Tags
30's and 40's style, 50's style, Adrian, belted dresses, cat on a hot tin roof, classic films, elizabeth taylor, flowy dresses, grecian inspired, Helen Rose, hot weather clothes, katharine hepburn, linen pencil skirt, old hollywood style, the philadelphia story, white dresses
It’s been beautiful here in Seattle the past few days. 65 °F and cloudless skies are a big deal to those of us living under the perma-gray. The smell of the air is different too, with that slight sweet heaviness that only comes on a fragrant spring day. Well maybe you can’t smell it, those darn allergies. But if you can’t smell it you can definitely feel it. As the weather changes so does the mood, especially at dusk and into the night. Like in Midsummer Night’s Dream, when it gets hot out people get a little weird.
As I was sitting in our humid apartment, stripped down to a wife beater tank and boxer shorts, I thought about movies where the characters overheat during the day and get wacky at night. It reminded me of Elizabeth Taylor in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) and Katharine Hepburn in The Philadelphia Story (1940). There’s a feel to these movies that’s embodied through the clothing. Both movies feature white Grecian inspired gowns that are as pure and untouchable as they are feminine and seductive. Women’s clothing has gone through a transition where when the weather gets hot girls no longer rush to put on light flowy dresses, they just strip down. Skin is nice but dresses with great silhouettes are worthy of a comeback.
The costumes in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof are fairly simple, Elizabeth Taylor only wears two outfits, not including her iconic slip. Her orangey-red belt is the only color we see beyond neutrals. She keeps cool in a crisp button down and light linen pencil skirt, but I don’t see how she’s wearing stockings in the pre-air conditioning heat of the deep south in summer. Despite the perspiration, the look is extremely polished and ladylike but still tough. Taylor has a lot of attitude as Maggie “The Cat,” and is a deeply sexually repressed woman. I know, sexually repressed? In this outfit? What I love is that the button down, belt, pencil skirt combo is still relevant today but doesn’t look too coiffed.
This white silk-chiffon gown was chosen by costume designer Helen Rose who made sure Taylor stood out. The heat is driving the people around her crazy. Paul Newman, who plays Elizabeth Taylor’s husband is seen in pajamas for a majority of their scenes. Meanwhile she’s beautiful and almost untouchable in this pure white dress, which contrasts with her overwhelming sexuality and femininity. And I love that she belts it. This gorgeous goddess dress is made modern for the time with just a simple white belt.
_06.jpg "The Philadelphia Story")
The Philadelphia Story is a lot more lighthearted. Here, Katharine Hepburn has just taken a swim and this is her cover-up. No one dresses like this after a swim, the point now is to look as sexy as possible. The dress is long and blousy but her figure is shown off by how the fabric lays and a belt which cinches her waist. Combined with her authoritative posture, she looks every bit as in charge as Cary Grant, who is wearing a suit. Hepburn had an inherent confidence no matter what she was wearing or who she was talking to. In this movie she’s practically worshipped as a “Virgin Goddess” and her outfits mimic that.
In this scene, Hepburn is wearing the Gilbert Adrian goddess dress with gold embellishment. I thought the dress was accented in silver but the gold just adds to her aura of wealthy, untouchable femininity. She really does look like a statue. Which is why it’s perfect for this scene where her façade cracks and she’s disarmed by the compliments of a drunken Jimmy Stewart.
I like when people get a little crazy. Bring on the heat!
