‘GIVES GOOD FACE’: MR. JOHN AND THE POWER OF HATS IN FILM
Fashion in film is having increasingly widespread appeal. No longer the provenance of the style boffin, books on designers and exhibitions of their clothing are becoming commonplace. Recently on American cable station, AMC (American Movie Channel), Monday evening films were advertised as 'The Fashion Collection.' Prefacing films of famous actresses, such as Elizabeth Taylor dressed by Edith Head or Greta Garbo dressed by Adrian, was a fashion columnist's brief commentary on the costume designer. This is well deserved attention to film's couturiers because their place in social history is vital. They were as forceful in fashion as they were in film. These industries definitively influenced American life styles, forming two of America's major economies. Fashion and film had a symbiosis at this century's beginning out of which emerged so identifiable a 'look' that not just the look but the fusion between fashion and film form a concrete part of American identity.
After 'The Fashion Collection,' AMC went further behind-the-scenes in a new series, beginning by profiling Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer costumer, Edith Head. In the much repeated swift, few seconds-long trailer for this program, a succession of extraordinary hats was shown, featured in the 1963 film to follow, A New Kind of Love (Melville Shavelson, US, 1963), with Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. But credit needs to be given where credit is due. Head did not design these hats—though the hats are so compelling they're used to lure an audience. These hats were designed by the milliner, Mr John. Why is due credit important? What makes a hat deserve distinction over other accessories—shoes, gloves, jewellery—designed under the aegis of a costumer?
For full text of this article, please contact Drake Stutesman.