IF NEW York is the fifth character in Sex And The City, then fashion has got to be the sixth. Over the decades, fashion has played a part – supporting or leading – in any number of movies, from films set in the fashion world to films in which the characters, like the SATC quartet, demonstrate a healthy, if not obsessive, interest in matters sartorial. To celebrate fashion's leading role in Sex And The City: The Movie, we offer SW readers our guide to the best fashion flicks of all time.
THE ugly-duckling story has been reworked time and again in the movies, with the fashion world acting as fairy godmother to such "frumps" as Audrey Hepburn in the 1957 musical Funny Face and Anne Hathaway in The Devil Wears Prada, to name but two. Bo
th ducklings were transformed into elegant swans, thanks to a few brainwashing sessions and the influence of an overbearing older woman who just happened to be a fashion magazine editor.
In the classic 1942 melodrama Now, Voyager, Bette Davis – playing a sad sack of a spinster with a caterpillar mono-brow, jamjar specs and hair scraped into an unflattering bun – emerges from her cocoon a soignée socialite, with a classy new wardrobe, much of which wouldn't look out of place in a fashion spread today. Her oversized, squishy black clutch bag is even more covetable than her romance with the dashing Paul Henreid.
Audrey Hepburn, one of the most innately stylish women ever to grace the silver screen, starred in a string of Cinderella-style movies: in Roman Holiday (1953), her breakthrough film, she played a princess who escapes from her duties for a day during which she not only lets her hair down but has it chopped off, and ditches her formal gowns for a shirt, skirt and pumps combo (topped off by a rather bohemian scarf – all you scarf-wearing Apprentice candidates take note). In Hepburn's other 1954 film, Sabrina, the heroine goes to Paris a clueless teenager and returns as a couture-wearing, ultra-chic man magnet.
BEHIND THE SCENESPOPULATED by the world's beautiful people, and arguably some of the nuttiest, the fashion world has an obvious appeal for documentary makers.
Last year's Lagerfeld Confidential, which followed enigmatic Karl Lagerfeld as he prepared to present a new collection for Chanel, is not half as much fun as Unzipped. This 1995 documentary charted the progress of New York designer Isaac Mizrahi as he created a collection inspired by the silent film Nanook of the North.
Anyone who was anyone in the mid-1990s popped up in Unzipped, as well as in Robert Altman's mockumentary Pret-a-Porter (1994), which was filmed during a Fashion Week in Paris, capturing the frenzy of the real event while a fictional comedy-drama was played out in the foreground.
Bizarrely, the best documentary for a fashion fix is a film which, on paper, has nothing to do with the industry, but which has been adopted by it and turned into a reference point for a particular kind of camp, wacky glamour.
Grey Gardens, a 1975 documentary shot by the Maysles brothers, was actually a portrait of two eccentric, Miss Havisham-esque relatives of Jackie Kennedy. One of them, Little Edie, inadvertently gained a cultish following among style-watchers thanks to her home-made "costumes", which involved a lot of 56-year-old leg on show and an assortment of garments adapted as turbans. Search for "Little Edie" on YouTube and you'll see what I mean.
This documentary has inspired fashion shoots, a fashion collection (American designer Todd Oldham once cited Little Edie as an inspiration), a Broadway musical and a soon-to-be-released movie starring Drew Barrymore.
STYLE MANIFESTOSIF WATCHING an episode of Sex and the City was like flicking through an edition of Vogue, then revisiting such sartorially sublime films as the 1958 romantic comedy Bell, Book and Candle – in which Manhattan witch Kim Novak is artfully attired in variations on the pillarbox red, leopardskin and black palette – is akin to studying the classics.
Some movies are required viewing for style students, and most of the mid-1950s output of Grace Kelly falls into this category. Like Hepburn, Kelly showed women how to do casual elegance and elegant casual. Look no further than her two best Hitchcock films: Rear Window (1954) – in which she's first seen in a stunning ensemble of plain black, almost off-the-shoulder top, black patent belt and full, wispy, white tulle skirt – and To Catch a Thief (1955), from which her draped Greek goddess evening gowns and cool, Riviera resort gear linger in the memory. Debonair cat-burglar Cary Grant's outfit – navy and white stripy pullover, red silk scarf, blue trousers, tan deck shoes – is equally striking.
Other films that should be on the fashionista's must-see list include the sexy 1959 comedy Pillow Talk and the 1964 Hitchcock thriller Marnie, for the clean-cut, block colour suits worn by Doris Day and Tippi Hedren.
For the "luxe" look, check out Faye Dunaway's clobber in the original version of The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), and for the bohemian, early 1970s trend – A-line skirt, long boots, layered hair – Jane Fonda in Klute is your reference point.
COUTURE ON CAMERAIN THE past, most of the designs we saw in films were created by specialist costume designers, though there were a few exceptions.
Before Sarah Jessica Parker brought Manolo Blahnik shoes to the masses, Audrey Hepburn gave millions their first taste of Paris couture by having her friend, Hubert de Givenchy, dress her on screen as well as off. One of their greatest collaborations was Funny Face, which has a magnificent fashion shoot sequence with Hepburn posing in a series of striking Givenchy outfits in different locations across Paris.
The Hepburn-Givenchy partnership can also be seen in action in two of the 1960s' most influential fashion movies, Breakfast at Tiffany's and Charade.
TREND-SETTERS
EVERY now and then a film comes along which changes the way we all dress, or at least has a profound influence on popular fashions. There seemed to be more of these in the 1960s and 70s than ever before, and the most important include the 1970 tearjerker Love Story, which crystallised the "preppie" look of corduroys and jumpers.
This look wasn't too far removed from the big fashion/movie story of the late 1970s: Annie Hall (1977). This peerless Woody Allen romantic comedy starred Diane Keaton as a dippy, pseudo-intellectual who liked to dress in men's trousers, waistcoats, oversized hats and tennis shoes. Not only did Annie Hall launch a new style of movie comedy, it also spawned it's own "look".
A decade earlier, it was the fashions of the past – as interpreted by the designers of the day – which caught the public imagination. As with many period films of the 1960s and 70s, Bonnie and Clyde (1967) reflected its own era as much as the one it purported to portray (the 1930s). Faye Dunaway's jaunty beret, long bob, fitted pullovers and A-line skirts set a trend – the production of the traditional French beret is said to have doubled as a result.
1Marilyn Monroe's white halterneck dress from the unforgettable subway grating scene in The Seven Year Itch
2Audrey Hepburn's black Givenchy column dress, worn in the opening sequence of Breakfast at Tiffany's
3James Dean's ensemble in Rebel Without A Cause: white T-shirt, blue jeans, red zip-up jacket
4The slinkily slit, strapless black satin gown worn by Rita Hayworth in the scene when she seductively sang Put the Blame on Mame in Gilda
5Marilyn Monroe once again, this time in the shocking pink, strapless satin gown from the Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend number in How to Marry a Millionaire
6Judy Garland's gingham pinafore dress in The Wizard of Oz
7Gene Kelly's T-shirt, chinos and loafers combo in An American in Paris
8Rosalind Russell's black-and-white striped skirt suit (with matching hat) in His Girl Friday
9Snow White's puff-sleeved, multicoloured gown from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
10Humphrey Bogart's long, belted raincoat and fedora, in both Casablanca and The Big Sleep
The full article contains 1369 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
