‘Everyone Says I Love You’

I’ve been on a Movie Marathon phase of sorts,catching up on classics and box-office hits varying from the 50’s to the 90’s that I missed out on due to ignorance,my teenage ideas of fun and later due to lack of time.I was very aware of the work of Woody Allen as a director,even as a kid.Just that probably I had to reach the stage in life where I could truly appreciate the work of a genius.My first Woody Allen movie was Everyone Says I Love You (1996) when I was in my late teens,perfect timing I would say!

Ok back to present times,I was watching Annie Hall(1977) the other day and there is this scene where he meets Diane Keaton for the first time at this tennis club.So Woody Allen changes into this White Shirt,a White high waist trouser with a tan belt and I’m there thinking to myself,we missed out on this guy.I’m a sucker for White! (For your information Diane Keaton walked away with the ‘New Fashionista’ title of the that time with this movie.)

Now many of our so called Fashion Police out there would term Woody Allen as what they love to call ‘Dowdy’.Not many girls would drool at the prospect of a guy with ‘Poindexter’ glasses,shirts you’d see your mom’s uncle wear and waist high trousers.The difference is this guy brought an intellect quotient to it,that did somehow make it sexy.Sexy???Yeah you heard me right.Even in his bedroom scenes with his various leading ladies you see him with the same jersey cotton t-shirt and cotton pajamas. It’s  like you got the hysterical genius and the boy-next door lying next to you in bed.He never made an attempt to look different,like with a hair cut,a stubble or sport a black turtle neck to make him look like a character that dined at SOHO,an essential to depict New York.I think Woody Allen and Albert Einstein would figure on the same paradigm in terms of self image,if you get what I’m saying!

He just did it with t-shirts,normal shirts that looks like its off that rack from Mark & Spencer’s (to be more closer to home in terms of reference),the plaid blazers and yes of course the trousers.There is something about the guy that got him all those marriages and relationships.What I’m trying to say here,is that it wasn’t about designer labels,somewhere the man created style that you could relate to.Now I know some people who would rave about Woody Allen in the film world,but the moment they see someone with the same dress sense out on the streets,the fingers and sneers come out.

It’s funny how people get labeled with the ‘Geek’ tag and today you’ve got girls swooning over ‘Artie’ from the ‘Glee’ series who totally rocks the look.You also have all the boys pulling out T-Shirts with Einstein all over it and yeah they even rocking those chunky ‘Poindexter’ glasses.So is it hypocritical?

I mean I could go on about this and probably if I get some of friends over, it would be colorful debate where images would be pulled out with before-after stories,but at the end it’s not discouraging a person’s sense of style.I would say its all about labeling yourself with your own label…wow I just coined something here!!

Cheers ‘Geeks’!!!

When I’m done, you’ll look like…

If you have watched the movie ‘Funny Face’(1957),my title would sound familiar.It stars Audrey Hepburn,Fred Astaire and Kay Thompson.That’s what Dick Avery the Photographer played by the suave Fred Astaire says to Audrey Hepburn.Yes this is the movie that gave me my ‘Eureka’ moment.I’ve seen ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ and the ‘Sex and the City’,but it was this little treasure from the 50’s that gave me my go to start blogging about something I love the most….Clothes and how they change people.

It’s all about the clothes,magazines and how can I forget love!It’s a story of how a Magazine editor and Photographer transform a simpleton into a model to grace the cover of their latest magazine issue and introduce her to  the runway of Paris.The clothes were majorly designed by Edith Head in collaboration with designer Hubert de Givenchy.Edith had many movies to her credit like Sabrina, Roman Holiday, All About Eve, To Catch a Thief, and The Sting. She won 8 Oscars during her lifetime for costume design.

I wouldn’t want to leave out Fred Astaire who looked dashing in his Top Hats,Sweaters,Checked suits and ties.The man looked like every girl’s dream in the late 1950’s and to be honest sitting here today in 2011,he became mine.It would be unfair not to mention Richard Avedon in this post,the man who inspired Fred Astaire’s character in the movie.Richard Avedon was a renowned photographer of his time and his work ranged from fashion,art,dance to politics.His portraits screamed a ‘Manhattan’,that you could picture in a Woody Allen movie.He contributed to a number of the photo shoots in the movie.

For more of Richard Avedon’s work you could look up the following link:

http://www.richardavedon.com/

 

More than  Audrey Hepburn,Fred Astaire,it was Kay Thompson who silently stole the show for me as the Editor-in-Chief of the magazine Quality in the film.The world of a fashion magazine has its own secrets,glamour and transformations.The glossies help every woman and today even our very own metro sexual man  to get lost in a world,where they take cues to look their best in real life.There is a line in the movie by Kay Thompson who says:

“A magazine must be like a human being. If it comes into the home it must contribute. It just can’t lie around. A magazine must have… ..blood and brains and pizzazz. This is just paper. If I send paper to the American woman, I will have let her down.”

Cheers!!