Monday, June 6, 2011

Going Hollywood (1933)

Due to the wonders of TiVo, a few weeks ago I watched Going Hollywood (1933) on TCM, starring the beautiful Marion Davies and Bing Crosby. 
Davies and Crosby - a still from one of the musical numbers. This one isn't mine - I found it on Google. 
It was light, cute, annoying in parts (why does she like Bing’s character? He’s a bit of a jerk! But you have to allow some suspension of disbelief in order for the inevitable reunion in the end to be bearable), but overall a fun movie – Patsy Kelly was great as usual as Davies’ wise-cracking friend. What especially did it for me was the costuming – there were some real stunners in this movie. I wasn’t able to get a good shot of the nightgown Davies was wearing at the beginning (sometimes you really just have to see something in motion to get a good feel for how it looks), but I tried to take a snap with my camera anytime something beautiful caught my eye – be it an outfit, face, whatever. I’ve actually got a few movies I’ve done this with – used my camera to photograph the screen during pretty scenes, which I will share over the next few weeks. Anyway, please excuse the weird look of a photographed TV screen – it’s the only way I know how to get an image off of my TV or computer when I can’t take a screen shot. As always, click on the image to get the highest resolution.

I just love this nifty little suit. The pleating is an interesting detail, and the hat is also adorable. Patsy Kelly to the left, although you can't really see her. 
Another beautiful suit. The stills don't really show how it looks in motion and from different angles, but its nice, and very glamorous. 
The suit from behind. I love how glittery/sparkly/shiny objects photograph in black and white films!
A close up of the gorgeous Marion. Also, a better look of the hat and bow of the cape that goes with the outfit below. Is this not just stunning?
And now... the outfit that stole my heart, that made me replay the scene over and over just to marvel at the sheer wonderfulness that could come from talent with needle, thread, (fur), and a whole lotta sparkles:
THIS. This is the star of all the beautiful clothing from this film, of course from the last big scene.
Now, I don’t know what you’re thinking. Maybe you hate it, maybe you love it. I think that the more, ahem, dramatic something is, the more polarizing it is in terms of people’s reactions. But me…?
I think it's magic. It's wonderful. It's a fireside daydream manifested in an outfit. Yes, it's also over the top, but I absolutely adore it. I've been shocked to discover over the past few months that I seem to favor the over-the-top when it comes to vintage. Not campy things, but.... this kind of thing. Lush, feminine, luxurious, and totally impractical for real life. If I somehow acquired enough wealth to be able to afford a replica of this getup, I don't know that I would have to guts to wear it - I'm all for bravery and independence in style, but still I'm sure I would wimp out. But my selfish indulgence for when I was feeling blue would be lounging around my house, safely away from disapproving eyes, and feeling marvelous (with the thermostat turned down... way down.)
Maybe it’s the way the white of the robe and rhinestones adorning it glow. Maybe it’s how majestic one must feel gliding around in it (because I have a feeling in an outfit like this, you can only either glide or stumble. No in between.) Maybe it’s that it makes me think of what Glinda the Good Witch would wear in the wintertime. Or maybe Marion Davies just knows how to rock this outfit. Maybe it’s a bit of all of that, plus that fact that from simply an aesthetic point of view, this is beautiful.
Okay. Impassioned outfit rant over. But tell me what you think! Am I crazy for loving this?



And here's one last image - this time Marion glows all by herself.
- Emily
Edit: Does anyone know how to make the formatting of fonts uniform? I've got a certain font set for the whole blog but for some reason this post just switches from font to font...

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