Recently in Film Category

I can't say that I'm a huge fan of Patricia Field... but it was always interesting to see how the characters in SATC were dressed, especially Carrie.  So it's no different with the new movie, even though the movie itself is supposed to suck, I think it will be interesting to see the fashion.

New York Magazine has a feature, here, where you can preview some of the looks and read Patricia's comments about them.

For example:

The ridiculous


The Not Ridiculous

I finally watched Coco Avant Chanel with Audrey Tatou. Wow, she was great - really quite perfect for the part.  I got the Blu-ray version since I managed to hook up my new machine and switch over my Netflix accoun to Blu-ray access.  It's not really a movie you "need" to see in Blu-ray, but it was nice to have the super crisp video for all the beautiful cinematography.  The costumes and set design were outstanding too.  Also, I though Alessandro Nivola did a great job as Boy Capel, I didn't even recognize him... although I knew he was familiar, I couldn't figure it out...

 

 

 

(re: above shirt - J. Crew is offering a shirt in their menswear line that is made by Saint James from Normandy, France - makers of the real French sailor shirt, and perhaps what Chanel used to wear? An XS might work, it's $88 and really made in France!  Check it out here.)

It's hard not to compare it to the Coco Chanel movie on Lifetime with Shirley Maclaine since both covered a lot of the same ground.  I acutally liked both of the movies, although in the tv movie I preferred the part with young Coco played by Barbora Bobulova.  (I'm not a big fan of Maclaine.)

Audrey definitely looked like a professional smoker in the movie, which is quite necessary to play Chanel.  I wonder if she smokes in real life?  Here are some pictures of the real Chanel, if these aren't a good warning for why NOT to smoke, I don't know what is.  It looks like she aged quite poorly. 

Yikes!

It seems like we've been seeing a lot of the French sailor shirts here and there lately.  I guess virtually every Spring and Summer, bits of nautical style pop up.  Of late it's probably part in thanks to Audrey Tatou in Coco Avant Chanel. (she looks great in everything!)  The dvd releases Feb. 16 by the way...

Can you imagine that it was way back in the early 1900s that Coco Chanel popularized the look at her store in Deauville (around 1917).  Before that the French label St. James had been making the shirts and sweaters for sailors since about 1850.

Here is Coco in 1930.

I'm afraid to imagine how much a Chanel version of the shirt would cost. But you can still get the original Saint James verision from Calypso. ($135)

 

A couple more modern versions are this one from Anthropologie ($68)

and this tissue tee version from J. Crew ($32.50)

I finally saw the made-for-tv film Coco Chanel last night. It had aired last September on Lifetime.

I don't know a lot about her life, so don't know how accurately they portrayed it... but it was a very good film.  The cast was excellent, I particularly loved Barbora Bobulova as the young Coco and Oliver Sitruk as Boy Capel.  The scenes of Deauville were wonderful, the beach with the cute little striped beach cabanas... going to the beach back then looked so sophisticated.  Throughout the film you see Coco in her signature layered pearls look and black and white ensembles.  It was a great film, I definitely recommend it.  It will be interesting to see how the upcoming Coco avant Chanel with Audrey Tautou compares to this one.

The movie "Coco avant Chanel" about young Gabrielle Chanel is opening next week at select theaters in France, we don't know yet when it will open here.  The New York Times had a brief write-up on it on Monday, you can read it here. There's also a trailer on YouTube, here.

It's supposed to be quite spectacular visually.  The Times called it "a pleasant gallop through the well-known story and Ms. Tautou turns in a star performance of moods from truculence to the delirium of love." I am looking forward to it.

 

The Valentino film, Valentino: The Last Emperor, is now playing here in New York, it's at the Film Forum on Houston Street. It's only playing until March 31, so hurry!

The NY premiere was Tuesday night, followed by a star-studded dinner at the Oak Room.

 

Here is the synopsis: One of the world's most celebrated fashion designers, Valentino Garavani developed an interest in design as a teenager and entered the world of haute couture in the early 1950's, working under Jacques Faith, Balenciaga and Jean Desses. In 1959, Valentino opened his own house of fashion in Rome, and he soon became one of the leading lights in European design, known for his trademark shade of red and his clean, stylish lines. With Giancarlo Giammetti, who has been Valentino's business partner and significant other since 1960, the designer built an empire that remained one of the most prestigious in the fashion world until Valentino announced his retirement in the fall of 2007. Filmmaker and journalist Matt Tyrnauer, who has written about Valentino for Vanity Fair, examines the public and private lives of the fashion icon in his documentary Valentino: The Last Emperor. Granted unprecedented access to Valentino's home and office, the film offers an unusual look at his relationship with Giammetti, how his creations are made, his lavish lifestyle and how changes in the world of haute couture have impacted him.

There's a nice interview in the NY Times by Cathy Horyn and the filmmaker.

There's an article today in the NY Times Style section, "Calming the Voices That Scream Shop!" about the new movie Confessions of a Shopaholic, which opens tomorrow.

I haven't read the book but apparently the Isla Fisher character is a young woman with a lot of credit who goes overboard and then has to try to dig herself out.  The Times article, by David Colman, aptly points out that the film serves as a "As a comical allegory for the last 15 years, when fashion-mad consumerism, among several other things, drove the world's economy to new heights, the film stirs up prickly issues about the complex interplay of women, fashion, spending and identity."  Rebecca Connor, an associate professor of English at Hunter College is quoted, "Right up to the present day we have a culture tacitly or overtly encouraging women to shop in order to strengthen the economy". "At the same time, we've always had male commentators denigrating women for their love of trinkets and their wasteful expenditures."

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.  Anyway, it looks like a fun, fluffy movie which during this depressing, and probably stressful for many, recession seems like a good diversion.

The movie's website is conveniently hosted by Bluefly!  And has a link to a "get the look / Rebecca's closet" section where you can buy pieces to replicate the zany Patricia Field styled outfits of the movie.

I finally saw "What Happens in Vegas" on dvd last night. 

 

It was an okay movie, typical for the genre.  Cameron has some great outfits though!  But what really stood out to me was the fabulous bedding on the bed at the hotel room in Las Vegas... the duvet cover with the large scale leaf pattern in a greeny shade with dark brown and matching sheets.  I did a little poking around on the web, and I am pretty sure this is what it was:

Calvin Klein Boxwood Collection. 

 

It happens to be on super-sale at Macy's right now too.  The queen duvet cover is full priced at $315, but on double sale it's down to $188.99.  The pillow shams, queen flat and fitted sheets are normally $100 each, down to $59.99 and the standard cases $75 down to $44.99.

Last night I watched "Lagerfeld Confidential" a documentary about Karl Lagerfeld by Rodolphe Marconi.

I got it on dvd from netflix. It was really interesting to see behind the scenes because he seems so mysterious with the dark glasses and black clothes. It's more about him, the man, than it is about Chanel. You get to see inside his Paris apartment and how he has bowls of the silver rings he wears.  I didn't even realize he wore so many rings because he usually also has gloves on.  But it's crazy he wears so much metal on his hands that they clank. (like 2 or 3 rings on some fingers)  And you can see they rows of black clothes in his closet and the TONS of books he has.  Just getting to see his flat was really neat.  Also, I didn't realize he was a photographer.  He does a lot of the Chanel photography.  As to my impressions of the man himself, I was surprised that he wasn't more arrogant.  He does have some odd thoughts though, like about working hard - you're supposed to, but it's like he thinks its tedious if you show it. (It's easy for someone who doesn't need to work at all to say that.) He's non-religious and a (mostly) very rational thinker.  He admits to being lucky in life. He reads a lot and values time alone. He said he can't stand people who cannot be alone (I agree). I found him to come off as quite likeable but not without his quirks.  Some of the documentary is boring, but overall I recommend it. Oh, and bonus - you get to see him without his sunglasses on!

Here he is at the Mobile Art opening the other day with Kate Bosworth in one of his typical outfits.

I was watching The Devil Wears Prada again the other day and I've found myself thinking about the Chanel necklace Anne Hathaway got to wear in a couple different scenes.  I'm pretty sure it's Chanel costume jewelry (not Chanel Fine Jewelry).  It's kind of suprising that Chanel, such a luxe brand, even makes costume jewelry, but it is said that Coco Chanel actually introduced costume jewelry to the fashion world back in the 1920s. 

I wonder how much something like this costs?  I can't find Chanel jewelry for sale online anywhere, I suspect that they don't allow it. I guess I'll have to go to the Chanel boutique in New York to check it out.