Post by Midge on Apr 18, 2011 14:19:57 GMT -6
Last week I went to a talk at the De Young Museum on fashion in classic Film given by Jan Wahl, a local media personality who grew up in Hollywood and has appeared on KRON-TV as a movie critic. Jan is sometimes as "the hat lady" because of her trademark flamboyantly-decorated hats. She also does a mean Mae West impersonation. 
Jan's lively and entertaining talk was illustrated with clips from many classic films. First we saw Adrian's Technicolor fashion show from the (otherwise black-and-white) The Women. Jan told us how Adrian turned Joan Crawford's wide shoulders into an asset by exaggerating them instead of trying to hide them.
We also saw a clip from Funny Face that showed off the talents of Hubert Givenchy and Edith Head. The fledgling model Jo Stockton (Audrey Hepburn) gains confidence as she poses for photographer Dick Avery (Fred Astaire) at a series of famous Paris landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre.
Jan shared her own personal recollections of Miss Hepburn, whom she had met late in her life when Hepburn was traveling on behalf of UNICEF. Jan told us what a warm, loving and beautiful person Hepburn was in real life and what joy she received from helping others.
Jan then showed us how a single costume design changed women's fashions for years to come. This was the stunning white shorts, halter and turban worn by Lana Turner in The Postman Always Rings Twice. The designer was Irene. In the scene we saw John Garfield's first glimpse of Lana Turner. He is seated at a barstool in the roadside diner her husband owns. Suddenly he hears a sound, and his attention is drawn to a small metal object rolling across the floor toward his feet. He looks down to see that it is a lipstick case. The camera tracks across the floor to a pair of luscious legs in white high heels, then it slowly tilts up to reveal Miss Turner, a vision in white. Jan said that this one scene created a fashion craze for turbans, halter tops and shorts in the 1940's, and it's easy to see why.
Then Jan told us an astonishing story about Irene. Despite her successful career, she was an unhappy women who and ended her life as a suicide. The reason, Jan says, is that Irene had an obsession with Gary Cooper, who had no interest in her despite his reputation as a serial womanizer. I had never heard this story before. If true, it is terribly sad.
One of the other designers whose work we saw were Travilla in the very funny scene from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes where Marilyn Monroe, who is flirting with wealthy Charles Coburn, tries on the diamond tiara owned by his wife, the snobbish and matronly Norma Varden.
The movie clips and the talk were so enjoyable in themselves that I have to confess that at times I hardly noticed the clothing! After the Lana Turner clip, the short-statured and chubby Jan quipped that her husband is not exactly the romantic type. "I put on shorts and a turban and tried kicking my lipstick across the floor to him, and. . . I got nothin'!"
She added that his idea of a romantic movie is Patton. I can relate. 
Jan's lively and entertaining talk was illustrated with clips from many classic films. First we saw Adrian's Technicolor fashion show from the (otherwise black-and-white) The Women. Jan told us how Adrian turned Joan Crawford's wide shoulders into an asset by exaggerating them instead of trying to hide them.
We also saw a clip from Funny Face that showed off the talents of Hubert Givenchy and Edith Head. The fledgling model Jo Stockton (Audrey Hepburn) gains confidence as she poses for photographer Dick Avery (Fred Astaire) at a series of famous Paris landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre.
Jan shared her own personal recollections of Miss Hepburn, whom she had met late in her life when Hepburn was traveling on behalf of UNICEF. Jan told us what a warm, loving and beautiful person Hepburn was in real life and what joy she received from helping others.
Jan then showed us how a single costume design changed women's fashions for years to come. This was the stunning white shorts, halter and turban worn by Lana Turner in The Postman Always Rings Twice. The designer was Irene. In the scene we saw John Garfield's first glimpse of Lana Turner. He is seated at a barstool in the roadside diner her husband owns. Suddenly he hears a sound, and his attention is drawn to a small metal object rolling across the floor toward his feet. He looks down to see that it is a lipstick case. The camera tracks across the floor to a pair of luscious legs in white high heels, then it slowly tilts up to reveal Miss Turner, a vision in white. Jan said that this one scene created a fashion craze for turbans, halter tops and shorts in the 1940's, and it's easy to see why.
Then Jan told us an astonishing story about Irene. Despite her successful career, she was an unhappy women who and ended her life as a suicide. The reason, Jan says, is that Irene had an obsession with Gary Cooper, who had no interest in her despite his reputation as a serial womanizer. I had never heard this story before. If true, it is terribly sad.
One of the other designers whose work we saw were Travilla in the very funny scene from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes where Marilyn Monroe, who is flirting with wealthy Charles Coburn, tries on the diamond tiara owned by his wife, the snobbish and matronly Norma Varden.
The movie clips and the talk were so enjoyable in themselves that I have to confess that at times I hardly noticed the clothing! After the Lana Turner clip, the short-statured and chubby Jan quipped that her husband is not exactly the romantic type. "I put on shorts and a turban and tried kicking my lipstick across the floor to him, and. . . I got nothin'!"
She added that his idea of a romantic movie is Patton. I can relate. 
I find it hard to believe that someone could land on an awning in a big hotel and that no one would see her. I've got a morbid side and love to read about tragic lives and strange deaths, so thanks for the link. I bookmarked it.