Bond Bardem and M

I've been babysitting so didn't get to see the premier of the latest Bond film (though it was WHY I was sitting). Still as a consolation prize I got to watch the stars on Graham Norton - why, one wonders, when all the true Bond fans would be at the cinema??

 Javier Bardem  recounted funny stories about his mum smuggling him into clubs at the age of five where he would do John Travolta in Night Fever impersonations. Norton almost got him to demonstrate - shame! Plus anecdotes about the 'No Country for Old Men' hairstyle, including an occasion where everyone including the Coen Brothers dressed up in similar wigs and he could see how terrifying it was. Also how on the set, he heard the Bond theme - and it was Judy Dench's cell phone going off. She told  Graham Norton how the M role was good fun as she got to do the odd stunt and  says she loves keeping naughty boys in order! Daniel Craig described his screen tests for Bond and what it's like never being able to go anywhere much without being recognised because of the role - but  reckons it's worth it. Well, I'll get to see the film........ eventually!

Amazing Grace

Now in her eighties, Grace Robertson is still taking interesting, beautiful photos.  Grace's father was the editor of 'Picture Post' and used to tell her that  photographers were mainly mature men. Still,  when she told him that she wanted to be a photo-journalist he got her a second hand Leica. However she didn't want to use his position to make her way, so originally called herself Dick Muir, after a boy she had fancied but who wasn't interested in her! Her mother would make sure that she was wearing a hat and gloves when she left the house, not that these necessarily stayed on for long. She had friends who fell out with her because of her unconventional job (parents didn't approve!).

She would spend time with the people she wanted to photograph, until they got used to her - at 6ft 2in she was fairly noticeable. She felt she was an observer of people, especially women, trying to work out 'what made women tick.' Photo-journalism was a new form of media, and Grace says that after the war 'We as a nation were talking to each other through pictures in magazines', with the country trying to re-imagine itself whole.

She was disturbed by women's ignorance of sexual matters, so did a series of photographs of births in 1955 which were some of the first to be published.

She now lives on the south coast with her husband, the photographer Thurston Hopkins.

Moving clothes

From 20th October until 27th January 2013, the V and A are showing 'Hollywood Costume', with a hundred of the film world's most iconic movie costumes, from Dorothy's red shoes to items of clothing worn by Indiana Jones, Jack Sparrow and Darth Vadar, many of which have never been seen outside of the studios. The exhibition celebrates a hundred years of costume in films, from 1912 and the Silver Screen to 2012.

 There are the pairings of directors and designers in the second gallery: firstly, Alfred Hitchcock and Edith Head, who said that 'unless there is a story reason for colour, we keep the colours muted', which made it all the more surprising when there were bright costumes such as Eva Marie Saint's orange jacket in the final chase scene of North by Northwest.But Head and the other great old studio designers wanted to make the actors look  like stars. Mike Nichols and Ann Roth are the next featured pairing, and Roth went for realism. During the 70s and 80s costumes didn't look like costumes.Roth said 'I don't dress movie stars. I dress actors who are playing characters.'

In the exhibition book, Meryl Streep, who has a degree in costume design, says that when it comes to costume 'everything is eloquent.....everything is story.'

'world's most colourful Winter collection'

The Scandinavian designer, Gudrun Sjoden 's first UK store has opened in London, Covent Garden, what beautiful colours! http://www.gudrunsjoden.com/uk/customer-services

Ping-pong

 Europe's first social ping-pong club opened in London recently. Over 100,000 people play once a week Sport England reckons. Dr Pong in Berlin and Spin in New York have paved the way, but Bounce has not only 17 ping-pong tables, but also a 40 ft bar and 95-seater restaurant. All the celebrities seem to be in on the game!

Some day my prints will come

The recent craze for all things Latin American, from Day of the Dead skulls to Oxaca art, from Frida Kahlo to Aztec prints (even Michael Palin's latest travels are around Brazil!) seems to have carried on from Jean Paul Gautier's spring collection in 2010 which turned into a Mexican Fiesta, and is now easing us into the chill of autumn with its rich colours.Make way as these bright rich prints segue into winter florals, with the slightest hint of colder blues.....

Baz's Lightyear - The Great Gatsby

First it was 'Strictly Ballroom' with multi-coloured gowns, followed by 'Romeo and Juliet' with Claire Daines's Juliet as an angel at the fancy dress ball, then 'Moulin Rouge', featuring Nicole Kidman in blood red and Kylie Minogue as the Green Absinthe Fairy. Now this year, Baz Luhrmann turns his lens on the sparkling twenties and the slim novel, 'The Great Gatsby' . The New York production of Gatz has already opened, and there is even a Gatsby-inspired computer game (greatgatsbygame.com) featuring flappers and evil butlers. The book has had five previous screen adaptions, including Francis Ford Coppola's 1974 version starring Robert Redford in white suits and striped swimwear,and Mia Farrow in pale chiffon scarves and oversized hats. Baz Luhrmann has Leo Dicaprio following Redford's footsteps in white suits (pink in the novel?!) and Daisy is played by Carey Mulligan, wearing Ashley Olsen vintage gowns and Tiffany diamonds. Even though the film is not due for release until the end of the year, already the catwalks are reflecting these twenties fashions with beaded chiffon, long fringing and drop waists in the collections of Ralph Lauren, Marchesa and Gucci.

Snowdon Blue

Lord Snowdon, the Royal photographer, always keeps a stock of blue shirts for his subjects as he finds they always take a good photo, and now he has teamed up with Acne Books to produce a book and exhibition entitled 'Snowdon Blue', 61 portraits of the rich and famous in the simple blue shirt, including Bowie and Manolo Blahnik.

East or West, Bright is Best

East or West, bright is best!

In June 50 years ago, the number one album was the soundtrack to West Side Story, which spent 54 weeks at the top of the Billboard charts, the longest of any other album in history. (Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' is sometimes given credit for this, but only because West Side Story was listed on a chart for stereo albums at a time when many albums were recorded in mono.) Elvis turned the starring role down, bet he was kicking himself later! The film came out the year before and won more Academy Awards than any other musical – including Best Costume Design. The rival gangs, the Jets and Sharks, based on Shakespeare's Montagues and Capulets, from 'Romeo and Juliet', wore vibrant clothes of reds, purples, yellow and orange, especially the Puerto Rican Sharks. 

When I saw an excellent touring production of 'West Side Story' a few years ago, which followed the film format very closely, I was very amused afterwards to go in a bar close to the Theatre and see all the Jets and Sharks, even the ones who'd been killed on stage, amicably sitting together for a post-show drink!

Sea, sand and desert

Coming fifty years ago this year : sea, sand and desert!

In 1962 the first James Bond movie was released, and Ursula Andress became famous as Honey Rider, a shell diver who rises out of the Caribbean Sea wearing a white bikini. Meanwhile Elvis was Ross Carpenter, a penniless Hawaiian fisherman in the comedy 'Girls, Girls, Girls'. However the highest grossing film of the year was the award winning 'Lawrence of Arabia', where Peter O'Toole donned full Bedouin costume and roamed the desert on a camel. One extreme to the other, or what? And talking of camels, Art Blakey released his record 'Caravan' (as in a caravan of camels!) while Dizzy Gillespie had a live album, 'Dizzy on the Riviera', and Acker Bilk was the 'Stranger on the Shore'.

Black (and white) read all about it

Black and white – please don't adjust your set!

Skirt around the recent argument about whether horizontal or vertical stripes are slimming – just wear black or white.

The little black dress, the simple elegant dress that is never outdated, and can be dressed down or up by accessories, has a complicated back-story. Was it invented by Coco Chanel in the 20s?   In cartoons based on twenties 'It girl' Clara Bow, Betty Boop's skimpy scarlet dress started off originally in black and white in the first monocrome versions; starlets in Hollywood's early days of Technicolour were dressed in black because other colours looked distorted on screen.

Then there was Dior's post war 'New Look'; Wallace Simpson; and the French singer Edith Piaf, 'the little black sparrow'.

In Fellini's 'La Dolce Vita' Sylvia wades into the Trevi fountain wearing a glamorous figure-hugging black cocktail dress.

But the black sheath-style Givenchy gown worn by Audrey Hepburn in 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' was so famous that it had the highest price paid for a film dress until surpassed by Munroe's subway dress, the white billowy halter-neck dress by costume designer

Travilla, one of the most iconic images of the 20^th century.

And as for one of the most famous bits of memorabilia: did Marilyn marry in black and white?

If you were going to own a priceless piece of movie memorabilia, what would it be?  Michael Jackson's red 'Thriller' jacket, a James Dean tee shirt, Steve McQueen's 'Bullitt' sunglasses? I've just recently watched 'The Wonder Boys' again, a film in which Tobey Macguire's character steals the jacket worn by Marilyn Munroe when she married Baseball star Joe Dimaggio in 1954. Funny thing is, that in the modern film, the jacket is shown as black with a white fur collar, as that's the colour we have always seen the original  in the black and white press photos, but in actual fact it was chocolate brown. The marriage didn't last, one of the problems leading up to its demise was Joe's reaction to the filming and photographing of the aforementioned white dress scene, which apparently really upset him as there were numerous re-takes!

Dotty

Polka dots are never out for long, they're always about in one form or another, whether they make you think of Minnie Mouse or Doris Day, Cher in 'Mermaids', the itsy bitsy yellow polka dot bikini or traditionally used for flamenco dresses, they have featured heavily in the fashion collections of Carolina Herrera in the late 80s and early 90s, and more recently in the likes of Marc Jacobs, Jill Stuart and Diane Von Furstenberg.

Diane Von Furstenberg

Although sizes of dots can be varied on the same garment or same outfit, the main rule seems to be one of scale and size, the taller you are the bigger the dots you can get away with.