i love your funny face

I'm in an audrey-hepburn kind of mood. Funny Face is one of those incredibly amazing movie to watch, every time i re-watch it i find something else to ooh and aah about. Maybe its the collision of fashion, movies, history, paris and philosophy in one delectable offering. Maybe its two-left-feet me living vicariously through fred and audrey's amazing dance routines. Maybe its just the fact that i really wish i was audrey hepburn. Whatever it is, it makes me love funny face so incredibly incredibly much.

Paris, magazines, clothes, photographers, beatniks, givenchy clothes, music and dance sequences... this movie has it all. And re-mastered in amazing technicolour it is an absolute feast for the eyes. the colours literally pop on the screen. Literally.

It is the story of a shop assistant, Jo, in a philosophical bookstore, dreaming of going to paris to parle with the great emile flostre, the worlds greatest living expert on empathicalism. She is plucked from obscurity by a maverick photographer, Dick avery, who loves her 'funny face' and sees potential in her to be the 'Quality Woman' the person to embody the Quality Magazine. The editor decides to take her to paris to shoot the clothes exclusively designed by Paul Duval (read, as always, hubert givenchy). What happens is, of course, Dick and Jo fall in love, but fight all the time, leading to Jo run away only to be lecherously prayed on by the elusive emile flostra. What happens next? Does she make it back in time for the great couture show? WIll she embarass the magazine? Will her and Dick be reunited? Where can i get me the beautiful clothes?

There are some amazing  fashion moments in the film. Like Audrey in a bright red givenchy silk chiffon creation with a matching scarf draped in the air behind her like wings as she descends the steps of the louvre in front of Winged Victory. Or the marvellous dancing scene in the beatnik club with audrey in all black and ballet flats, her dancer's training showing how truly talented she is. Or the wonderful wonderful wedding dress, classic givenchy with its slightly boated neck, cinched in waist, yards of tulle and ballerina length hem. Apparently when they were filming that scene it had just rained, and so they had to stop filming every few minutes so that audrey could change her shoes. They were white satin, and so the muddy fields were leaving unsightly brown marks over them, forcing the costumers to change them about 4o times in one day. 

You also cannot go past the beautiful duck egg blue satin cloak with puffy hood (a la marie antoinette) with matching elbow length gloves that she wears to the party for QUALITY (a magazine based on vogue). Or the white capris and crop top with pale pink cummerbund that audrey wears fishing with a huge hat. Or the boxy coat with huge buttons in front of the train... There are so many to choose from! 

Feast your eyes, and hopefully, rent the movie. If you are interested in any of the following; fashion, music, dance, paris, audrey or the 1960s, this movie will bewitch, bother and bewilder you.

and isn't this just the most divine shade of pink?

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sabrina - is that you?

in Sabrina audrey makes a delightful change from the slightly daggy chaufeur's daughter obssessed with the owner's son, to a beautiful parisian cooking school graduate with pizazz, sass and chic coming out of her ears. the clothes, of course, are the result of the master couturier hubert givenchy, and are simply to die for. audrey is waifishly lovely in this film, she is undoubtedly my favourite actress of all time. I love her english accent, dancer's body and expressive eyes. 

Apparently bogart didn't think much of audrey's skills as an actress before, during and after the filming of sabrina. although audrey always maintained that he was perfectly lovely to her and that she had a marvellous time filming the movie. i love the idea behind sabrina, very cinderella but with a delicious twist, the one thing that got me in the movie that it was all very odd the pairing between sabrina/audrey and bogie/linus. the age gap was a bit much, and the lack of chemistry was glaring.

The costumes are, of course, what i want to talk about. I especially love sabrina's homecoming outfit, the one that she tells her father will make the most sophisticated woman at the train station. the neat skirt suit, the slight heels, the circular earrings and turban hat are all very vintage givenchy. I also love the evening dress that sabrina wears to her first party, swathes of satin with elbow length gloves and a gorgeous pattern. All the givenchy necklines (beautiful boatnecks) and sillhouettes (cinched in waists, puffy skirts, lean lines with capris) are adorable, and were meant to be worn by audrey. 

For the record, i have never seen the 1995 remake with julia ormond and harrison ford, although i am willing to give it a go. experience (and the law of averages) tells me it might not be very good, but hey, never judge a book/movie by its cover/cast. 

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The return of Givenchy

Some say this came in Spring of 2007 when Tisci when he showed his first full HC collection for Givenchy. I would say this is correct. It was a defining moment for the house, showing that Tisci had matured from some of his trite and contrived sillhouettes of youth and into a more matured understanding of design that focussed on clever tailoring and quirky, ingenious twists to the cocktail dress and evening gown. Along with Audrey Hepburns Breakfast at Tiffany's dress, this season of haute couture revealed some iconic Givenchy dresses that catapulted the flagging and flailing house back into the limelight.

It has been the strength of Tisci at the helm of Givenchy that has done this. He has gone from strength to strength throughout the seasons, culminating in his Fall 2008 collection for Givenchy which has spawned countless copycats of the heavy chains, leather pants and turtlekneck jumpers. His couture collection of 2007 was the beginning of his progressive stellar rise. It was a collection of softness and harsh textures melded together to create not the original but an updated idea of the dainty dress with strong elements.

Of course many people complained that the whole thing didn't pull together well as a collection, and there were the odd outliers, like the bright yellow tulle confection that Irina Lazareanu wore... My answer is this, that yes that is true, the collection could have been more cohesive. But this is couture, for crying out loud. It is supposed to be wild and untameable. That's why people like it. 

It was all mostly long, wildly designed but well put together dresses that showed that he needed to tone it up and develop as a designer more and think about varying his collection a bit more; next season he would show skirts, pants and different lengths; clearly Tisci had learnt from his previous mistakes. The accessories were bizarre and unnecessary, but even the wildness of antlers couldn't take away from the beauty of some of the dresses. But even more than that it showed clearly that Givenchy was back with a vengeance. And Althoug this might not have been Givenchy or Tisci's strongest offering to the fashion world, it was the one that made me sit up and think, right. Pay attention to Givenchy. Watch this space. 

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