Posts Tagged ‘thirties’

Jo Hedwig Teeuwisse is a historical consultant living in Amsterdam, and she’s what us swing dancers call a “lifestyler.” She lives and breathes the 1930s and 40s everyday, dressing in authentic clothing, living in an historically decorated home, the whole shebang!

Photos from her Flickr Stream, via Lark About

I just read about a survey conducted in 2008, that placed Keira Knightley’s green silk gown in Atonement  as the best film costume EVER. I’m not sure that I agree with that, but I did adore that gown and have been thinking about buying a reproduction.

From the Press Association: ‘The emerald green dress worn by Keira Knightley in Atonement has been voted the best film costume of all time. The bias-cut, backless silk gown had fashion editors raving when it first appeared on screen last year.
Knightley’s character, Cecilia Tallis, wore it during a pivotal scene in Joe Wright’s period drama, which is tipped for Oscar nominations. The survey was done for Sky Movies and British InStyle. Following Knightley’s dress were:

• white dress worn by Marilyn Monroe, in The Seven Year Itch;
• little black dress worn by Audrey Hepburn, in Breakfast at Tiffany’s;
• skin-tight pants worn by Olivia Newton-John, in Grease;
• blue gown worn by Kate Winslet, in Titanic;
• tie and waistcoat combination worn by Diane Keaton, in Annie Hall;
• satin corset worn by Nicole Kidman, in Moulin Rouge;
• stockings and bowler hat worn by Liza Minnelli, in Cabaret;
• gown worn by Cate Blanchett, in Elizabeth;
• dresses worn by Vivien Leigh, in Gone with the Wind.

Ian Lewis, director of Sky Movies, said, ‘There’s no doubt that Keira Knightley’s dress in Atonement created a massive stir this year, so it will be interesting to see whether it attains this stand-along iconic status in years to come.”

Read the whole article here.

You can buy a reproduction of the gown from eDressIt.com for about US $150.00, in whatever color you want:

Such a classic swing girl look from the early 1940s. I wear this combination all the time – striped top, high waisted skirt. I have a pair of dance shoes with a similar look:

They’re from Remix and my lovely boyfriend bought them for me!

Long slender lines, bias cutting, clinging silk and velvet, huge blouson sleeves, oh god I love the 1930s silhouette!

For anyone like me who has studied the Harlem Renaissance at school or university, from whatever angle (art, literature, music), then you have probably read Nancy Cunard’s “Negro: An Anthology”. It might even have been your textbook. But what you might not know is that Nancy Cunard herself was sheer glamour. She was the British heiress to the Cunard shipping line fortune, and abandoned her societal responsibilities to skip off to Paris in the 1920s to live the jazz life.