I've heard that this movie has some beautiful ballgown scenes in it. I love watching movies with flowing ballgowns in it. Is this the movie of its time to show the best gowns on parade?
shareYes, the ball gowns are divine, but the thing to remember, especially in the fashion show sequence, is that this movie is a tribute to Adrian, MGM's finest designer. If you are familiar with MGM, you will notice that there are hats which were designed for The Wizard of Oz, there are clothes created for Garbo
and other stars of the period, all of which came from Adrian.
The Women is an exquisite film for fashion.
IMO, over 50% of the beauty of the costumery in those days was the use of natural, and not synthetic, materials. I studied fashion in my salad days, and one of my most enjoyable exercises was searching out the silk crepes, satins and velvets they used. Today, it's mostly polyester-based, such as rayon, unless you're buying haute couture.
The first sequins, from the Middle Ages, were made of actual fish scales, hence their originally round shape. Today's sequins are manufactured, as it's cheaper and faster to produce. But, as in synthetic fabrics, you lost the sheen, hand and luminosity the originals provided.
Adrian had the use of those gorgeous natural fabrics and used them to perfection. They lit wonderfully and gave such a sumptious depth to the movie that contributed greatly to its success.
My favorite costume of all time isn't by Adrian, and isn't from "The Women" (1939). It's from a little-remembered Ginger Rogers' film, "Lady in the Dark," (1944), which featured costumes by Edith Head.
It's a gown from the fantasy circus scene and worn by Ms. Rogers. It's a two-piece formal gown consisting of a mink bolero jacket with a long mink skirt, When Ms. Rogers removes the jacket, it reveals a lining of fabulous gold embroidery on the jacket, and a tight-fitting gold blouse, also embroidered in glorious gold figures. But that wasn't all of it. The skirt was split in two down the front and both sides, when spread wide, featurer the same gold embroidery lining the mink skirt and the gown underneath.
Breathtaking. I still dream about that gown, even 30 years after last seeing the movie.
Not only were the gowns beautiful, but the actresses who wore them were perfectly coiffed and made up, and possessed a sense of poise and grace that were instilled into them by their studios. Not so with today's "celebrities", who look as awkward as elephants in orthopedic shoes!
shareLOL!!! Cruel analogy, but, oh, so true!!
All I could think of while watching this movie was how absolutely beautiful the clothes and ballgowns were! They are simply divine!
"I like to think you killed a man...it's the romantic in me."
It's fun to look at the outfits and gowns, in the fashion show and the rest of the film, and see some that were absolutely of their time, some that are just over-the-top weird, some that would be right in style now, and some that make you wish they'd come back in style.
The one that sticks in my mind is the red and white with the angled piece across the front, that is the subject of the argument between Sylvia and the model after the fashion show (it looks good in B&W, too).
Some of the hats are like characters in the story. Sylvia's are as goofy as she is (as are some of her outfits). When preparing to leave for Reno, Mary is wearing one reminiscent of a Pilgrim hat. On the train to Reno, Peggy's has fragile-looking flowers that are loose and flop around, enhancing her vulnerability and the sudden quality of her decision to leave.