Costuming in Film: Funny Face - The Evolution of Audrey Hepburn's Look

Hello hello,

Before I get into the costume review I must mention my going away for a little 3 week vacation to Europe now that I’m done school! The itinerary will consist of Amsterdam and Serbia (random, I know) for some sightseeing and visiting family and friends. I’m extremely excited as I haven’t been travelling since I started school and it’ll be nice to get away and decompress.

Will I be updating the blog you ask? Most definitely. I thought it would be fun to include some photos of my travels as well, so I'm really looking forward to making some worthwhile memories in the next coming weeks!

Now for the review…

I thought it would be fun to do a throwback costume review and mix things up a little bit, and what better movie to do it with than 1957’s Funny Face? For those of you who haven’t seen it, it is a fashionista’s dream. I'm not even a huge fan of musicals at all and this movie holds a dear place in my heart. The film revolves around a doe-eyed and young Audrey Hepburn, who works at a book store, only to be scouted as the new face of a fashion magazine. Along the way she falls for the Dick Avery, (the photographer who scouted her) played by Fred Astaire. She also grows to be liked by the magazine’s editor, played by the hilarious Kay Thompson. A fun fact about the movie is that Thompson's character is said to be modelled after Diana Vreeland, the late editor of Vogue.

The film's legendary costume designer, Edith Head was one of the best in the business, working with all of the top Hollywood starlets at the time. She also boasts an impressive 8 Academy Awards as a costume designer, which is to this day more than any other person. However, Edith can't take all the credit for the movie's extravagant garments. Givenchy designed all of Hepburn's Paris wardrobe, as stated in the film's opening credits. The gowns are absolutely spectacular, and I'll get to them later as there are a total of 9 I believe (!)

I thought we could get started with the adorable Jo, played by Audrey. When we first see her she is portrayed as the polar opposite of a fashion icon (I still found her cute, but that’s beside the point). She’s wearing frumpy clothes that are extremely shapeless, telling the viewer that all Dick Avery had to go by when scouting her was her “funny face”. This also speaks to her character, who doesn't believe in fashion magazines and “silly women” as she calls them. She’s wearing shapeless clothes to rebel and show her discontent to anything fashion-related.

As she later on gets hauled to Paris for numerous photoshoots, we see her slowly changing her style. She escapes her frumpy wardrobe and while not being photographed she wears all black. She's still an individual that won't succumb to trends, wearing all black keeps her neutral and unaffected by fashion. She also spends a lot of time in underground Parisian cafes and bars, home to intellectual and artsy beatniks at the time. Her all-black style is pretty beatnik in itself, with the black cigarette pants and black turtle neck.

Her gorgeous pieces she wears while she's being photographed I don't believe really speak to her character, as she's posing in them for a magazine, but it would be treason not to include them, so...

Lovely, aren't they?

Next on our list is Maggie Prescott, editor of Quality magazine. She is the polar opposite of Jo, completely enthralled in a fashionable lifestyle. Dressed to the nines in a plethora of one of her dazzling ensembles, Maggie always looks in charge. An interesting observation about Maggie’s costumes is that her neck is almost always covered by what she’s wearing, speaking maybe to her character and how uptight she is.

Dick Avery, Jo’s love interest and photographer, isn’t as uptight as Maggie although he works in the same industry. His colour palette includes soft colours; pastel blues, pinks, and yellows. He’s got a kind heart and delicate colour palette to go with it.

Dick’s shirts usually aren't buttoned all the way and his ties are undone, which speaks to his laid back personality, unlike Maggie’s. He usually rolls up his sleeves while he’s working, or casually drapes a sweater on his back. In the fishing scene, he sports a pair of white sneakers, speaking to his character yet again.

I thoroughly encourage whoever hasn't seen this classic to do so, as it’s a must for anyone interested in fashion. It really was a delight to watch it again, proving that this film goes against the test of time. 

I hope everyone is having a lovely start to their Saturdays, and has a wonderful weekend ahead of them.

xx

Marta

The Grand Budapest Hotel : A Costume Review

Hello all!

It’s definitely been a while since my last post but I was extremely tied up finishing my final semester of school. Now that I’ve graduated, I have much more time to dedicate to these lovely costume reviews I’ve started (I find them so fun!)

In an extremely long overdue post I’m finally going to share my thoughts about Wes Anderson’s Grand Budapest Hotel, since that was a movie I knew I would want to review the moment I saw the costumes. This was also the perfect excuse to watch the movie again, since it’s an absolute delight. The costume designer of this film was Milena Canonero, who herself has an impressive repertoire with gorgeous films such as Marie Antoinette and A Clockwork Orange.

The Grand Budapest Hotel is set in one of Wes Anderson’s fictional worlds and from what I gathered periodically I would place it somewhere between WW1 and WW2 (let’s say the 30s.) The story tells the tale of Gustave H, the hotel’s most prestigious concierge and his bellboy, Zero Moustafa. Zero is actually telling the story to a young writer who visits the worn-down hotel in the late 60s, so most of the movie takes place in the form of flashbacks. The story revolves around the theft of an extremely expensive Renaissance painting and a family inheritance, in which Gustave and Zero get wrapped up in.

The Grand Budapest Hotel compared to my previous review of the black and white Sin City is the polar opposite; it’s packed with so many gorgeous colours and details that one simply cannot look away. Wes Anderson uses these colours to signify the good vs evil concept in the movie, allowing those with more prestige and power to have more elaborate colours.

Gustave H, the hotel’s concierge, is presented to us as a man with utmost dignity and confidence. For most of the movie he is seen in the hotel’s reigning colour for all its employees: purple. Being of the highest ranking than his associates however, his uniform has more details on it. He wears a purple tailcoat with a notched lapel,  and a red velvet bow tie around his neck, and everything looks absolutely pristine. He clearly runs a tight operation and anyone who sees him can tell he is in charge. One interesting detail on his lapel is a little emblem called The Society of the Crossed Keys. This is an emblem worn by all prestigious hotel concierges who help each other in times of need. I ended up asking my boyfriend if this in fact was real, since he worked as a concierge for many years, and lo and behold, it still exists these days. The emblem also separates him from his work comrades, since nobody in the hotel has one but him.

Gustave’s costume changes once more when he is taken prisoner at a criminal internment camp. He wears typical drab prison garb, with horizontal stripes and and their prison number stitched on the side. Although the movie takes place before WW2, the costumes bore a striking resemblance to those worn by the Jewish who were taken prisoners during the Second World War.  Horizontal stripes are given to those without power and as there is no colour , these people aren’t prisoners of life but also of any sort of creativity. The grey and white is the most mundane colour combination and a far cry from the purple of Gustave’s uniform. This definitely speaks to Anderson’s clever use of colour as a means to show honour and dignity. 

While we’re still at the prison, we also get a good look at the soldiers running the whole operation. Again, these costumes are gray and show a lack of creativity and prestige, unlike the purple of The Grand Budapest. The costumes also bare a striking resemblance to those of Kaiser Wilhelm’s 3rd Reich army, and periodically that makes a lot of sense.

Back at the hotel, Gustave’s bell boy and unofficial partner in crime, Zero, has a very similar uniform himself, but of course lacking the emblem worn by Gustave. His uniform looks almost military-esque, possibly giving further proof that Gustave runs the whole operation a lot similar to how an army would be run, and Zero and the others are his men. Zero’s uniform still looks just as clean as Gustave’s, however unlike Gustave’s perfectly pressed uniform, Zero’s is wrinkled and you can clearly tell made of not as fine of a quality. On his head he wears a little lobby boy hat, slightly askew, with the words “Lobby Boy” stitched across the front. 

Of course this costume review wouldn’t be complete without a little mention of the almost unrecognisable Tilda Swinton’s character, Madame D, an elderly countess. Her costume is inspired by the 20s/early 30s, since she lived through those time periods. Her shoes, multi-strand necklaces and fur coat (which is interestingly enough designed by Fendi) give an air of the 20s, while her elaborate hat speaks to the 30s. Another fun fact: Prada designed her 21-piece luggage set. One can tell automatically this is a woman of great luxury and it is with her untimely death that drives our characters into an insane frenzy, egging the story on.

If you haven’t already taken a look at The Grand Budapest Hotel I really suggest you do. I think I can safely say this was one of my favourite movies of the year and is one you simply can’t grow tired of. The rich detail Anderson puts in all of his movies make them such a gem to watch and this film is no exception.