Rear Window

A couple weeks ago I saw the Alfred Hitchcock movie Rear Window for the first time while madly sewing away on a couple different projects. Basically a man, James Stewart, breaks his leg on a photography assignment and is wheelchair bound for eight weeks and while staring out his rear window he believes the man across the way murdered his wife. In the meantime his girlfriend Lisa, played by Grace Kelly visits him and also becomes obsessed with the happenings in his apartment building.

The film was made during one of my favorite eras for fashion, the fifties. With Grace Kelly as the leading lady, it was the perfect time to showcase a little fashion throughout the movie. Besides having one of the most classic beauties of all time starring in this Alfred Hitchcock movie, the legendary Edith Head did the costumes and judging by Grace Kelly's wardrobe throughout the movie it was a match made in heaven. This is one more piece of inspiration for my forthcoming pin-up inspired line!

Clockwise from the top left: A version of the Rear Window poster, Kelly in the "Paris Dress" designed by Edith Head, Kelly, Hitchcock and Head in discussion, and three more Edith Head creations.

BTW my absence in the blogging world can be blamed on the fact that I a) graduate this quarter and b) just turned 21 last week Wednesday. Just FYI!

A Series of Unfortunate Events

We established last month that my favorite costume designer is Colleen Atwood in my Tim Burton post. I hadn't really looked into other movies she had done but I stumbled across one on Friday night. One of my friends let me raid her DVD collection and I grabbed A Series of Unfortunate Events. I had read all the books in middle school and high school but had no desire to see the movie... until Friday. I popped it in and so many elements of this movie made it AMAZING. First thing I noticed was the cast. Meryl Streep, Jennifer Coolidge, Craig Ferguson, and Catherine O' Hara were just some of my personal favorites. Their parts were pretty small but really important to the book's story. Then the set of the movie. It was very similar to Tim Burton's world in some of his darker movies. Which we know I love.

ANYWAY, back to Friday night. I fell asleep through the end of the movie and finished it Saturday morning. I was sitting on my couch and was literally MESMERIZED by the end credits. The music and the animation were so well done! And it was when these end credits were rolling that Colleen Atwood's name popped up, billed as the costume designer. Which brings me to my last favorite part of this film: the costumes! (These pictures DO NOT do them justice!)