Tatiana V. BAKINAHSE University (National Research University – Higher School of Economics)
20, Myasnitskaya Street, Moscow, Russian Federation, 101000
Senior Lecturer in HSE Art and Design School, Faculty of Communication, Media and Design
All-Russian State Institute of Cinematography named after S.A. Gerasimov
3, Wilhelm Pieck Street, Moscow, Russian Federation, 129226
Competitor for PhD degree, Department of Cinema Studies, Faculty of Screenwriting and Cinema Studies
MA in Cultural Studies
e-mail: tbakina.hse@gmail.com
ORCID: 0000-0002-6821-9194
Film Stars on a Catwalk: Costumes and Aesthetics of Fashion Shows in Classic Hollywood Films about Fashion ModelsAbstract: While demonstrative functions of costumes in classic Hollywood films continued to intensify, the search for new artistic ways for effective on-screen presentation of studio costume designers’ creations has started. Among these artistic choices was the fashion show – a visual form of fashion representation that could easily take its place within the narrative structure of a film. Fashion shows were most common in films about fashion designers and models. The latter subject was even more convenient when it came to a certain film’s genre and themes. Stories about fashion models gave the filmmakers more freedom regarding the presentation of film costumes in a form of a fashion show, while the fashion designer type of the stories usually required the fashion show as a big climactic scene. Cinematic fashion parades drew the attention of the audience to the stylish film costumes, and they also emphasized the image of film stars. The functions of these fashion shows in film haven’t changed significantly over the years, unlike their ever-changing structural and aesthetic features that corresponded with current tendencies in both fashion and film. The article explores the aesthetics of film costumes presented in an entertaining form of cinematic fashion parades in classic Hollywood films about fashion models. The author also addresses the changes in visual patterns and style of fashion shows, as well as their place within the film’s narrative structure. The study of several 1920 – 1950s films will be crucial for the analysis of both the image of fashion models in film and the changing methods of displaying film costumes over the decades.
Key words: film costume, fashion show, classic Hollywood, fash-ion model, film history, fashion and film, fashionable silhouette, film analysis.
References:
- Cook, P. (2005) Screening the Past: Memory and Nostalgia in Cinema. London: Routledge.
- Albert, K. (1929, November) Hollywood Leads Paris in Fashions. Photoplay Magazine, 36(6), 56–57, 138. URL: https://archive.org/details/photoplay3637movi/page/n653/mode/2up
- Higashi, S. (2014) Stars, Fans, and Consumption in the 1950s: Reading Photoplay. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Eckert, Ch. (1991) Carole Lombard in Macy’s Window. In Ch. Gledhill (Ed.), Stardom: Industry of Desire. London: Routledge, 30–40.
- Evans, C. (2011) The Walkies: Early French Fashion Shows as a Cinema of Attractions. In A. Munich (Ed.), Fashion in Film. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 110–134.
- Butchart, A. J. (2016) The Fashion of Film: How Cinema has Inspired Fashion. London: Mitchell Beazley Publishers.
- Berry, S. (2000) Screen Style: Fashion and Femininity in 1930s Hollywood. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
- Kirke B. (2002) Lanvin. In T. Benbow-Pfalzgraf (Ed.), Contemporary Fashion. Farmington Hills, MI: St. James Press, 405–407.
- 1990) Fig Leaves in Hollywood: Female Representation and Consumer Culture. In J. Gaines, Ch. Herzog (Eds.), Fabrications: Costume and the Female Body. London: Routledge, 122–133.
- Tolini Finamore, M. (2013) Hollywood Before Glamour: Fashion in American Silent Film. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Herzog, Ch. (1990) “Powder Puff” Promotion: The Fashion Show-in-the-Film. In J. Gaines, Ch. Herzog (Eds.), Fabrications: Costume and the Female Body. London: Routledge, 134–159.
For Citation: Bakina, T. (2022) Film Stars on a Catwalk: Costumes and Aesthetics of Fashion Shows in Classic Hollywood Films about Fashion Models. International Journal of Cultural Research, 1 (46). 85–98. DOI: 10.52173/2079-1100_2022_1_85
DOI: 10.52173/2079-1100_2022_1_85
