I am a bit late in posting this, but better late than never! The Guelph Mercury came to the opening of the museum exhibition last Saturday and did this very nice piece about the Fashion History Museum and the Open Drawers exhibition. (Click to enlarge)
The Fashion History Museum has been loaning to other institutions for a while, but yesterday was the first day we ‘cut a ribbon’ on our own exhibition. The Guelph Civic museum was kind enough to loan us their education gallery for three weeks to showcase artifacts acquired by the FHM over the past year (although we only started accessioning in March, so its really only a half year!) The resulting display was an odd mix, ranging from an 18th century dressing table to a dress by Jessica Biffi, the young Canadian designer who won the challenge on Project Runway Canada to create a dress for sale through Winners stores across Canada. Jessica was invited to be our guest of honour to unveil the dress, kicking off our ‘History in the Making’ collection of contemporary Canadian fashions.
Other garments in the exhibition were by Worth, Versace, Ceil Chapman, World’s End (Vivienne Westwood), Biba, Jeanne Lanvin, Strickland and Sons (Saville Row tailors), Albert Nipon, as well as Canadian designers Maggie Reeves, Peach Berserk, and Linda Lundstrom. The exhibition had a budget of $0.00, so forgive the ‘home made’ signage and mish-mash of mannequins!
Before the official opening we had our first fundraising lunch. Sixty guests from Toronto, Cambridge, Niagara Peninsula, Guelph, Richmond Hill, Rockwood, Markham, Kitchener and Waterloo, were in attendance at Artisinale bistro and cafe in the heart of downtown Guelph. Well wishes, flowers, and donations flowed in from as far away as Vancouver and New York, and the mayor even dropped in on her day off to wish us well.
For a participants perspective - check out Shrimptoncouture’s blog
Kenn and I celebrated our 25th anniversary this past Monday and since both of us are finally getting into a diet routine to rid ourselves of the 40 pounds we each gained after quitting smoking 2 years ago, we decided to celebrate by having a splurge of butter on popcorn at a movie about high caloric food - Julie & Julia.
Ann Roth is the costume designer of this film - and is often the costumer of Meryl Streep films. Roth has done a mix of historical and contemporary set films since the 1960s, so her talents stretch right across the full spectrum of film costuming.
The ‘Julie’ part of the story takes place in 2002 - only 7 years ago - a not too distant past that many of us probably still have evidence of in our closets - either in the form of rarely worn seasonal favourites like a ski sweater or Burberry trench coat (guilty), to ‘things that will fit again some day’ like a tuxedo or bathing suit (guilty again.)
When movies take place in the recent past, it is too easy to make mistakes - either through fashion amnesia (using something not yet in style at that time), or ’uber-fashionizing’ (using nth degree fashions to accentuate the difference in time.) In the 1940 film ‘My Favourite Wife’ with Irene Dunne and Cary Grant, Irene Dunne’s character reappears after being shipwrecked on an island for seven years, and upon her return dons an over the top ensemble from c. 1933 with giant bow at the neckline and ankle sweeping hemline - good for a laugh, but an over-the-top look to accentuate the passage of time.
Julie’s New York of 2002 was sensibly styled by Ann Roth with an every day working apparel wardrobe - no Sex and the City hodge podge couture with Blahnik shoes (in case you have forgotten, he was like Christian Louboutin but without the red soles), or belly-button-baring American-patriotic Stephen Sprouse T-shirts. Fashion doesn’t evolve the way it used to; there is no ‘correct’ hemline or colour combination for each season, so for costuming the most important thing to avoid for recent fashion is glaringly popular trends not in style in 2002, like Croc sandals.
Everyday 50s fashions and successfully making five and half feet look like six feet plus.
As for the ’Julia’ part of the story which takes place mostly in Paris in the early 1950s, the biggest problem was how to make Meryl Streep appear 8 inches taller without making it look like you are trying to make Meryl Streep appear 8 inches taller. Shoes are the obvious answer - with platforms, high heels, and lifts in the insoles. However, when these shoes were made visible in shots, they looked ridiculous. A scene near the end that shows Julia cooking in her kitchen wearing 5 inch-heeled spectators with platform soles looks comical as does a scene near the beginning when Julia removes her wartime-looking wood-platform shoes to rest in bed. In scenes where nobody else was in view to compare her height, Julia should have been shown to wear flat or low heeled shoes to emphasize her self-conscious height, which she refers to in the film as problematic.
Towering heels and platforms not usually the choice of 6 feet tall women - better to have shown her in the sensible low heels she was known to wear in the kitchen
Otherwise, Julia’s fashions are pretty much bang on. Julia Child’s style is well documented in period photographs; and her blue shirt-blouse with apron and ‘Trois Gourmandes’ lapel pin and signature pearls is an iconic image. Shirt style blouses, dirndl skirts, and a couple of sensible suits with mix and match separates are documented in period photographs of Julia Child in the 1950s. However, there is one ‘ethno’ style sweater worn in Oslo in the late 1950s that looks more c. 1980 (with its puffed sleeves and tasseled collar ties), but perhaps a Norwegian sweater with pewter buttons from the late 1950s couldn’t be found in time.
Overall, the difficulty level was fairly high for this film and I can’t fault the costumer for the shoes appearing on screen. Costumer gets 8.5 out of 10 from me!
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