"Don't you like it better like this, anyway?"Bette Davis is an icon of Golden Hollywood, the actress that young girls interested in the performing arts aspired to be. She appeared in classic film after classic film and stole each scene she was in. And those Bette Davis Eyes.. well, that's another post. Even the biggest stars, however, can have their slumps, and in the late 1940s Bette was having hers. That all changed when she was cast as declining star, Margo Channing, in the instant classic All About Eve (1950). The costumes for the film, except for Channing's wardrobe, had already been designed by Fox's Charles LeMaire. Edith Head, who was friends with Davis, greatly wanted to do the job, and as LeMaire was already working on several other films. The cocktail dress was all the rage at the time, and so of course Margo Channing had to have one. However, the finished result, the brown, off-the-shoulder dress that we know so well was actually an accident. In Edith's words (Edith Head's Hollywood): My original sketch had a square neckline and a tight bodice. I had extremely high hopes for this dress because the fabric, a brown gros de Londres (a heavy silk) photographs magnificently in black and white, and it was trimmed in rich brown sable. Because we were working on such a tight deadline, the dress was made up the night before Bette was scheduled to wear it. I went in early the day of the filming to make sure the dress was pressed and camera-ready. There was Bette, already in the dress, looking quizzically at her own reflection in the mirror. I was horrified. The dress didn't fit at all. The top of the three-quarter-length sleeves had a fullness created by pleats, but someone miscalculated and the entire bodice and neckline were too big. There was no time to save anything, and a change would delay the shooting. I told Bette not to worry, that I would personally tell Joe Mankiewicz [wrote and directed the film] what had happened. I had just about reached the door, my knees feeling as if they were going to give out, when Bette told me to turn around and look. She pulled the neckline off her shoulders, shook one shoulder sexily, and said, "Don't you like it better like this, anyway?" It looked wonderful and I could have hugged her. In fact, I think I did [kind of hard to picture...]. With a few simple stitches I secured the neckline in place so she could move comfortably, and she left for the set. Above all, I did not want to delay the shooting. A look at all sides of the dress. Note how the sleeves are not attached to the actual bodice. Bette remembers that dress fondly in her Foreword to Edith Head's Hollywood: "My own momento to Edith's long career hangs on the wall of my home: a sketch of that fabulous brown cocktail dress... I bought the dress and I treasure the sketch. It's simply signed To Bette, from Edith." A revised sketch to show the finished gown. Article By Phyl
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As Taylor Swift would say, "You need to calm down." But that might be hard to for Swift fans when the singer prepared so many personal notes throughout the music video for "Cardigan" -- the first video off her newly released album "Folklore," which dropped at midnight on Friday. Swifties know she typically drops a few hints about her life in her music videos. "Cardigan" is no different. "One thing I did purposely on this album was put the Easter eggs in the lyrics, more than just the videos," Swift said during a live chat on Friday.
It's no coincidence that the hands in the clock on the wall are at one and three, Swift's lucky number is 13. ' "I was born on the 13th. I turned 13 on Friday the 13th. My first album went gold in 13 weeks. My first #1 song had a 13-second intro. Every time I've won an award I've been seated in either the 13th seat, the 13th row, the 13th section or row M, which is the 13th letter," Swift explained about the number's significance to her a few years back.
Swift is seen wearing a white dress in the middle of a magical forest at one point in the video, causing some to speculate that a wedding might be on the horizon. The singer has been dating Joe Alwyn for the past four years. "And when I felt like I was an old cardigan/ Under someone's bed/ You put me on and said I was your favorite," she sings. Let's not forget that Alwyn starred in the 2018 movie, "The Favourite."
Could Swift also be sending a message to her ex-boyfriend, Harry Styles? The "Cardigan" video shares some familiar qualities with the video for "Falling," which Styles released earlier this year. In both, the artists play pianos with close-ups of their hands, wearing rings. Each of their pianos overflow with water, causing them to become submerged with nothing but their instrument. Perhaps it's a visual reference to how music has saved them in difficult times?
Perhaps another nod to Alwyn could be her reference to gold in this video and her album. In one scene from "Cardigan," she opens the piano to find a burst of gold light, which she then climbs into. Some viewers think that gold hue could represent her boyfriend, something fans have noticed in previous songs she's released during their relationship, including "Dress" and "Daylight." And, in her new song, "Invisible String" she sings, "One single thread of gold tied me to you." Surprise! Taylor Swift is releasing a new album this week, one she wrote and recorded entirely in isolation. The world has less than one day to prepare for "Folklore," Swift's eighth studio album. The pop titan announced its sudden release on Twitter on Thursday morning. "Most of the things I had planned this summer didn't end up happening," she wrote, likely referencing her canceled tour for her August 2019 album, "Lover." "But there is something I hadn't planned on that DID happen." Apparently, that thing was "Folklore," an album Swift said she's "poured all of [her] whims, dreams, fears and musings into." She wrote and recorded the whole thing in isolation, she said, but she had help from cowriters like Bon Iver, the Grammy Award-winning indie crooner, and the prolific producer and songwriter and frequent Swift collaborator Jack Antonoff. Gone are the days of Swift's usual album release tactics -- weeks of hinting and countdown clocks, Instagram scrubbing and the theorizing among diehard fans. Less than one year ago, Swift released "Lover" with many of those tactics, including changing her Instagram color scheme and teasing song titles in magazine covers. But the world she released "Lover" into in August 2019 looks quite different now. "Before this year I probably would've overthought when to release music at the 'perfect' time, but the times we're iving in keep reminding me tht nothing is guaranteed," she wrote. "My gut is telling me that if you make something you love, you should just put it out into the world. That side of uncertainty I can get on board with." Jennifer Hudson is a perfect Aretha Franklin in the new trailer for the upcoming film, "Respect." The trailer for the biopic dropped during the BET Awards on Sunday. It features scenes from Franklin's rise to fame, her signing with a music manager and the legendary singer belting out the song "Respect" in front of giant neon letters spelling out the word. The movie also stars Marc Maron, Mary J. Blige, Forest Whitaker, Marlon Wayans, Audra McDonald, Queen Latifah, Tate Donovan, Tituss Burgess and Sky Dakota Turner. It is directed by Liesl Tommy. Franklin, who in 2018 died of pancreatic cancer at the age 76, was a producer on the film. Scheduled for an August, the movie's release was pushed back due to the coronavirus pandemic. It will now be in theaters on limited release on December 25. 'YOU WERE FORMED BY THE HEAT OF THE GALAXY. WHAT A THING TO BE, BOTH UNIQUE AND FAMILIAR' Last month, Beyoncé announced an ambitious new project: a forthcoming film and visual album called Black Is King hitting Disney+ on July 31. And over the weekend, we received a new look at what that'll look like, thanks to a vibrant new teaser. From what she's shown us, Black Is King will feature colorful set pieces and costuming, cosmic iconography, and of course, appearance from Bey and Jay-Z themselves — as well as Lupita Nyong'o, Naomi Campbell, and more. The grandeur of the trailer makes it feel like Black Is King is a massive cinematic event, and a quick look at its credits reveals that it is. The film written and produced by Beyoncé herself, and she directed it as well, alongside Blitz Bazawule, Ibra Ake, Jenn Nkiru, Jake Nava, Pierre Debusschere, and Dikayl Rimmasch. It's based on The Lion King, as well as Bey's The Gift soundtrack album that complemented the 2019 film which she starred in. She's referred to it as a "companion piece." In the language of Disney, the new film "reimagines the lessons from the 2019 blockbuster for today's young kings and queens in search of their own crowns." You can see that on full display in the new trailer, where children are forged in space and decorated in glowing colors here on earth. It'll reportedly feature new visuals for songs previously heard on The Gift, including "Brown Skin Girl." As Bey wrote on Instagram to announce it, Black Is King is "a labor of love. It is my passion project that I have been filming, researching and editing day and night for the past year. I've given it my all and now it's yours." "The events of 2020 have made the film's vision and message even more relevant, as people across the world embark on a historic journey," she continued. "We are all in search of safety and light. Many of us want change. I believe that when Black people tell our own stories, we can shift the axis of the world and tell our REAL history of generational wealth and richness of soul that are not told in our history books." Black Is King is also slated to feature appearances from Pharrell Williams, Kelly Rowland, Blue Ivy Carter, and Bey's mother, Tina Knowles Lawson. Check out its latest trailer above. |