Mary Tyler Moore, We Will Miss You

Mary Tyler Moore

(1936 - 2017)

Mary Tyler Moore

Here are links to blog posts I wrote on how she (or more truthfully, her characters) influenced me in fashion and in home decor:

Fashion in Film: Want To Dress Like Laura Petrie?

Fashion in Film: Laura Petrie - The Dresses!

SHELTER Sets: "You're Gonna Make It After All..."

Not only that, the woman known to "turn the world on with her smile", accomplished an amazing F-U to Hollywood's love of typecasting when she starred as the ultimate cold and with-holding mother, Beth Jarrett, in one of my favorite films, 1980s Ordinary People.

She was amazing and will be missed. My condolences go out to her family and loved ones.

Images: CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images

Pants: I don't need Gene Kelly to be happy...

I remember when I was a kid that on almost any day you could view an old black & white movie. Sometimes it would be a musical starring Gene Kelly (Brigadoon, An American in Paris, etc.) or a dramatic classic like The Strange Love of Martha Ivers or The Lady Eve with Barbara Stanwyck. There was somewhere in these films that I could disappear into...a world where men wore suits the majority of the time and women coordinated their shoes with their bags and hats.

Dancing and Singing In The Rain!

Today, give me a man wearing a crew-cut or high v-neck sweater with a white t-shirt and flat front or pleated tapered pants with a deep break at the wingtips (which he will also wear) and I'll be in love.

If he can dance, all the better.

When I was in college, I wanted those pants for myself and slapped inspiration pics in my fashion scrapbook:

Images I saved from an old Tweeds catalog. Remember Tweeds?

 

Nowadays, pants such as these can still be found at this cool company, Old Town of Norfolk in the UK. Their design philosophy is described as "simplicity and restraint with minimal styling" however, I feel these have more style than many pants produced today.

and Denes No. 5s for women!

Unfortunately, their pants are not cheap, as they are made to order from your true measurements in 4 to 6 weeks. In fact, you visit their adorable showroom, try on the styles to get an idea of the fit, and then select your fabric and color by use of fabric swatches, and then wait. No fast fashion here! You are paying for the well-done work and in addition, there is shipping if you live outside of the UK.

Another popular British-based company,  Merchant & Mills, seemed to have taken notice of this older established company. They are now selling the type of textiles and notions that Old Town might use in their completed makes. Though they are also producing sewing patterns that look to follow this industrial utility aesthetic, at the moment their designs are more minimalist in design details.

I hope that either they or another company will start producing patterns with more industrial age details like brace buttons (for suspenders), buttoning cross pockets, waist adjustment toggles, and button flies that make up the Old Town designs.  It will then be up to us, the makers, to construct them out of durable and hardworking fabrics such as heavy cotton drill, canvas, moleskin, corduroy, and 12 oz. denim.
 
Well...I can hope!

Jaywick Smock Dress

 Oh, but back to Old Town, they also have great dresses!

Images: Source unknown; my personal photo; the Old Town website.

Fashion In Film: Funny Girl (1968)

Director: William Wyler
Barbra Streisand, Omar Sharif
Music: Bob Merrill, Jule Styne
Costume Design: Irene Sharaff

Hel-lo Gorgeous!

As a child, I first saw Barbra Streisand in this movie; the love story of Fanny Brice and Nicky Arnstein, and I thought she was one of most beautiful women I had ever seen. I remember being shocked to find later that most people did not think she was attractive. Luckily, looking at the film later, I still believe in my first impression. In this film and in the flashback scenes in On A Clear Day You Can See Forever, it is obvious how regal and elegant Ms. Streisand was. Not only did the clothes flatter her figure while still being close to the fashions of the period in which the movie is based, the makeup and hair enhance her unique good looks of oval face, almond eyes, high cheekbones, and aquiline nose.

 

The movie begins depicting the ingénue Fanny Brice as she tries to break into vaudeville. One of the first things we see her in is a public schoolgirl smock, meant to illustrate her youth and innocence. Despite that, I find the white version of this top very interesting because of the drape of the fabric, it looks luxurious to me.

Her big break , "I'd Rather Be Blue", comes after she participates in an embarrassing early performance on roller skates. What I took from this costume is the unique color combination of moss green and blue striped velvet with a purple tulle skirt trimmed in satin with a matching sash. Not to be too sedate (ha!), it is also decorated with huge bunches of plastic grapes.

Fanny's big break comes when she is highlighted in a bridal skit as a beauty while her own self-consciousness takes the skit from schmaltzy romanticism to a shocking and funny conclusion, which almost results in her being fired. In the movie, this makes her a comedy star.

 

The happy couple.

While that performance makes her a star it also wins her an admirer, the wealthy, suave, and wickedly handsome Nicky Arnstein (Omar Sharif). This is where the true FASHION of the movie begins. The clothes she wears as his lover and then as his wife are gorgeous. My favorite pre-marriage is the fussy purple dress (blue chiffon over purple satin) worn for her seduction in “You are Woman, I Am Man.” It is over-the-top because of its color, ample cleavage, sequins, beads, and floral embellishments; it even includes a voluminous bubble-skirted upper half ending in a hobbled skirt.

 

Clearly in this movie, designer Irene Sharaff chose to put the sartorial focus on Ms. Streisand’s nape and decolletage. Most of the formal dresses in the movie feature low scooped or squared necklines, much lower and more exposed than the true fashion of that time.

Movie version

The Broadway stage version

The "People" dress above was designed in olive green silk marquisette over pink satin which gave it an iridescence.

  

Another favorite is a dress that seemed to have been dipped in diamond dust. Accessorized with a matching clutch and headband, the dress just glows on film. As you can see above, while the dress is gorgeous when on display, it truly transforms itself when worn by Ms. Streisand.

 

As described on liveauctioneers.com: Full length, long sleeved evening dress with a low cut bodice and empire style waist. Constructed in layers, there is a fine silk under-shell with an overlay of chiffon netting encrusted with sequins and rhinestones. The very bottom of the dress has a layer of crinoline and a double layer of silk under dress giving the bottom a full appearance. The sleeves feature snaps as does the entire back of the over-lay. 

The photography and design of the "My Man" scene is again done to her great advantage. Dressing her in all black velvet with a black background and a lone spotlight on her torso, her skin seems as alabaster as her pearl drop earrings. The lighting and framing help make the already emotional song even more dramatic and powerful.

Everyone remembers the barge scene of "Don't Rain On My Parade" but what about the rich marmalade orange of her ensemble? Perfectly coordinated with the yellow roses in her bouquet and her brown sable or mink hat and muff, the two-piece wool outfit with Nehru collar was cropped at the front waist but constructed like a frock coat with "tails", The zig-zag overlapping tiers of the skirt followed the hobbled silhouette of the times and really show when she frantically runs for both her cab and for the boats. The dress was also tested in emerald green which I may have preferred when shown against the blue tug boat. I also think the color may have been more flattering for Ms. Streisand's complexion.

How strange that she is also wearing the same color combination as when they finally decide to call the relationship quits. Now in the 1930s, Franny is wearing a Sonia Delaunay-inspired dress in pumpkin orange, black, and white, with a long rope of pearls. It is worn under a leopard and black fur coat with matching hat. 

Miscellaneous costumes:

Worn when touring their new mansion.

A "housedress"

 

*Costume information from liveautioneers.com

Also see this piece on the Le Cinema Dreams blog. 

Fashion in Film: Camelot (1967)

Director: Joshua Logan
Vanessa Redgrave, Richard Harris, Franco Nero
Music: Alan Jay Lerner, Frederick Loewe
Costume Designer: John Truscott*

This also just happens to be one of my favorite movie musicals, along with The Music Man, Funny Face, Sound of Music, Company, West Side Story, and Sweeney Todd**. The embedded video towards the bottom of the post is a medley of all the songs from Camelot. Enjoy!

Vanessa Redgrave, at her most beautiful, is first seen dressed in white arriving for her first winter in Camelot. Hooded in white fur, bundled in blankets, and wearing white gloves she is delivered to her husband-to-be in a horse drawn carriage. From this image, you can see that the costume design in this film will not be boring.

The majority of the costumes of note in this movie are worn by her character, Guinevere. A variety can be seen in the Take Me to the Fair number seen here.

Designer John Truscott’s costumes for Guinevere ran the gamut from a mustard cowl neck gown to a plain smock with a mesh-like vest (see below) to gleaming gold and burgundy red gowns. The design of the regular day gowns were perfect, as they not only evoked the medieval period of the play but also reflected the contemporary fashions of the late 1960s. The long loose hair, daisy crowns, and long A-line gowns could have been seen on the streets at that time.

A gorgeous Haleen Holt illustration of Truscott’s designs show the variety of looks envisioned for Queen Guinevere.

The headpieces, hats, and hairstyles were highly imaginative and some of the braided styles are amazing. The film displayed Vanessa as a great beauty, important to the plot as this Guinevere is loved/or admired by all of the male knights and Arthur, her king.

Moving onto the true reason for this post: my up close and personal view (at the VMFA Hollywood Costume exhibit) of one of my favorite cinematic gowns, the unique wedding gown of Queen Guinevere.

Costumes of historic English Queens, note the incredible texture.

My favorite angle of the dress with the open sides.

An example of the crochet overdress

The exquisite wedding gown arrives in the movie, lit by candlelight, shimmering out of the darkness. It is designed with a bateau neckline, long sleeves, in an a-line shape with an attached cape that flows over the shoulders and arms and then drops into a large circular train. The overdress is composed of a gown crocheted from fine wool to resemble airy spider webs that had tiny shells sewed into the center of each one. It is open at the side for easy removal and tied with cords.

Underneath is a shimmery kirtle (or cote-hardie) made of something resembling distressed velvet. The third and most dramatic element of the dress, the train, is made from fine mesh embroidered with another loose cobweb design in silver. Along this design, the fabric is embellished with bleached pumpkin seeds tied and hanging every few inches from the design, much like one would expect pearls on a couture gown.

The outfit is breathtakingly beautiful in person. Luckily, this dress is seen in motion in the clip below (it appears at 3:50); however, we do not have the experience of hearing the unique sounds of the seeds as it moves.

More images of the wedding dress can be found at the Fashion Media Arts Council and its own Hollywood Costume review.

An outfit that seems to fit more with the 1981 Arthurian tale, Excalibur, is this gold reptilian-like costume, complete with a lizard-like headpiece. This outfit would have perfectly suited Helen Mirren's Morgana/Morgan le Faye character in the later film much more than the Redgrave earth mother/flower child-influenced Guinevere in 1967.

From sketch to studio costume to film.

An exquisite design constructed of diamond shapes combined to make a monumental armored gown of interlocking diamonds of copper or bronze. The short-sleeved overdress and cape are hinged like chain mail over a long-sleeved gold patterned high-necked gown. It was then topped with a horned lizard-like hood and crown.

Surprisingly, I also found the male costumes, particularly the armor, beautiful. The details as seen in these few photos show an attention to detail so amazing its upsetting to know that it barely was noticed on film. I love the basket weave-like chain mail of the tunic worn under King Arthur’s breastplate and the difference in weight and look of the kind used in the chain mail gorget (cowl) arranged around his neck for protection.

Here is a costume the knight Lancelot Du Lac wore during his boastful song C’est Moi. The shirt is constructed of silk with a smocked waistband and cuffs, both embellished with violet embroidery on the cuffs, waistband, and neckline.

 

I must confess that the purpose of this post was to document only the wedding dress. However, looking at the film again, I realized the whole production impressed me. This should be no mystery since John Truscott; the costume designer was also the production designer for the film. Unfortunately, Mr. Truscott only designed one other major motion picture because he was considered too extravagant and expensive. However, look at the results!

*John Truscott won Best Costume Design that year for this film.
** The last three all with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim!

Illustrations: Haleen Holt
Images: Bettmann/Corbis, Julienslive.com auction site