. . . a murderous look for sophie ellis bextor

i love beauty. when it comes to my personal taste, i am personally not a fan of ambiguously beautiful or alien-like, high fashion faces. i adore beauties whose face are so OBVIOUSLY beautiful that her beauty can slice through a fog. perhaps its the old fashioned in me. i am rather perfectionistic in this personal preference, a slightly large nose can put me off. but personal preference stays personal preference. i am not one who will snub models simply because of said personal preference. in this industry, beauty can be easily manufactured with brushes, be it make up or photoshop. even a simple change in angle or lighting can do wonders to a face. i have found this to be true. i am rambling again, aren't i?

the point i was trying to get to is that when i was younger i found the incarnation of my personal preference in one miss Sophie Ellis Bextor. oh, to me she is beautiful, just absolutely perfect. i first saw her in her video of MURDER ON THE DANCEFLOOR and i wish to the stars that i had been the one to fabricate her look.

let's start with her face. i adore this make up on her, it is daring but discreetly so. her look was sexy but simple, it needed a little contrasting pop. the bejeweled gloves were a gorgeous touch, but it still needed that pop. i always adore a flash of emerald with black and red, and i guess the stylist did too. her glittery lids were a gorgeous accent to her look and makes for great close up shots! a lovely visual realization of her character as an envious competitive girl (get it? envy? green-eyed monster?).

simple and sexy, i love it. and yet, simple as it may be, it actually steals the focus of your eyes as she is the only one dressed so simply and so stark amongst all the other frivolously dressed dancers. and i thought it was clever that she was dressed in something that is supposed to be sort of ordinary, to tell that she is not going to win this thing by her dancing efforts alone. everyone else is better than her and she knows this, so she takes matters into her own hands.

speaking of hands! a nice tip of the hat (no pun intended) to Michael Jackson if just a tad obvious. but i guess one of Michael Jackson's greatest legacy is his dancing and i suppose he has earned, at the very least, a modicum of respect from fellow dancers. and a music video is a series of fast shots that must tell a quick story, so her gloves serve the multiple purposes of revealing her character as a dancer, as a way to conceal her more dangerous accessories and to add some glitz to her plain outfit. dancers are synonymous with glitz, aren't they?

THOSE SHOES ARE FABULOUS AND I NEED THEM OR MY LIFE AS I KNOW IT WILL DISCONTINUE. ahem, sorry for that tiny outburst of lust. i have nothing but good things to say about these shoes. it gives a cheeky twist to her character, a peek of her true self if you will. she is not all saccharine sweet, she hides a dark desire, she is someone who will get what she wants no matter the cost. the buckles and leather is reminiscent of naughty bedplay (you know, the one with whips and chains, things that might excite Rihanna today) and the tough silhouette of it is the proclamation of something murky hiding beneath her angelic appearance. this, coupled with the fact that her male dance partner looks so obviously whipped and helpless to her every whim, carves and completes her character beautifully. 

. . . some wisdom

i might be paraphrasing this quote since i can't find/remember which episode of PROJECT RUNWAY it was from (something about a challenge to create a costume for a specific genre of movies) but i always remember it every time i see movie costumes and i agree with it completely. some of the best costumes i've seen and loved follow this principle and it makes sense because in a movie you're dressing a character that will be moving around and all 360 degrees of them will be seen. i try to follow this bit of wisdom and incorporate it in my work, but then again, that's just me. how about you? what do you think?

. . . everything vida boheme

please don't ask me why i begin my posts with old moodboards that i did for previous shoots. but if you must, i suppose i would say that i feel it is a waste to put so much love and energy into creating something, and then just letting it go into the recycle bin. i love creating my moodboards for my photographers and make up artists, and more often than not i feel it's a shame that they're the only ones that get to see a stylist's moodboard, the earliest manifestation of the stylist's vision and thought process. i put my boards on the first two posts on a whim, really. but i think now i'm gonna keep doing it. but i digress. my moodboard is communicating the concept of a woman in men's clothing, which is actually a little ironic because in this post, i will be talking about a man in woman's clothing.

anyway, the target of my envy-green eyes this time around is actually the movie which first sparked my interest in fashion: TO WONG FOO THANKS FOR EVERYTHING JULIE NEWMAR. i have a suspicion that the film was not as popular as it should be because that title is a damn mouthful even in writing.  the film came out in 1995 and i used to love watching it with my mum. i was about six at the time and every week me and my mum would rent laser discs and she let me pick out any movie i want. i repeatedly chose this movie. it is a story of three drag queens and it stars Patrick Swayze (RIP), Wesley Snipes and John Leguizamo. i will not be doing what i'm doing today if not for this movie and recently, i watched it again and although i love everything in this movie, one character's styling made me especially jealous : Vida Boheme.

yes, that is Patrick Swayze, doesn't he look fab? his character, Vida Boheme, is supposed to be this wise, tres elegant drag queen who is the big sister to everyone else. and what i love about her styling is that she made to be larger than life, but in a very elegant way. instead of prancing around in marabou feathers and extravagant sequinned creations, she is swathed in beautiful silks and ornate costume jewellery and is made to be an over-the-top reintepretation of her fashion references.

it is informed in the movie that her style reference comes from old Hollywood and she worships the words of the late Diana Vreeland so i suppose they are illustrating that this drag queen really knows her stuff. her elegance comes easily and believably (i will never stop admiring Patrick Swayze for the brilliant job he did as Vida. may he rest in peace.)  

in the words of Nigel from DEVIL WEARS PRADA, "you are in desperate need of Chanel." i loved that instead of sticking her in a simple dress, the costume team decided that her 'off-duty' look should be a relaxed, slouchy, Chanel-inspired number (with lace gloves, bien sur.) and i love that they added a cheeky twist by topping off the look with a little hat inspired by Chanel's rival, Elsa Schiaparelli. it speaks volumes about Vida's knowledge of fashion, without her having to say anything. i could literally look at this outfit all day, it has such beautiful details. the metallic panels of her jacket, the little pin in her fabulous hat. they thought of everything!

still with the lace gloves! i adore them. a lovely nod to the gloved ladies of times past, Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly, but without being completely literal. the glove is more delicate and no longer completely hides the skin. the glove is now sheer and scintillating but still retains all of their elegance, i love them. and this outfit, when i saw it, i thought to myself that the feathered hat must have been a last minute addition. i wonder that maybe the version with the headscarf was the original costume, but it came out looking to 'ordinary elegance' for a drag queen. so they added some marabou feathers. what is up with drag queens always being associated with feathers? not that it's a bad thing, i love feathers. once again, i digress. but then i wonder that perhaps it was not so last minute. Vida's costume M.O. is always about an exaggerated version of elegance, so that hat would be a no-brainer thing for her. either way, i adore how beautifully her outfit matches the color of the Cadillac, which is more or less the point of the scene.

i cannot express to you just how beautiful this dress is in itself and on her. the color and details are just stunning and it kills me that i cannot get a decent picture of it to show you just how stunning it is. so here our Vida is perhaps a little tired from the long drive and she relaxes her style a little. make no mistake, she's not going to to waltz about in a ratty old dress, Vida is Vida. relaxed according to her is pulling on a gorgeous dress, a pretty headband and a necklace. effortlessly pulled together. we've had one of those days, right? where we just couldn't be bothered with mixing and matching so we just throw on a dress and a necklace and run out the door and we have one or two go-to dresses for exactly that purpose. i could easily see this dress being Vida's go-to dress. 

i know you can't really see anything much in it, but i threw in that first frame with the unconscious police officer on the ground because the way it is lit and framed looks like a VOGUE shoot for a scandalous 50's-inspired fashion story. (although they would probably add some mist into the shot. they seem to like mist.)

they had to do this at least once. they had to deck her out in feathers to emphasize the fact that this character is a drag queen, lest the audience forgets and starts believing that she is a woman with good taste. they had to show that she has a taste for the wildly extravagant as well as the elegant. to show that it is the priviledge of a drag queen to wear whatever the hell she wants, to wear what no woman dares. because they need nobody's approval, a drag queen is her own woman. so yes, you might think they are frivolously extravagant and dramatic in their dressing, but then why shouldn't they be? what is wrong with it? so here she is, miss Vida, instead of a dowdy sleeping gown, she is dripping in feathers. why the hell not? she looks fab.

can you hear it? what this outfit is screaming? shh, listen:

CHANEL

CHANEL

CHANEL

CHANEL

since she has declared the night before that the day is 'statement hat' day, i suppose the suit is to match her hat. and she knows she will be greeting the people of the town for the very first time that morning, so she wanted to look neat and polished. first impressions, you know?

this is a much simpler sleeping ensemble, but i think this is the masterpiece of the costume people. this scene is where Vida finally has enough and beats up the abusive husband of her friend. it is so deeply poignant that her ensemble epitomizes the very essence of femininity, even her make-up, that she is dressed in this dainty satin number and then she goes and beats the shit out of the bastard. i thought that was a beautiful image.

i could never think of words to end my posts with. maybe i just couldn't be bothered. toodles! 

(i guess that's good enough.)

. . . mod miss serena

hi again! i'm back with another lustful bit of WISHFUL STYLING and this time the object of my sartorial affections is witchy little miss Serena from BEWITCHED. if you're not familiar with this television show and when someone mentions BEWITCHED you think about that god-awful movie starring that chimpanzee Will Ferrel (Nicole Kidman most certainly did not deserve the poor fate of having to play opposite him in a romantic comedy. i mean, she's Nicole fucking Kidman.) then you should be ashamed of yourself. 

i am a big fan of this particular oldie because, although it is most definitely not the only reason, i adore the clothes of the characters. one in particular, i simply adore the clothes of Samantha's cousin, Serena. (just a quick FYI, Samantha is the leading character. she is a witch who is married to a normal person, to the disapproval of her witchy family) now, both the characters Samantha and Serena are played by the same actress, Elizabeth Montgomery. And i suppose when you have two characters with the same face, one of them has to be wildly different from the other. while Samantha wears clothes with simple silhouettes and demure cuts, Serena commands attention with wild pieces with even wilder accessories. what i love most about her is her style evolves more than anyone else on the show, you see her in something different in each episode. my obsession is an episode called HIPPIE HIPPIE HOORAY in which miss hip-with-the-times Serena is all about the whole modster rock and roll jag. she wears three adorable outfits in this episode, the first:

a cute stripy little number worn with pink stockings. i adore that bow on the collar and her string of beads, it's just enough of a look to give off a sense of cool without being too literal. and i swear in this episode whoever dressed her is making sure whatever she's wearing matches that darling guitar. i adore that guitar to death, the wonders i could do with it in one of my shoots!

her second outfit is a little more literal. MOD is written all up and down our little missy, from the square white pockets to the hat and sassy sunglasses. i could definitely see this very look walking down the runway of Marni. hell, it probably has some billion seasons ago. this is the way i love to style a look, throw in a punchy accessory, always just one, to echo a color on the dress. in this case, the white sunglasses to echo the skinny stripes and boxy pockets. this is not always how i go about styling my looks, but its what i love best.

her last outfit is my absolute favorite, i always love a good print dress and how can i express my love for the colors on this dress! i'm tempted to believe that this number came from the unrivaled paisley factory that is Etro. that print dress is so right for this scene, in which she is supposed to look out of place from everybody else in the room. she wears it with these kooky seafoam stockings that makes it that much more crazy.

i love this dress on her especially with the blonde hair, which is fun because Serena is rarely blonde in the series. i adore her with those long, straight locks, it sort of softens her outrageousness (i am aware that  was probably not a word) and makes her look like a sassy, guitar-wielding Veruschka. have i expressed my love for that guitar? because i'm crazy about it.   

. . . a zesty pink number for holly

hi there! welcome to WISHFUL STYLING, a blog i created because i watch too many movies and envy too many of the looks that i see in those movies. since i am a stylist by profession, my envy is not that i wish to own the pieces of the looks i see, but rather i wish that i was the one who styled it. i admire the looks on movies and television more than i do the ones in fashion photographs, because with movies there needs to have a certain lived-in feeling with the clothes, it has to contribute to the character, the story of the character is the story of their clothes. i adore that.

to open, i am going to start this blog off with, what else, BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S. my fascination for cinema styling will always center with this movie. not because it is a kind of DUH! movie for fashionites (along with SEX AND THE CITY and DEVIL WEARS PRADA as you know) but rather, it is because the character is someone who yearns for glamour but unfortunately is of very little means. so she sort of fakes the glamour she wants (like we all do). but she is tactful in her faking in that she hides it with one color : black. her character is sort of an expert on what she wants, that she is an expert on hiding her flaws and getting away with it so much so that she can afford to be nonchalant about it. though there's only so much you can do to try and fake fake glamour when (yes, FAKE fake glamour) when Givenchy is in charge. 

what i love most about all this black-colored fake glamour is that the color is not only a supporting element to her character, but it is also somewhat of a visual echo to her emotions. she is dressed in a black, a color that represents a void. she is numb and unfeeling (heavens, is that a word?) but then as the story progresses and she continues her attempt at finding happiness, her color scheme relaxes. cheerful colors, say a bright orange coat, is introduced. she is happier and you can see it.

my favorite moment is when she appears on the screen wearing a bright pink dress (and pink everything else) alongside a very dapper Villalonga. she is happy and the dress screams to you that she is happy and all is well for her. it makes so much more impact to the scene that follows, in which she learns of her beloved brother's death and her happiness falls crashing around her.

i wish i styled this succulent pink look. pink is one of my favorite colors (it cheers you up on days that are so much less than cheerful, doesn't it?) and i love using it in my work. it is a color that never ceases to inspire me. the sugary moodboard at the start of this post was one for a shoot i did some months ago.