With Valentine's Day approaching, I wanted to share a favourite romantic memory.
As a child of the 1980s, The Slipper and the Rose was certainly on my radar.
Cinderella being the ultimate fairytale to me as a child, this film seemed like a more complicated, grown up version of the story. A 1970s musical, it's very whimsical with lots of soft focus scenes and heavy emphasis on costume.
Re-watching it again over the festive season reminded me how wonderful the costumes are. Even though it's a far from perfect film, the dresses are sublime. And it's just pure escapsim - something I never tire of.
Here's some trivia from IMDB:
- The scene where Cinderella is seen swinging on a chair surrounded by climbing flowers while she is in exile is a direct reference to the well-known painting "The Swing" by Jean-Honore Fragonard, a famous French artist who was praised for his use of color. Every detail of Cinderella's costume and setting are identical to Fragonard's painting, right down to the color of her dress, the style of her hat, and the climbing flowers on her swing.
- Over 300 costumes were made for this film.
- Ironically received its most publicity in recent decades by being spotlighted in the film 'Frost/Nixon' as the real movie whose premiere producer David Frost is attending (while his problems with the Nixon interviews are escalating).
- Over 800 girls were considered for the part of Cinderella, and around 150 were interviewed before Gemma Craven was picked.
The memorable swing scene; my ultimate romantic fashion fantasy:
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