hands away

There is a scene in All About Eve in which Anne Baxter, playing the title role, demands that Addison DeWitt (played by George Sanders) leave her presence.

She sharply pulls open the door to the room and snaps, "Get out!" In that voice, Sanders' DeWitt replies, "You're too short for that gesture." OMG. Best movie burn ever.

On a semi-related note, I have recently become aware that my brain contains a (unintentionally compiled) list of Favourite Gestures in Film. Here they are.

Elaine Miller (played by Frances McDormand) in Almost Famous, pointing to Simon & Garfunkel's pupils as they appear on the cover of their album Bookends - "Honey, they're on pot."

Another one from Almost Famous; Penny Lane's elegant bird flipping

In Marie Antoinette Kirsten Dunst glides her hand outside the window of the carriage taking her home after a night of masked partying:

The gesture feels slightly anachronistic, perhaps because I've seen Dunst pull a similar move in Sofia Coppola's earlier film, The Virgin Suicides:

Donnie Darko is a film I used to love but now seldom think of. One of the few things that has stayed with me is the strangely poignant and funny exchange of waves with which the film ends:

With the exceptions of Shadow of a Doubt and Rebecca, I don't tend to like Alfred Hitchock's heavier psychodramas. And perhaps those two don't fit into the category - I certainly don't find them as draining as Vertigo and, say,  Marnie. There is, however, one little bit in Vertigo that I can't get enough of. 

Scottie and Madeleine visit a Californian Redwood forest and look at a displayed cross-section of one of those ancient trees, the rings of which have been labeled with various corresponding events in human history (anthropo-dendrochronology?):

Madeleine points first to one ring and then to a slightly larger one:

Here I was born... and there I died.

Images stolen from Screen Musings

To be very clear, I totally don't get this movie. In fact until re-watching the clip for this post, I wrongheadedly thought that Madeleine pointed first to a larger ring, and then a smaller one, to indicate some mysterious birth/death reversal.

All I know is that there's something excellent about the way Kim Novak's gloved hand gently points... 

Just for kicks  I'll sometimes reenact the gesture and accompanying lines when faced with a particularly difficult crossword - Here I was born... and there I died.

Bruce Woods Designs

Bruce Woods is a Chicago-based knitwear designer. These are some of his beautiful creations:

Bruce hand-makes all these one-off pieces himself and you can buy them on his new website.

My mother introduced me to Bruce when I was about 15. She, my friend Katherine and I were on holiday in the US and visited him in his Chicago apartment. I remember marvelling at both his (extreme) height and (excellent) style. He also cooked us all an amazing breakfast.

In fact my mother and Bruce have been friends since the mid-1970s, during which time they were flatmates in New York's East Village. Here is a photo of them both at my mother's wedding to her first husband (hint: it was a Green Card marriage. Quel Scandale!):

She is the one in the middle wearing the red shawl and a look of consternation (pangs of guilt, mother dearest?) and he is on the right, wearing a red beanie.

Undoubtedly the greatest thing about this photo is that the man standing behind Bruce is not a priest.

Originally posted June 7 2012

World's #1 Daughter

From Brisbane's Paddington Antique Centre (aka. heaven), here are a pair of antique Czech glass kaleidoscope glasses I bought for my mama:

I'm all about Czech glass at the moment, to the point where I think I might spend my life savings on this BOOK OF BUTTONS: 

Have you have seen anything so goddamn delightful in all your life? 

Hidden

From The Complete Gone With the Wind Trivia Book By Pauline Bartel, here's a nice fact for your brains:

Selznick insisted on complete authenticity in the costumes. For instance, he directed Walter Plunkett to use expensive lace to make petticoats for the ladies. Ann Rutherford, playing Scarlett’s sister Carreen, voiced her opinion that the cost was extravagant especially since the audience would not know the lace was there. “But you’ll know it’s there,” was Selznick’s reply. 

In the spirit of "but you'll know" I've rounded up the following delightful tidbits. And here's to you, Selznick, ya mean old bastard.

Hinged Cuff Bracelet, ca. 1479–1425 B.C., Egypt

According to the Met Museum  the inner inscriptions of cartouches and epithets of Thutmose III suggest that the cuffs were a gift of the king.

Bonnie Cashin, 1950, American, wool and silk suit

Ok, a strong breeze might mean that They'll Know, too, but I'll be damned if I can resist a good contrasting lining.

Chaumet concealed diamond wedding band

I've seen variations on the "diamonds on the inside" ring. The simplicity of the outer design here makes this one my favourites. Sah clevah. 

And finally, did you know that in their early days, the Ksubi (then Tsubi) boys inscribed their jeans with original poems? I haven't been able to find any images so I guess I'll just post their 2011 Kolors video (again):

Now that's poetry.

order for the garter

It seems like a weird oversight that a resurgence of sleeve garters hasn't accompanied that of collar tips (which, I'll have it noted for the record, I picked up on ages before the trend happened. Dick yeah!) and the massive shirt trend in general. Here's Robert Redford wearing some in The Sting (made in 1973 but set during the 1930s):

Be warned - the sleeve garter is not without its detractors. Writing in the Perth Sunday Times on May 26, 1940, the writer Richard Hughes (using the pen name "Dr Watson"), made particular mention of this unusual accessory. Regarding the victims of "Australia's Last Bushrangers," Patrick and James Kenniff, Hughes wrote:

If P.C. Doyle hadn’t worn a pair of shirt-sleeve garters to keep his cuffs at a fashionable length, and if he hadn’t been so effeminate as to carry a bar of soap… the charred and pounded remains of the two corpses would not satisfactorily have been identified as Doyle and Dahlke.

Wait, maybe that is an endorsement for sleeve garters? I'm also not sure if he's being tongue-in-cheek about the soap thing, but I suspect he was a nothing-in-cheek kinda guy.

And while we're on it, how grand is this ad for calculators from the November 6, 1952 edition of the Brisbane Courier-Mail?

Someone should let Contex know that the gay 90s are totally having a revival moment.

Young + Free for 1% Glue

Dear friends, I recently entered the 1% Glue Fashion Design competition, and would actually die of heaven if you could go to this website:
http://www.onepercentglue.com/vote
and "like" (you need a facebook account, which is a bit blergh) my collection, Young + Free by Anusha Rutnam.

Here is my collection, oh lordy I hope you like it.

TAFE Ultimo's 2012 Applied Fashion Presentation

In late 2012 I attended the catwalk presentation of designs by students from TAFE Ultimo's Applied Fashion Design and Technology course. I left the show with a plan to blog about it straight away. Four months later and here we are.

The best thing about the show was how dramatically varied the different collections were. For example one minute this gorgeously subtle dress by Emma Noord came down the runway. (Dove grey and daffodil yellow? That's a dream combo, right there.)  -

Nek minnit you've got Cassilda Parkinson's heavenly creatures gracing the catwalk:

There was a definite other-worldly vibe in the room when, during rehearsals, Parkinson's models sauntered past backstage. It was like being present as an emissary of wood nymphs had entered the room. I'm pretty sure I heard the distant tinkling of wind chimes and smelled orange blossom on a mysterious breeze.

Ahem, going on... Anna Priestly's collection was another stand out, with a fantastic Saint Augustine Academy vibe:

I cannot overstate the effectiveness of dressing a row of tall, attractive women in dark glasses. It's just so cool and intimidating.

And speaking of cool, I give huge props to Rosanna De Couvreur for her fearless swimwear collection:

Everything about it was just shockingly good. I can't get enough of the Magritte bathers. Here is a woman who understands that high fashion is all about the bush.

My absolute favourite collection, however, came from Zenji Kato - and this despite my total incomprehension/ fear of menswear:

I feel like such a geek being even tempted to use the term "Japanese avante-garde", but I mean, if the deconstructed half-blazer fits, right? And even though I would count Rei Kawakubo and Shinichiro Arakawa as being among Kato's aesthetic forebears, I also really feel like he's bringing something wonderfully new to the table. What else do you want?

cropped

Jessica Stam walking for Prada in Milan produced my favourite moment from the Fall 2013 Ready To Wear shows so far.

It's all about the hair. Which is particularly impressive given that just weeks ago Stam was shooting off some pretty unacceptable Carol Brady vibes:

The Prada moment sent me into full-on "this looks like this" mode (which, as a fashion blogger, is totally my wont). The first example to come to mind was Taina Elg in George Cukor's 1957 film Les Girls:

Next up is the incomparable Leslie Caron as she appeared in The Glass Slipper (1955):

It is with Stam, Elg and Caron in mind that I issue this decree; Forthwith, off-the-shoulder garments may only be worn by women with pixie haircuts. Furthermore, women with pixie haircuts may only wear off-the shoulder-garments. So let it be written, so it shall be done.

marble chill

It seems as if for one of their Spring 2013 Haute Couture looks, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli went into the archives - just not the Valentino ones.

Valentino, Look 11:

Balenciaga 1968:

I actually really like the Valentino ensemble and wish there had been more like it in the collection. I mean, everyone knows that Chiuri and Piccioli can do embroidered/ lacey/ beaded florals with a blindfold on - a little austerity would be pretty cool in what is shaping up to be a very romantic Haute Couture season.

Regarding flowers and trees

From Tim Blanks' review of the Chanel Spring 2013 Haute Couture collection:

Karl Lagerfeld can't move mountains just yet. Today, he had to settle for a mere forest, shipped into the Grand Palais tree by tree. His guests wandered through the woods till they happened upon a classical amphitheater. "Neo-classical," Karl clarified. He was dreaming of Weimar, sylvan hub of German Romanticism in the late eighteenth century, home to Goethe and Schiller.

Moved some trees? He's in good company. The film director F.W. Murnau (of the other Weimar) also had a predilection for freighting foliage. From Bronwyn Cosgrave's Made For Each Other: Fashion and the Academy Awards:

Murnau was an uncompromising perfectionist. For one scene in Sunrise, he insisted a species of deciduous tree be transported hundreds of miles from Lake Arrowhead to the Fox Hollywood lot, where three hundred Mexican laborers glued new leaves to its withered branches. Once erected on set, it so displeased Murnau, he insisted more new foliage be manually applied while swarms of salaried extras hung about waiting for their cue. 

Those crazy Germans!

Seriously though, the Haute Couture collections are so aggressively flora-oriented this year. For me a lot of it borders on being saccharine and I'm not sure that I love it. What I do love is the return of gentle bubble and tulip hems.

Chanel:

Armani Privé:

Christian Dior:

Utterly (but not too) sweet.