Slow Afternoon Thought

[moon_custafer]

Apparently I’m really bad at spotting wigs, because I’m always coming across reviews of movies or tv shows which gripe about how bad the wigs were and how they distracted from the performances, and I’m always ashamed that I hadn’t even noticed the actors were wearing wigs in the first place.

Or is this one of those things where people are so keen to shout Aha! You can’t fool me! that they end up with a bunch of false examples?

Comments

[cuddyclothes]

I definitely notice wigs. But I used to be a fashion historian, and my particular area of interest is movie costumes.

One thing you can bank on is that the hairstyles will all be influenced by the era they're made. For instance, the modern "Little Women" has the sisters running around with long, uncombed hair. They would have always had it pulled back and pinned up (this is where the saying "let your hair down" comes from). Most historical Westerns, etc. in the 1960s, the actresses had bouffant hair on top. Recently we saw "Waterloo Bridge" (1940). It took place during WW1 and they didn't even attempt to recreate dress or hairstyle. Vivien Leigh looked completely up to date with long 40s hair and 40s dresses.

[moon_custafer]

The one that always fascinates me is Heaven Can Wait (1942). The first two-thirds take place in the 1880s and 1890s, and the costumes don’t look too bad, though I suspect it’s not so much that they’re accurate as that they’re wrong in ways I’m used to seeing— after all Hollywood did plenty of movies set in the late 19th century. Where it gets weird is the scene of the lead characters’ 25th anniversary party. I thought the dress Gene Tierney wears in this bit looked like it could *maybe* be 1942’s take on the fashions of the late teens, but then I did the math and worked out the scene is set in the early 1920s. My guess is that, since in the ‘40s the ‘20s were just far gone enough to be considered irredeemably tacky, the producers couldn’t stand the thought of putting Tierney in a 1920s gown, especially since this is supposed to be a beautiful tender moment. So in the universe of the film, fashion evidently just smoothly segued from the late teens to the thirties with no experiments in hemline or looseness of bodice. I’m not sure anything can excuse the character’s hairdo, though someone with similar views to my own suggested it was an attempt to mash-up a 20s marcel wave with ‘40s hair horns.

[cuddyclothes]

That is a breathtakingly hideous hairdo!