentations expanded into a full blown college course on the subject at Woodbury University (now in the midst of its second semester!) as well as a successful webinar series that's been embraced by film and fashion fans alike.

Over the past year, I was also honored to be a part of some amazing events, including becoming a published expert for Christie's Inc. (for their auction of Elizabeth Taylor's first wedding gown) and a host for Turner Classic Movies at their 2013 TCM Classic Film Festival.  There's so much more ahead, including now working on the book for THE STYLE ESSENTIALS and being both a presenter and jury member at the International Fashion Film Awards in La Jolla this summer.

Since I just celebrated Ava Gardner's great style in The Killers (1946), I thought it would be fun to have her and then husband Frank Sinatra help blow out the candles of GlamAmor's birthday cake.  A huge THANK YOU to all who continue to support me and GlamAmor.  It thrills me that so many love the style of classic cinema and understand the importance of preserving its history.

I'm looking forward to the next year.  As Frank sings so well, the best is yet to come!

Thanks to Corbis for the images

Style Essentials--Ava Gardner is Dressed to Kill in Vera West for 1946's THE KILLERS

We're now in the thick of awards season here in Los Angeles with this month leading up to the Oscars.  Turner Classic Movies (TCM) always celebrates this time with their 31 Days of Oscar and has divided this year's schedule in interesting ways, including a toast to the 75th anniversary of the iconic films from 1939.  Though 1939 is heralded as the Greatest Year in Film History--and with good reason, as you'll see if you look at the long list--I often point to 1946 as a very close runner up.  This is especially true when it comes to film noir.  The genre is largely defined by the films that premiered in 1946 and featured many of the most famous femmes fatales and intrigantes.  This includes Rita Hayworth in Gilda, Lana Turner in The Postman Always Rings Twice, Lauren Bacall in The Big Sleep, Veronica Lake in The Blue Dahlia, Ingrid Bergman in Notorious, and of course, Ava Gardner in The Killers.

The Killers is a film filled with breakthroughs.  It was Burt Lancaster's first movie (at the ripe old age of 32), but in many ways it seemed like Ava Gardner's, too.  Both of them became big stars overnight.  Though Ava had been with MGM since 1941, it was her loan to Universal to make The Killers that led to her breakthrough performance.  MGM had hired Ava for her obvious beauty--photographs of her segued to a screen test that resulted in Louis B. Mayer famously pronouncing, "She can't sing, she can't act, she can't talk. She's terrific!" Yes, she was stunning, but it was her magnetism while simply standing onscreen that really evoked Mayer's enthusiasm.  You couldn't take your eyes off her.  Yet MGM couldn't seem to put her in substantive roles that capitalized on all Ava had to offer.  It took the great independent producer Mark Hellinger (High Sierra, The Naked City) to recognize she could go beyond being simply a sexpot (though she certainly was that, too) and had much more simmering beneath the surface.  He fought to borrow the worldly 23-year-old siren from MGM, and the role of femme fatale Kitty Collins made her the icon she is today.  Ava knew it; it was Hellinger she credited for the success of her career.

The Killers was a hit with the public and critics alike, and justifiably nominated for four Academy Awards.  Among those nominations, one was for Best Adapted Screenplay and that, too, can be traced to a contribution from Hellinger.  It was he who got the film rights from friend Ernest Hemingway for one of his short stories.  That said, though the opening 20 minutes of the film are true to Hemingway's original story, the remaining plot comes from screenwriter Anthony Veiller and, significantly, uncredited contributions from writer/directors John Huston (The Maltese Falcon) and Richard Brooks (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof).  The characters and plot that these men created would inspire many more to come, such as Quentin Tarantino for Pulp Fiction (1994).  Another Oscar nomination went to The Killers' director Robert Siodmak, well-deserved for the deep focus photography and extraordinary expressionist lighting that he and cinematographer Woody Bredell used to compose the film's impressive images.  Not surprisingly, Siodmak was born in Germany and started his career at UFA, the studio which gave birth to German expressionism in films such as Metropolis (1927) and Pandora's Box (1929).

Part of The Killers' visual style of course also comes from its incredible wardrobe, and the film should be considered a breakthrough for costume designer Vera West as well.  She is lesser known in the pages of film history, always surprising considering her immense talent and extensive career.  She began in fashion at the prestigious Lucile couturier--along with other costume design giants Howard Greer, Travis Banton, and Robert Kalloch--and then had a salon on New York City's 5th Avenue.  She then became head of costume design at Universal from 1928 to 1947, which means Vera's career in film lasted longer than legendary contemporaries Adrian at MGM and Banton at Paramount.

In contrast to the fashion forward films that both MGM and Paramount were known for, Universal focused more on monster movies like Dracula (1931) and Frankenstein (1931).  Though these would become iconic in their own right, this often cast Vera as the queen of "Horror Couture."  One should remember her great elegance in doing so, though--for example, Elsa Lanchester never looked so striking than in The Bride of Frankenstein (1935).  But Universal was also known for noir, and with The Killers Vera's fashion side could really shine.  We see some of the style that made her so sought-after, which only continued when she quit film to design couture for celebrity clients at the Beverly-Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills.  It's no wonder--Ava Gardner's wardrobe for The Killers featured an evening gown that has become so iconic it still influences fashion designers today such as Dior, Donna Karan, and Ben de Lisi.

That said, sadly one Oscar that The Killers was NOT nominated for was costume design.  This was not any oversight of the voters that year, but rather an oversight of the Academy itself; as I have oft discussed, the award for costume design was not even created until 1948.  This means that the nearly two decades of costume design since the beginning of the Oscars in 1929--much of it now iconic, as shown through The Style Essentials--was completely ignored by the Academy.  Thus, my way of righting some of this wrong is to celebrate it here on GlamAmor.  With regard to The Killers, let me just say that there are many black dresses from film that have made an impact on fashion, but the one from this movie is among the greats.  And so, during this Oscar season, for your consideration: Vera West's costume design for Ava Gardner in 1946's The Killers.

The opening shows some of Woody Bredell's cinematography and 

director Robert Siodmak's composition that has made The Killers so great

The two killers enter a room at the beginning of the film

that means the end for The Swede (Burt Lancaster)

Back to the beginning--flashbacks begin to tell the tale of how The Swede

meets and falls for femme fatale Kitty Collins (Ava Gardner)

The Swede can't take his eyes off Kitty and even his date doesn't blame him...

after all, she's wearing a one-shouldered gown so iconic it continues to influence fashion

Cinema Connection to fashion--Christian Dior for Mila Kunis at the 2012 Golden Globes (above)

and Donna Karan for Sofia Vergara on the 2013 SAG awards red carpet

Even in a seemingly innocent skirt and sweater, Kitty is trouble

as the rest of the guys plot their own

The sweater and skirt was first made popular on stars like Clara Bow in It (1927),

but came on strong in the 1940s with "Sweater Girls" like Ava and Lana Turner

Function and fit were the order of the day in the fabric-rationed 1940s,

so that helped make simple pencil skirts and blouses like this in fashion

The sweetheart neckline was extremely popular in the 1940s

and no one did it better than Ava who led men to their doom in dresses like this

Though the trench coat was first made popular for women by Greta Garbo in Woman of Affairs (1928),

film noir made it popular again through femmes fatales like Kitty Collins

If you're interested in learning more about The Killers and the best of 1940s costume design,

take a look at my past webinar from my HISTORY OF FASHION IN FILM series!

This article is also featured in Week Two of the great 31 Days of Oscar Blogathon