On Tuesday, Jennifer Lawrence took home a Best Supporting Actress award from the New York Film Critics Circle. But one could argue that the bombshell’s scene partner — a white metallic evening gown that clung to the “American Hustle” starlet like a shiny wet T-shirt — deserves half the honor.
In one pivotal moment of the movie, which opens Friday, Lawrence (playing the hot-tempered wife of a con man) wears it while brazenly confronting her husband’s mistress (Amy Adams) and seducing a mafioso (Jack Huston). With every breath, the shiny fabric makes her body shimmer. With every step, the plunging neckline drops deeper. And when she goes to kiss her new lover — in front of her spouse, played by Christian Bale — the gown seems to shine even brighter, to Bale’s chagrin.
Amy Adams (with Christian Bale) wears plenty of asset-accentuating wrap dresses in “American Hustle.”
“We knew that dress had to be dangerous,” says “American Hustle” costume designer Michael Wilkinson. And it was: Not only did the gown make Lawrence sizzle, it threatened to immolate the entire film.
“Everyone’s going to want that gown,” sighs Cameron Silver, the owner of the famous LA vintage boutique Decades that sells ’70s fashion finds to clients such as Gwyneth Paltrow and Rihanna.
It’s hard to imagine that sentiment being expressed for other components of the movie’s style, though. From the wild curly perms to Bradley Cooper’s gold medallion necklace and unbuttoned shirt (hellooo, chest hair), to Christian Bale’s oversize bow ties and creepy-guy sunglasses, much of the look is hideously, accurately, let’s-never-go-back-to-the ’70s.
“Almost Famous” director Cameron Crowe once told The Post’s film editor Lou Lumenick that unless a film is a comedy, it’s nearly impossible to recreate ’70s fashion in a realistic way — it must be highly stylized, or it’s so ugly it’s distracting. (One need only look to this year’s “Jobs” and “Lovelace,” two painful examples.)
The 1977 classic “Annie Hall” brought boyfriend jeans and neckties into the mainstream.
That said, the Me Decade looks pretty darn good —and even contemporary — in “American Hustle” when it stays simple.
“I think the real star [of the movie] might be the Diane von Furstenberg wrap dress,” adds Silver. “I mean, look at Amy Adams. She’s known as such a goody-two-shoes — but seeing her in DVF, she just looks hot.”
In one of the movie’s funniest scenes, Bale seduces Adams —who plays a stripper turned con artist — by letting her run wild in his dry cleaning business, taking whatever she wants from the racks. She absconds with a pile of the jersey staples, then declares she’s in love.
The fashion industry has been known to second that emotion when it comes to both films about the ’70s and those actually shot during the decade.
“Dazed and Confused” captured the style of the ’70s by focusing on folksy embroidery and crop tops.
Milla Jovovich, who starred in the 1993 classic “Dazed and Confused” — which perfectly captures high schoolers in 1976 — admits that “Some clothes from my own line, Jovovich-Hawk [which existed from 2003-2008], were definitely inspired” by that movie’s folksy dresses and crop tops.
Alice + Olivia designer Stacey Bendet took a page from Julie Christie’s black wbeaded gown and Goldie Hawn’s bell-bottoms in the 1975 flick “Shampoo” for her fall line. “Bell bottoms elongate the leg and are flattering on almost anybody,” Bendet says, “And disco is so fun and sexy. I love designing things that sparkle.”
And, though many men may grumble about it, “Annie Hall” made Diane Keaton a fashion icon. The 1977 Woody Allen favorite brought boyfriend jeans (and cardigans, and neckties, and fedoras) into the mainstream, where they still remain today.
Cameron Crowe opted for a highly stylized interpretation of the era’s fashion for his 2000 film “Almost Famous.”
“Nobody ever made high-waisted trousers and a tie look as good as Annie Hall,” muses Alexa Chung in her recent book, “It.”
And then there’s the other reason why the styles of the ’70s seem so everlasting.
There’s a glut of the period’s original clothes — even from once-major labels like Halston and Fiorucci — because unlike cotton or silk, polyester was built to outlive us all. “That poly-jersey survived Studio 54,” Silver quips, “so it can survive now.”
To costume designer Ellen Lutter — who worked on the 1998 disco-era flick “54,” about the nightclub — authenticity is beside the point in period movies such as “American Hustle.” “Movies make things beautiful,” she says. “Beauty changes through time. It’s our job as costume designers to take what looked right in the period, and make it look right on-screen.”
As for the notion that great costumes can overshadow great performances, Wilkinson laughs. “It’s all part of the character. When we put Jennifer [Lawrence] and Amy [Adams] into their costumes, they used them to help become the characters . . . but it’s all ultimately about their performance.”
Perhaps style icon (and “American Hustle” go-to designer) Diane von Furstenberg says it best when she insists her famous wrap dress isn’t even really about fashion — on-screen or off. “It’s about the woman,” von Furstenberg states. “And that never goes out of style.”
0 comments:
Post a Comment