Marlene Dietrich - Morocco / Fashion In Film Friday

Fashions of every era have always been motivated by movie costumes since way before there was even color or sound in films.  For example the German stage and silent film actress Marlene Dietrich was a fashion icon of the 20's and was considered a scandalous rebel in her time due to her love of masculine attire.  She wore a top hat and tuxedo in the 1928 vintage film Morocco which raised eyebrows and more than likely began the dawn of sexual ambiguity in clothing styles.   

 In regards to her style she was quoted as saying...
"I dress for the image, not for myself, not for the public and definitely not for men"...

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Fashion In Film Friday - The Flapper

Since the early 1900's when motion pictures were first coming to life, costumes have been the most important element.  Aside from the actors capability to make you believe in the characters they portray, the wardrobe for each character has been just as much an essential element to each film.  For as long as we can remember, the fashions we've seen in the movies we love to watch have had a major impact on our own personal style choices. The very first vintage film that sparked my interest was "The Flapper", a non talkie flick made in 1919. Actress Olive Thomas was 25 at the time she played the role of a 16 year old pretending to be a flapper. Thomas' look in the film was the embodiment of the trends of the approaching 1920's, from the bobbed hairstyles & cloche hats, to the short hemmed fringe flapper dresses that shimmied.

Olive Thomas, born in 1894, was an American silent film actress and socialite who gained her rise to stardom after being hired as a dancer in the Ziegfield Follies.  A vixen in her time, known for being a wild party girl, Thomas posed nude for a Peruvian artist before she went on to sign with an international film company to which she acted in over twenty movies in four years.  Her untimely death at the young age of 26, happened by accident when on a coke binge, she mistook her husbands syphilis meds (liquid mercury bi chloride) for either water or alcohol?  Either way, she screwed up big time and it cost her, her life...

'Flappers' by common definition, were women who were seen as non conventional in that they had no shame in their game and were totally not unopposed to wearing excessive makeup, drinking booze, smoking, driving and most of all had no issues with professing their attitudes towards sexuality which was unheard of at the time!  Sounds like they laid the ground work out for us!
I absolutely am in love with the designs of this era and am convinced that this timeless style will always be 'IN'.  Just this past year we are still seeing designers at the board, creating their unique versions of the 'modern flapper'

pics: silentsaregolden.com, tumblr.com, myspace.com, maureentillman.blogspot.com, freenewfashiondesign.com

Handsome Girl

Women have been trying to wear men's clothes for ages and seriously, how many of you have found it extra cozy to slip your man's tee shirt or hoodie on?  And what about the boyfriend jeans style for ladies?  Or how about when it was popular to wear the top to your guys pajamas?  James Brown sang "It's A Man's World" & I guess he was on to something, as women have been trying to incorporate the power status of their male counterpart's attire into their wardrobe since the 1920's when vintage silent film star Marlene Dietrich frequently wore tuxedo's & suits and thus began the birth of sexual ambiguity in regards to the usual 'boy/girl' social norms regarding clothing.  

Her idea, borrowed from the boys staples (i.e. fitted jacket, trouser slacks, neck tie & maybe even a fedora) has trailed into present day designs as women seek to continue the attempt to feminize men's styles.  The style is now called, the 'handsome girl'...

Designer's such as Yves St. Laurent & COCO Chanel have been tailoring suits for women with a dude appeal for decades...

Back in 2008, the eccentric designer John Galliano touted that if YSL can put women in men's suits, he was going to go out on a limb and fashion a man skirt and not just for the Scottish bros!  I don't think it took off as well as he'd expected.  There's just some instances when gender neutrality in fashion has a cut off point dont'cha think?

: sodahead.com , hijabi-girl.blogspot.com , dejourmagazine.com , nymag.com 

Fashion In Film Friday

In addition to our Mod Mondays, we're going to be doing Fashion In Film Friday's here at Retro Threadz.  Each week we'll be picking one movie that inspired the world of fashion.  Fashions of every era have always been motivated by movie costumes since way before there was even color or sound in films.  For example the German stage and silent film actress Marlene Dietrich was a fashion icon of the 20's and was considered a scandalous rebel in her time due to her love of masculine attire.  She wore a top hat and tuxedo in the 1928 vintage film Morocco which raised eyebrows and more than likely began the dawn of sexual ambiguity in clothing styles.   

In regards to her style she was quoted as saying...
"I dress for the image, not for myself, not for the public and definitely not for men"...

pics: zerode.wordpress.com, mythicalmonkey.blogspot.com