GlamAmor Video! THE STYLE ESSENTIALS: CONVERSATIONS with Guest Monika Henreid

Last Fall I decided to start a new video series for GlamAmor called The Style Essentials: Conversations. For those who are new to GlamAmor, The Style Essentials is my list of movies with the most iconic costume design that impacted fashion when they first premiered and continue to do so today. The idea was to create a series where I would speak with other experts about the history of the films that feature such influential costume design. My relationships with people in the classic film community are so important to me, so what could be better than capturing some of our conversations on camera. 

I knew my first guest would have to be my friend Monika Henreid. Monika is the daughter of Paul Henreid - star of Now, Voyager and Casablanca, both among The Style Essentials - and is a talented filmmaker in her own right. When we get together, we love to talk about film history. Our conversation in the video includes quite a bit about the making of those two movies and their backstories, including those of the actors and directors.

Of course you'll also learn more about the costume designer of Now, Voyager and Casablanca - Orry-Kelly. The video starts with an introduction to his life and career, and then Monika and I discuss his talent, some of what makes his designs unique, and things he needed to consider when designing for Bette Davis and Ingrid Bergman. We also talk a bit about the process of costume design, particularly what went into costumes for Paul Henreid. It's somewhat rare that men's costume design is discussed, so I hope you like that aspect of the conversation.

Our talk is actually quite timely. For one, 2017 is the 75th anniversary of both Now, Voyager and Casablanca. January also happens to be Paul Henreid's birthday month. The stars could not be more aligned to have this conversation and share it with you all. I hope you enjoy it.

Monika Henreid and I after our conversation (of course I'm wearing vintage with an Orry-Kelly collar) 

and at the Roosevelt Hotel at last year's TCM Classic Film Festival

 

Orry-Kelly (above and below left) was contemporaries with other legendary costume designers

 (l-r) Bernard Newman (RKO), Travis Banton (Paramount), Edith Head (Paramount), Adrian (MGM), and Irene (MGM)

Striking the set after shooting wraps

and sunset over Santa Monica beach that night

GlamAmor-ous Men of Style--Cary Grant

In honor of Cary Grant's birthday, I thought it was time to celebrate him as one of GlamAmor's Men of Style. To be honest, I probably consider him the Man of Style...and I'm not alone.  Designers like Ralph Lauren regularly use Cary as inspiration for their men's collections.  It's no mystery why.  For starters, he's just such physical perfection--tall, dark, and handsome.  But then there's that certain quality about him...the elegance, the sophistication, and the confident and classic style choices he made throughout his life.  What's most interesting about Cary, though, is how much of his seemingly innate sense of style was actually learned.

Born Archibald (Archie) Leach in impoverished Bristol, England, it's hard to reconcile the man he was with the man he would become.  The studios almost immediately changed his name, and his persona came largely as the result of being in the hands of four great directors.  Howard Hawks highlighted his masculinity.  Leo McCarey enhanced his empathy and humor.  George Kukor taught him sophistication.  And then Alfred Hitchcock so brilliantly brought it all together, using Edith Head to polish him even more with impeccably tailored suits and tuxedos.  It was this combination of influences along with his own interest in the upper classes that created what and who we now know as Cary Grant.  As Cary once said, "I pretended to be somebody I wanted to be until finally I became that person.  Or he became me."

Cary and roommate Randolph Scott at the house they shared on Santa Monica beach

Manly in a leather bomber jacket and khakis 

with Rita Hayworth in Howard Hawks' Only Angels Have Wings

In sophisticated suits to play one of the upper class 

with Katharine Hepburn in George Kukor's The Philadelphia Story

In Edith Head's capable hands, first as an FBI agent 

opposite Ingrid Bergman in Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious...

...then as a retired cat burglar opposite a glowing Grace Kelly in To Catch a Thief...

...and then in a tailored grey suit and amazing eyewear 

as an advertising executive in North by Northwest.

One of my favorite things about Cary is his astute use of accent color in his silk ties, 

such as alongside Audrey Hepburn in Charade and Deborah Kerr in An Affair to Remember

A man with ageless style, Cary remained true to the classics throughout his life...rain or shine