INSPIRATION
of hats and the Hollywood approach to fashion. As important as technique, research can help produce and pry loose any stumbling blocks you may trip over on your way to creating new pieces. Movie lovers rejoice as we underline some points of interest in the vast catalogue of films available to us. Some of these movies might be new to you and although they are on my subjective list, give them a look, and watch them for the sheer joy of knowing you are building your vocabulary of design. Movies provide that 3D element
that pictures cannot give. Seeing a hat framed, lit and worn by the perfect actor is so much more fun than simply trawling the internet for ideas. Movies project the feeling of the moment in the scene where flirty and fun are captured by the tilt of a brim or the cockiness of an ostrich plume.
Turning heads
TCM (Turner Classic Movies) is often the white noise in our studio, providing visual stimulation while busy fingers work out ribbon detail or blocking problems. Old (and new) films provide a stockpile of wonderful ways to wear a hat and the most exciting feature is having multiple camera angles that show off all the glamorous and quirky details.
In the hot and heavy 1930s, one of the holy heydays of millinery, films helped launch trends, much like today’s celebrity-driven popular fashion moments in the hubble-bubble of promotional advertising. Movie stars were the primary engine that defined influencers of today the world over. The costume designers of Hollywood were a driving force that propelled, supported and launched ideas that would translate into every person’s daily wardrobe. Costume designers such as Adrian, Travis Banton, Orry-Kelly, Helen Rose and Edith Head led teams of wardrobers that outfitted the stables of movie stars. Quite naturally, all that energy was bound to spill over into the real world. While haute couture in Paris teetered on the brink of war in Europe, in America the silver
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947)
Broadway Rhythm (1944)
screen was a veritable showroom for sought-after looks. A good example is the original film version of The Women (1939), with every cinematic screen capture filled with hat after hat after hat. This movie is every milliner’s dream. Written by Clare Boothe Luce, the storyline had female audacity scripted into every character on every page. Each persona in the film was costumed according to their own unique style. The sheer brilliance of painting each personality of the movie’s famous cast with such appropriate strokes shaped many a so-called ‘chick flick’ in decades to follow. Watch it more than once, sketchbook in hand, and revel in every fold of felt, every insouciant trim placement as definitive as the calculated use of ‘jungle red’ as a reference in a black and white film. Another point of pride for milliners in
the 1930s was Myrna Loy’s appearance in The Thin Man series of films, where
her hats were used to punctuate scenes as distinctive commentary on the social milieu. Silliness and humour abound in frame after frame, film after film. Miss Loy crafted her character and used wardrobe and script together to do so. Not totally different in that aspect
were the many marvellous films from the noir genre, where it might seem that the female characters relied more on
The Women (1939)
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