Excerpt from
“Costume Design in the Movies” by Elizabeth Leese
Edited by Leslie Drollinger Stratmoen
Since the first films were released, women had been acquiring fashion tips from the movies, according to Elizabeth Leese, the author of “Costume Design in the Movies.” In her book, she says those first films provided a record of how the ordinary, everyday person dressed because they captured everyday events.
Before Films
Before the advent of film, she says, the average woman kept in touch with society fashions by studying newspapers and magazines or the limited number of fashion publications that were available at the time. Probably the most accessible source of fashion information, she says, was the series of picture postcards of famous beauties. Then everything changed when halls in every town were converted into cinemas and high fashion could be seen by everyone.
Fashion Films Come to America
So, by 1917, she says, fashion reels that had become a staple in Europe came to America through the Pathe company. The company made a series of films called “Florence Rose Fashions,” directed by the fashion page editor of the “New York Evening Mail,” Florence Rose. Thirty-one of these shorts were issued between 1916 and 1917, she says, all with a simple storyline, but the series was promoted with far more care than any previous efforts.
The idea, she said, was to release a film every couple of weeks with a tie-up between a dozen of the leading American newspapers like the “Chicago Daily News,” the “Boston Traveler” and “Pittsburgh Dispatch.” Articles appeared in relevant papers for a couple weeks before the film was to be shown at the local cinema. The articles were written by Mrs. Radnor-Lewis, who was the former managing editor of “Harper’s Bazaar” and illustrated by Winifred I Messer.
Newspapers and Films Align
Now, for the first time, she says, the ordinary fashion-conscious American woman could read the fashion page in her local paper and then go to the cinema to see the styles modelled. The newspapers must have given all the details of where the reader could buy the clothes, she said, because no advertising was done on the screen.
She says all the clothes used in the “Florence Rose Fashions” films were American and reference was constantly made to the manufacturers, not designers. So, it seems, she says, that the clothes were more accessible than in the earlier examples of fashion films. She says the titles used at the beginning of the series indicate what sort of simple plots were used: “The Beginning of the Social Season,” “Weekend House Party” and “A Day in New York.” But the format must have changed slightly, she says, because they began to release the films every week and the titles of the later issues give the impression that the series had turned into the old formula for fashion newsreels.
McCall’s Goes to the Movies
Then in 1925, she said, the Educational Film Exchanges Inc. (an American company) announced the release of a new series called McCall Fashion News and was to be in the new Eastman Color Process, which claimed to produce natural flesh tints and reproduce various shades of red which had previously been impossible. The first edition was called “Paris Creations in Color” and featured gowns from Poiret, Jenny, Worth and Lanvin. Hope Hampton was the star.
Films Present Fashion Forecast
Leese goes on to say that no new ideas for fashion shorts appeared in the late ‘20s and ‘30s, although they continued to be part of the program of supporting news or cine-magazines. But in 1938, she said a lady who was working at the Fox Studios in Hollywood conceived and directed a series of eight films called “Fashion Forecast,” which ran from 1938-40. Vyvyan Donner was a fashion journalist and dress designer and had been fashion editor of Fox Movietone News since 1929. The Fashion Forecast series was filmed in Technicolor. Each item ran for about eleven minutes and claimed to feature America’s most beautiful models.
It was written by Miss Donner and narrated by Ilka Chase. The idea wasn’t new, says Leese, but, because the series had a soundtrack, the display of gowns wasn’t broken up by the appearance of title cards on the screen. The Fashion Forecasts were widely publicized in the States, she said, with extensive tie-ups being arranged across the United States.
At that point in time, she said, couture houses had always supplied dresses for feature films, particularly from New York, because so much filming was done in the East Coast Studios. She said the couture houses did not, as a general rule, though, get any kind of screen credit. News items, however, often appeared in trade and fan magazines telling film-goers that a star would be getting her dresses from a particular fashion house. Alice Joyce and Corinne Griffith were faithful to Madame Frances. Many actresses used Hattie Carnegie, says Leese, but “she was smart enough to get a screen credit for the films she did with Constance Bennett.”
Fashion Designers Come On Board
Leese went on to say some films capitalized on the designer’s name and made good use of the fashion aspect of the film when planning the publicity campaign. Feature films set in and around fashion houses were not uncommon, she said, but the gowns displayed would be the work of a designer under contract to the studio. This was acceptable, she said, because people like Adrian were perfectly capable of providing the right clothes and probably looked upon the assignment as a heaven-sent opportunity to showcase their talents.