We chose to do the influences of Hollywood on fashion between the years 1920’s to 1990’s. We chose this topic because we think that Hollywood stars help big famous designers to show their collection in those years and also now. Since they are famous many people want to dress like them. Hollywood is not only limited to a specific element.
The 1920 ‘s to 1930’s , The elements of the Hollywood influence on fashion was influenced by the Great Depression. It had major impacts on haute couture and the whole fashion industry. BY : ALEXANDRA EL-HAB
The 1940’s to the 1950’s is about how the confidence of Marilyn Monroe and her curves and the confidence os Audrey Hapburn’s small and thin body has changed fashion beauty on an other level .Then it’s about the 1940’s fashion through 1960 . In this issue , will also interview miss Marilyn Monroe BY: KATE LAINESSE
The 1960’s to the 1970’s is about when it was a time of designs were colorful and the The brighter the colours combined together, the better. It was really about colour being clashed.The time of the hippies in the 60 ‘s and the 70 ‘s was more of a Disco time . BY : AUDREY FORTIER
The 1980’s to the 1990’s is about where the fashion has an exgravagante look. By putting more makeup ,more hairspary giving society a rockstar look. This is where hollywood and music video influence socitey to want to dress like them. BY :NICOLE BONILLA
The Great Depression The whole country and world experienced the effect of a failed economy and a decline of living conditions called “The Great Depression”. During this same time, the American film industry experienced a boom seen as Hollywood’s Golden Era. In 1934, Will Hays, head of the Motion Pictures Producers and Distributors Association, said "No medium has contributed more greatly than the film to the maintenance of the national morale during a period featured by revolution, riot and political turmoil in other countries". During the Great Depression, Hollywood played a big role in sustaining the nation’s moral by providing them hope and reassurance. Hollywood was immune rom the Depression’s effects. People wanted to escape from their problems for a couple of hours by watching movies on individual success, a government capable of protecting its citizens and a sustained vision of America as a classless society. Most films of the depression years were based on the social reality of the time. The industry had the great idea of diminishing the admission cost down to 20 cents to boost the attendance, give double bills, giveaways for free dishes and a Bank Night in which the customer who gets the lucky number, won a cash prize. As films reached new and wider audiences, actor increasingly became idolized as stars that intensified the hype of the industry.
1920s to 1930s
Hollywood starts became role models for the society. The clothes and hairstyles worn by glamorous movie stars, both on and off the screen, grabbed the attention of American and European moviegoers and launched countless fashion fads.
In 1920, the influence of Hollywood started during the silent film era. Pola Negri, Clara Bowm Jean Harlow and Gloria Swanson are popular actress in the silent film era who had a major impact on the popular with their choices of styles by rocking garments and accessories that were never seen before. It proves that popular actresses made a big impact on people’s fashion.
Hollywood costume designers played a crucial role by dictating fashion trends. The gingham dress, a cotton fabric dress featuring a checked or striped pattern, was one of the popularity created by Gilbert Adrian, costume designer, which was designed for Judy Garland and Katharine Hepburn. Some outfits that are worn by actresses were quickly copied by retailers. A women who found a dress or a gown in a movie that she liked, could purchase a lowpriced copy in a department store. Many magazines would publish clothing patterns based on film costumes, allowing women to sew their own Hollywood look a like.
1930s to 1940s In the early 1930s, European designers realized that a dramatic shift had happened in the fashion industry. Paris was no longer the fashion capital of the world. With eighty-five million movie tickets being purchased each week, Hollywood had become had great power, with the ability to reach almost all social classes and spread new fashions quickly. Movies had glamorous stars, huge budgets, and innovative designers all focused toward marketing and selling a trend.
Hollywood was aware, once the fame of a star was established that these became fashion icons, aspirational role models, and also perfect marketing tools as women world wide knew them, and yearned to be like them. Hollywood exploited this to it's fullest. Films wanted to attract female audiences by using a romantic plot and extravagant fashions. Films also operated as high-end fashion magazines and instructed women on the latest fashions and looks.
Interview with Adolph Zulor Question: You know that your business Paramount Pictures had a huge influence on the society debuting in the 1920s and on the whole fashion industry. How did you manage to make the society forget their problems occurring in the Great Depression?
Answer: I think that my team and I tried to produce the greatest films to make the population forget the reality by providing them surrealism and happy stories. We tried really hard to discover the secret of success and we found it. We had a lot of stressful moments but I believed in my actors and actresses and I knew that they were going to change the decade. Now that I look back at our successful hard work, I realized that these events occurred a few years ago will always be remember and talked by everyone.
Question: You seem very proud of your work and successfulness. Now, do you look back and thought of changing something that you would of done differently?
Answer: In 1935, we went bankrupt which had a big influence on Paramount Pictures. I over expanded and overvalued Paramount stock for purchases, which led the company into receivership in 1933.
Question: Do you think that Paramount Pictures was the most successful film production/distribution studio?
Answer: I had a lot of competitor including Warner Bros and 21st Century Pictures. I think we all had a big role on Hollywood. I couldn’t say that my company had a bigger influence because each studio had a different influence and if any of them didn’t exist, everything wouldn’t be the same. I wasn’t into competition at all. I was all about doing my own thing and being successful at my own work.
With or without curves.
I
n the early 50’s, being a sex-symbol actress wasn’t as hard as it is today. Whether they had the thin shape of Miss Audrey Hepburn or had the voluptuous curves of Marilyn Monroe, they could have a place in the sexiest person’s list. Today, actresses need to exercise and to eat super well to be treated as an extraordinary beauty. Though, Marilyn Monroe had helped women to be more confident about their curves and shaped bodies. Therefore, you weren’t asked to have a body as Marilyn Monroe’sto be considered as beautiful and sexy by the male gender. The best example could be the actress Audrey Hepburn who had this thin and fragile body and was still
Marilyn Monroe Promotional photograph by Milton Greene for ‘Bus Stop’, 1956
What really had made her even more beautiful is that she wasn’t scared of her look and expressed herself fully by exposing her body to everybody and loving it. They look of women bodies had a totally new sense from now on, if they didn’t have the choice of being a little more round or a little more skinny, they were called as beautiful as everyone else. Fashion Column by Kate Lainesse
1940’s1950’s in Fashion
Fashion
had been
modified in the beginning of the 1940’s because of the WWII. The accessibility of the fabrics was limited and that did not help in the production of the clothes at that time. Starting in 1942, wool was a really limited supply but had been changed with artificial fibers such as viscose and rayon. Also, nylon was now used for military purpose, to make parachutes. So they needed to look for another similar fabric to make stockings. The majority of the colors that were seen in this era reflected the dark atmosphere due to war, such as black and navy. Most of the trends in the 1940’s have represented the practicality way of life. Many newspaper articles and magazines encouraged women to use clothing and accessories that they already have or even to sow, stich and knit to create new clothes from fabrics around the house.
Then, the 1950’s began with the famous look of Christian Dior “New Look”. It consists in a pointed bust and a small waist blouse with a fullskirt. Americans did not like the look at first, but then it had quickly changed as the trend that dominated all the fashion magazines. Then, there were other popular style at that time such as a tailored, feminine look with gloves and pearls, pencil skirts and also tailored suits with jackets that were fitted. The Peter Pan collars were very popular such as low-cut necklines. Fashion Article by Kate Lainesse.
INTERVIEW
Are you proud to be a fashion icon now after you had been criticized in the past about your style and figure? Marilyn Monroe: I am really proud to be in the list of people that are looked at and imitated. I love the way my different figure became something sexy at the look and helped women to have a bigger self-esteem. W ould you like to change your look and make it more different than it always been? Marilyn Monroe: No, because I have my own look and I am recognized by it. I love my red lipstick and will always do. I want to be remembered for the same thing, and my style is one of these things that I’ll be remembered for. You made women loved their curves, are you proud of it and would you change anything to make them have even more self-esteem? Marilyn Monroe: I am so proud of what I did. I did not dress like that to make a change but if I did, I really am proud of myself for doing that. Women need to be confident of whom they are and love their body as it is. Men like the confidence of a woman and that makes her sexier. I don’t think I could do anything more than what I did to help the women be more confident about themselves but I would encourage someone to do it. Do you remember why you wanted to be an actress? Marilyn Monroe: I knew nothing of the acting profession. I was ashamed to tell the few people I knew that I wanted to try it before. I said that I hoped to make a living as a model but deep inside me, I maintained this secret want- play comedy .Acting, I knew what it was. It was a way to live a dream. Interview by Kate Lainesse.
Fashion Column Article after article has been written, telling people how they should dress, how to dress and what accessories to use. Yet have you ever wondered where those ideas were started ?Hollywood had a huge impact on how poeple were dressing, and probably one of the most impactfull movie of the 60’s was Barberella, In the 1968, starring Jane Fonda came out and made a huge impact on the fashion of this time period. The designer of the costume in Barberella, Paco Rabanne’s created many unwearable futuristic fashions in the 1960s. Paco Rabanne was more an avant garde artist than fashion designer. Some of the most science fiction film began to influence designs of the 1960’s. Furniture was really modern, it was made of modular, plastic and chrome. Everything that was in that decade had clean and geometric lines, either smooth curves or sharp, square edges. Designers started using ideas from art in their designs that were made by artists at that time, taking Op Art patterns or abstract colours and contrasts.
1960’s Women’s of the 1960’s loved tailored suits that they would wear with a boxy jackets. For less formal occasion they wore a dress that was made up with designs that looked like doodles. The leather boots, false eyelashes and mini skirts were the key items of the 1960’s. The movie Cleopatra is probably the movie that had the most influence on this decade. The fact she uses headband and the beads in her haid makes her really an influence for that decade. Pantyhose that were seamless were created in the 1960s. During that time it was not proper to show bare legs and it was not fashionable to see the tops of stockings when wearing mini skirts. The hippy group that was considered the group that rebelled against war. They above all promoted peace and love. This had a huge impact on fashion. Their styles were very comfortable. Often consisted of tie-dyes shirt, psychedelic clothing really represented their personalities. Their painted their faces and bodies with peace symbols and other designs that were meaningful to them. Some typical hippie clothing consisted of, bellbottomed jeans, tie-dyed shirts, long flowing dresses, gypsy skirts, fringed vest and peasant blouses Something else that was popular in the 1960’s was for women to wear really big medallions hanging from a long chain. Headbands with feathers along with tight curl. We will start from the top covering hairstyles and the hair adornments. This sort of hair was kept in place with the kind of hair band that had an Indian look. A fashion items that we still wear today; mini skirt, was introduced durring that time period. Other clothes that were introduced in the 60’s included, was the baby-doll dress, the culottes (the look of a full skirt but were more versatile, to wear with a trouser) Men’s fashion consisted of a simple turtlenecks, they were paired with everything, from a sweater to a vest to a blazer. Turtlenecks were maid in every colour and every construction that was possible. Most daring people would wear the hippie style, which consisted of wearing jeans with a psychedelic colors, paired with beads and feathers. Designs were colorful and the The brighter the colours combined together, the better. It was really about colour being clashed.
1970’s
Movies such as Saturday night fever and Grease are the perfect representation of what the 1970’s looked like. Disco looks began in the 1970s and was memorable for its hot pants look and Spandex tops. Nothing screams more 1970’s fashion than jumpsuits, bell bottom pants, maxi shirts, clingy fabrics, loud colours, embroidered jeans, tie dye, polyester suits, disco uniforms and peace signs. The 1970’s was more about individual expression, hippy was the word used for style. Both men and women wore tie-dye, bellbottoms and disco uniforms, flair pants were most of the time worn with high platform shoes. The disco uniforms were often worn to parties (as seen in Saturday night fever). Women’s in the 1970’s were the one who chose what they wanted to wear; they could be wearing mini skirts, midi skirt, maxi dress, or pants. Fashion was in everything. Women often wore maxi dresses, halter neck cat suits or even evening trousers. In the Halter neck cat suit, pattern that were exotic and tropical were very popular. A style that was frequently worn was the Granny Dress, which had a high neck, which was pie-crust frilled, or lace trimmed. They were often made out of a floral print design, made out of viscose/rayon, or crepe fabric that draped on the body. Another great sucess in the 1971 was the halter neck dress, that was most of the time floor lenght (maxi) but it could’ve been made above the knew. Trousers and trousers suits were a very popular style in the 1970’s for both men and women , they were very fashionable. By the 1975, pants reached wide bell bottom proportion, they gently began to flare out as of the 1971, by the end of the 1970’s the leg of the trousers straightened again. Men of the 1970’s wore colorful ties with floral prints, and bright shirts. Men leisure wear were made of new colors and new fabrics, double knits and stretch knit suits became very popular. Colours such as Rose, purple, orange and green became the men’s favorite. At the begining of the 1970’s platform shoes were not that high, they were around ¼ of an inch. But at the peak of their popularity, platform shoes were about 4 inches high. By the mid seventies, many a woman and man twisted on a pair of platform shoes.
Interview with the famous:
ELIZABETH TAYLOR: «I've always admitted that I'm ruled by my passions.» Elizabeth Taylor Perso nality and fashion wise, how would you describe yourself? Personality wise I would consider myself as an independent accomplished woman, with a rebellious nature, and also good looking. Fashion wise I would describe myself as What did you first wanted to do when you grew up? I wanted to become a ballerina, I enjoyed dancing and I remember i would totally lose myself in the music and be a gypsy. I would go wherever I wanted to in my head— wherever the music took me. My body followed. What is your go to fashion item that you couldn’t live without? Diamond is definitely my go to item, I cannot get outside my house with my asscher cut krupp diamond, which was offered by my 5th husband, Richard Burton. I refer to the ring as my baby because it so precious, it’s composed of a 33.19 carat diamond. You can never have enough diamond, they are a woman’s bestfriend. What is your everyday make up look ? My everydays go to look is a thick eyeliner line, for a cat-eye look, and a bright coloured lipstick, which is most often the colour red. At what age did you start being famous ? I don’t remember a time where I wasn’t famous, I was famous for my acting, for my ilnesses, my friends, my romances, my husbands, and divorces, but above all for the incredible beauty that I have. I got the most famous for the collection of jewlery that I own. How did your acting career started? I have never had an acting lesson in my life. But I did learn from the best by watching them act on television, I watched people like Jimmy Dean, Spencer Tracy and Marlon Brando, basicly anyone who were educated on the art of acting. What is the most honourable memory that you have in mind ? Oh, my most honourable moment in my entire career was when Queen Elizabeth of England gave me the order of comendment of british empire, she made me a Dame
1980‘s a heavy influence from the music industry and MTV, the younger generation, wants to look cool and hip and looking to shop where their favorite actors and artists buy their clothing. Movies like ‘’Flashback’’ and ‘’Footloose’’ with their ripped sweatshirts made a huge style. When you think of the 80 you think of the leather jacket and the skinny jeans resembling the one that Michael Jackson wears in his Thriller video that was like a mini movie theme he did. You can see how the Hollywood stars intergrade in their movies the color leather jackets that would influence young generation to follow their style and start wearing those jackets. People start watching a lot of movies in these years to get ideas for there fashion choices. Wanting to be like the actors and celebrities. Movie, music videos were fashion icon where most seen. Young people admired there favorite celebrities and wanted to dress like them and also change there hair style, make up and much more .Pop stars were leading the way in fashion and some of those pop stars where starting to appear in movies. By also appearing in movies they were getting more noticed.
1990’s
was the time were
music videos where becoming a film. Profound influence on young people and on popular culture in general. 90’s fashion truly was a crazy mix of style from the grunge to Goth and everything in between. Tom cruise is one of the men who most influenced with the movie Top Gun by wearing the Aviator Ray Bans sunglasses and the sort of army jacket. Kids were wanting to buy a jacket same as the one in the movie. Famous actors start appearing in music videos to get more notice. What the artists you saw in the music videos were wearing was also seen in the movies, red carpets where Hollywood stars would show their style. Well known designers were putting their garments on Hollywood celebrities and artists to get more known by people. Music videos were becoming some sort of films with a specific story that would create a style to the celebrities.
Q: What has been you biggesmotivation in your life to continue acting?
R:
My family has been a big support and always thought to never give-up to my dreams .
Q:
What do you like most about your job?
Q:
What were you thinking in your film Risky Business when you were dancing without pants ?
R: What can I say I love to dance and R:
You always got to learn; I really learned a lot seeing what the actors were doing, it was fun that I able you help them and they were able to help me as an actor. It gives you a different point of view.
Q:
Do you think that you physical appearances on movie have something to do with your acting?
R: No I never imagine that, when I look into the mirror what I see are my weakness has person. I don’t just go to the mirror and say to myself like wow I have a nice face
have fun . I just waxed the floor put on some socks, took off my pants and really just started dancing . I like to have fun while acting . Ill get more into the character
Q: How do you explain you style ? R:
I’m a very down to earth guy. I don’t like to much crazy things. I like to wear just jeans , a white tee. I like it simple.
D
uring this period of time
in the fashion industry in the Hollywood world was going a bit crazy. For example the hair was going multicolored, side ponytails, platinum blond. The clothing was over sized or work suit with shoulder pads. Young street wears was very famous during that time. They would wear neon colors, strong patterns, and acid wash tight and ripped pants. We could see in movies like Dirty Dancing and Fame would inspire girls to wear leg warmers. Other way of dressing has more of a sport and work out clothing, they would wear exercise gear and parachute pants.
1980’s was the years wear women were wearing the short, tight spandex mini skirt. The mini skirt when it was short it was better .The most worn was the denim . Shoulder pad where very popular like the multicolor suit vest that women would were. The big earrings and how to forget the fingerless gloves. It was time when using more of everything was the best, using the most hair spray , the most bracelets on you arm and the more eye shallow. But now it the less makeup you use and the less jewelry you are more fashion forward. Legging has come back from the 80’s and 90’s; every girl and women are wearing them. And that retro style came back. The big earring have changes a lot since the 1990’s and 1980’s there is not too much details on them on the big earrings like the use to have.
Books: