Back in December, the Daily Mail reported that 1940s styles would be back on the high street for the coming season. A story that couldn't have made me happier.
Today, reading Jonathan Walford's Forties Fashion, I was reminded of a favourite costume film, Glorious 39.
I covet all the outfits worn by Romola Garai in this movie.
True to the '40s, primary colours pervade...the best fashion fantasy is the yellow field dress.
Cut on the bias, the simplicity of this 1996 slip dress says something about the mid-nineties fashion mood.
As worn by Gwyneth Paltrow to the Academy Awards, Calvin Klein said: "When Gwyneth came here she went right over to the bolts of fabric and picked out a pale charmeuse. I knew she was my kind of girl."
Inspired by lingerie, the dress emphasises the old adage, 'less is more'.
As Klein has been quoted saying: "...I always designed for what clothing revealed, not what it covered. It's all about knowing how to make fabric fall against a body so that we see the woman and not the dress."
In his wonderful book, 100 Unforgetable Dresses, Hal Rubenstein says:
"Paltrow's arrival sent out an almost-deafening message about the sensual sway of simplicity and of the command you can possess when you aren't upstaged by your clothes. She did have one thing on her arm though - her trim and tieless beau, Brad Pitt...So, who needs diamonds?"
If I dare, this number can be compared with Ariel's sparkle dress from the last scene in The Little Mermaid.
The Disney film was made in 1989, and maybe in a sign of the times, foreshadowed the taste for bias-cut dresses. I remember the spaghetti straps and sparkle that pervaded Topshop throughout the late nineties and into the noughties.
I can't wait for summer this year - beaches, easy dressing and sunshine.
Maybe it's a weird trick of the brain, but with the approach of a new season, I started thinking about the 1980s, and some of the sun-drenched summers I remember.
In recent years, one the films that brought back the way people used to dress in my lifetime was Betty Blue.
The 1980's wasn't really the decade that fashion forgot.
In particular, the French riviera look, as worn by Beatrice Dalle, is so glamorous and chic.
The shaggy bob hairstyle (which I remember my mum sporting for a few years!) looks really fresh, especially for a movie made in 1986.
Definitely thinking about getting a bob, and posing on a car a sunset...
In a scene from one of my favourite films of all time, The Red Shoes (1948), young dancer Victoria Page meets the director of a ballet company she is determined to join, at the cocktail bar following new ballet production 'Heart of Fire'.
Boris Lermontov: "Why do you want to dance?"
Victoria Page: "Why do you want to live?"
Boris Lermontov: "I suppose...because I must."
Victoria Page: "That's my answer too."
Initially noticing her as just an attractive ballet patron, Lermontov is snared by her fervour, and agrees to give her an audition.
Just one of the glorious costumes worn in this film, this black cocktail dress is softened by the broderie anglaise bodice and trim. Worn with the long evening gloves, its truly of its time, and this scene is a snapshot of an earlier, more glamorous world.
I'm having a love affair with Edith Wharton at the moment. Having recently read The Innocents, a re-working of The Age of Innocence, I've been reminded of the wonderful 1993 film starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer and Winona Ryder.
Set in the world of 19th century New York high sciety, the story follows Newland Archer (Day-Lewis), a lawyer who falls in love with the troubled free spirit Countess Olenska (Pfeiffer), whilst he is engaged to her conventional cousin May Welland (Ryder).
Telling of the restricted East Coast American upper-class society in which Wharton lived, the work is powerful and beautiful, a story of 'what might have been', and expresses serious social tragedy.
I wouldn't want to spoil this film for anyone, I envy those who have not seen it! So here are some stills which demonstrate the romance of the bustles and corsets worn on set:
Red dresses are ubiquitous on Valentine's Day. Having seen this dress for real at the recent V&A Hollywood Costume exhibition, I can attest to its drama, even without Vivien Leigh inside it!
In Gone With The Wind, Scarlett stands out like a sore thumb at Ashley's birthday party, living up to her image as a flirt and a source of scandal.
It's the ultimate show-stopper. She went into the lion's den and came out unharmed, wearing the dress that lived up to her reputation.
How very Scarlett O'Hara.
Compelled to re-watch some of my favourite films over the Christmas break, I really enjoyed Edward Scissorhands again.
In part, because of teeny-bopper Kim Boggs (Winona Ryder) and her white dancing dress.
Subtle, ironic and delicate, the dress reminds me of something my Barbie wore in the late 1980s. I think it's the large bow and the fact it's off-the-shoulder.
I'm not sure what Tim Burton wanted to express with his Kim Boggs character. She's not complicated or quirky at all, just a slightly two-dimensional American teen beauty. She becomes purer and gentler, the closer gets to Edward and the end of the movie approaches. I guess falling for the 'beast' proves she's not as shallow as you think.
Regardless of the way her dress is supposed to be read, it's a memorable costume, and one that has stayed with me. I think it just has to be white, though.
Being a fan of Halloween, I started thinking about scary films, especially ones set in the Victorian era.
Operatic, bold and atmospheric, Francis Ford Coppola's adaptation of Dracula is breathtaking.
The director created a chilling nineteenth-century world, featuring copious amounts of blood, bustle dresses and carnage, as well as moments of beauty.
Dresses of the period created the ultimate hourglass silhouette, which both exposed and repressed the body.
I first watched this film as a teenager at a sleepover in November 1994 and never forgot its atmosphere; the sense of drama still remains 20 years later.
Re-watching The O.C. this summer has made me nostalgic for the noughties (if that's possible yet!)
It's nearly ten years since the California-set teen drama burst onto our screens, making a name for the beautiful Mischa Barton and her co-stars.
One of my favourite episodes (and the one that sold me on the series back in 2004) is The Debut. The fairytale wonderland of Newport society has its teenagers 'debut' into 'society' at a formal black tie event. The girls wear untouchable white, and they're 'given away' by their fathers to their dates at this elegant event.
To me, this dress is all about innocence and excitement. The way that you sometimes felt in your teens - life's about to start.
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