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Expressions
Thursday, April 5, 1934
1 1 rr3 s
Hollywood and the entertainment
industry have influenced popular
fashion nearly as long as the various
visual media have been around to
spread the news. In the late teens
and early 1920s, the movie studios,
upon learning the immense monetary
value of "star quality," began publish
ing movie magazines filled with gos
sip on the latest screen sensations. F.
Scott Fitzgerald literally created The
Jazz Age" and ail the frivolity and
decadent good times associated with 1
it.
Abariotes
At the time Jay Gatsby was killed
in his pool, the flapper craze was twi
rling to startling new heights. Short
hair and short skirts were nothing
new in 1920. They reflected a rapidly
growing concern in this country for
the liberated woman. And it was
silent screen star Clara Bow who epi
tomized the flapper look, reflecting
an existing trend.
Hollywood has created fashion
from scratch and has popularized
existing trends that were perhaps
distinctive of particular subcultures.
Hollywood reflects as well as gener
ates popular fashion. The relation
ship between the movie industry and
popular fashion is a complex array of
mirrors pointed at each other, as
complicated as the row of lenses in a
modern film camera
In the 1930s the development of
the Western and the emergence of
the movie musical and the gangster
film helped lift the spirits of people
victimized by the Depression. Every
one with o cents could see a movie
and forget their problems for a while.
The 1930s proved to be a prosperous
decade for Hollywood.
Clark Gable unbuttoned his shirt
during a film produced in the mid
19403 called It Happened One Night,
and in so doing, revealed a bare chest
that set new standards for masculin
ity and sent the T-shirt industry
tumbling downward. During the
same period, Veronica Lake popular
ized a hairstyle that was to be
adopted by women nationwide dur
ing World War II. She parted her hair
on the side, then brushed the top
forward and over so the bangs
covered one eye. It soon became
apparent that this hairstyle created
occupational hazards for women
working in factories producing supp
lies for the war. Soon afterward.
Lake changed her hairstyle by brush
ing her locks to the side.
In the '50s James Dean would pre
figure the counterculture that sur
faced in the 1960s with his troubled
adolescent good looks and his marve
lous method acting that was sur
passed only by his legend. He starred
in three films: Giant, East of Eden
and Rebel Without A Cause. Elvis
Presley set music to a generation
obsessed with penny loafers, leather
jackets, slick-backed hair and
backseats.
Marilyn Monroe set curvacious
new standards for beauty during the
late '50s and early '60s. This ideal
feminine look would change after her
death to a thinner and more athletic
appearance. Twiggy was the embod
iment of the new look, and she also
was instrumental in getting minis
kirts off the ground. Julie Christie .
and Leslie Carcn wore colored eye
liner and lighter shades of lipstick in
films during the early '60s. These v
styles in facial makeup were emu-
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lated to a large degree by the public
until the evolution of the hippie and
the natural and carefree look that
arrived with the psychedelic era.
When Cicely Tyson appeared with
George C. Scott on a television series
during the 1960s wearing her hair in
an afro, black women began letting
their hair go, allowing it to curl into
its natural shape. Up until this time
black women, in the movies anyway,
had straightened their hair into what
amounted to Caucasian hairstyles.
Besides saying something positive
about civil rights, there is evidence
that Tyson's fro" sparked a renewed
interest in African culture for black
women, who began experimenting
with African beads and braids. Bo
Derek wore her hair in an African
braid in the film Ten, which started a
short-lived fad. The Beatles, had a
drastic influence on the way men
wore their hairr
When Peter Fonda and Dennis
Hopper rode off to find America in
the cult film classic Easy Rider, they
probably kept a few college graduates
out of business clothes a little longer
than they might ordinarily have been.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show is
another cult film that affected dress
fashion for a short time. Usually,
people do not dress up in the spark
ling and gaudy "rocky horror" out
fits unless it's to see the show. To my
knowledge, no one has walked into
the Chicago police station disguised
as "Riff Raff and lived to tell about it.
In 1976, Diane Keaton established
the Annie Hall look in the award
winning Woody Allen film. She wore
different sorts of hats, modern horn
rimmed glasses and layers of big,
baggy clothes. This style of dress
became very popular, especially
among frustrated actresses,
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