What you can learn about the style of the comedy of the 60s "What a way!"
Olesya Iva
We much attention We pay to trends and modern fashions, but it is worth understanding that they are only guidelines that each interprets in its own way. The style is shaped, among other things, by the influence of the surrounding reality and culture, including art, films or video clips. We are launching a rubric in which we will analyze works from which one can learn a lot of knowledge about the fashion of the era and adopt a number of stylistic techniques. Today we will talk about the black comedy by J. Lee Thompson "What a way!", Released in 1964.
"What a way!" - Black comedy with charming Shirley MacLaine in the title role, which plays along with the entire color of the actors of the American cinema era: Paul Newman, Robert Mitchum, Dean Martin and Gene Kelly. The main character of the film, Louise wants a simple life and love - but instead she finds herself in the cycle of luxury and burial: each of her chosen ones ends up being rich and dies, leaving her a widow.
The film's budget amounted to 20 million dollars, four of which went to jewelry and another half a million to the costumes of the main character. The film was created by Edith Head, one of the greatest costume designers in Hollywood, who served as chief designer and costume designer first at Paramount Studios and then at Universal.
Head dressed Grace Kelly, Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, Hedy Lamarr, Barbara Stanwick, Gloria Swenson, Ingrid Bergman, Shirley MacLaine and many other stars. At that time, she was the only woman holding such a position, and her work was awarded an Oscar eight times, particularly for the costumes for the Roman Holiday and Sabrina. Dresses of heroes and first of all the heroines "What a way!" truly luxurious and in some episodes of the film change every 10 seconds. In addition, the film can be considered a visual document of the era in terms of makeup and hairstyles: here there is an impressive work of stylists and hairdressers.
From the first frames we understand that the style in the film is one hundred percent, and the form is fully consistent with the content. A widow in a black veil descends a pink staircase in a pink mansion, followed by a procession of men in neat suits. They carry a pink coffin adorned with pink feathers. We are sure that this is how ideal funerals should look.
The fashion of the mid-60s is presented here in all its beauty and diversity. Here, for example, a characteristic outfit for the time, created with an eye on children's and dance clothing: a leotard dress with a neckline and tights to match. On the head, of course, bouffant.
Louise turns the novel with the artist and dresses, like his muse, in dress-paintings. The adult generation at that time considered the fashion of the 60s "eccentric and silly." This outfit can be considered a manifestation of the costume designer's irony.
Here, Edith Head makes a homage to Elsa Schiaparelli, creating a surreal outfit decorated by hand. In addition to the image - again bouffant and ball tights.
Monochrome is a favorite trick of the 60s: all things should be in tune. In addition, you should pay attention to the casual dress-sweater of increased volume.
The novel with the billionaire reminds the main character of "Hollywood glamorous cinema with love and lush dresses". From now on, Louise will change outfits like gloves from scene to scene. "Costumes, scenery and wigs are provided with a cool budget," the writers and producers of the film sneer. The first outfit of this parade of luxury is again monochromatic: ostrich feathers, a huge hat and satin gloves.
In the next frame, Louise is already blonde, and again the stylists work with the main reception of the film: tone to tone. Here we see a white total bow in the reading of Hollywood chic.
And yellow, too, decorated with colored fur.
Ulyana Sergeenko would be delighted: golden brocade and furs in the royal style, an underlined silhouette of an hour glass, golden large jewelery, a babette hairstyle. For the 1960s, perfect.
Again, the classic hairstyle of the 60s a la turban, which emphasize the massive earrings and brooch in the forehead, as well as a translucent dress with a deep cut, opening the legs to the limit. True, to complement this image requires a golden piano.
Here Edith Head pays tribute to the courage and looseness of the 1960s and dedicates the outfit to Marilyn Monroe, who was to play the main role in this film, and wrote the script for her. However, as we know, in 1961, Marilyn died.
Red latex outfit, hinting at pop art, is also good for national styling. The Asian theme is sustained and voluminous hairstyle with pins, referring to the image of a geisha, and a fan, and neat shoes with a small heel.
The heroine does not forget to remind her husband: "I have nothing to wear." We are afraid to even imagine how much this outfit cost. But the magnificence of this dress is brought to the maximum with a scattering of diamonds and a multi-tiered hairstyle. However, a similar image has not sunk into oblivion - some modern divas still represent luxurious elegance just like that, going on the Cannes carpet.
The film reminds us of the importance of beautiful linen. Here - about the beauty of transparent shirts and neat slippers.
Typical for the 1960s, the image of "girl dolls" is brought to the limit with bows adorning the hair and dress. In addition, the costume designer Edith Head again uses the color fur, which was introduced into fashion by Yves Saint Laurent. After a series of evening dresses, the screenwriters sneer: "This is the end of a cool budget."
Golden swimsuit is a style. Something similar from season to season can be found at American Apparel. We advise you not to be shy.
Actively exposing and showing the body began just in the 60s, and Louise swimwear is a confirmation of this. Special attention is given to glasses with fancy frames of the cat's eye shape and low-heeled doll shoes. As they say, think over your beach image to the end.
Mourning dresses in the film deserve special attention. We won’t be surprised if they were inspired by Lagerfeld, working on the latest couture collection.
One of the strongest and most iconic images of the film is completely pink: this could be Cruelle in parallel reality. Pink was an important color for the fashion of the 50s and 60s and after the war symbolized the new femininity.