Ohhh, Bugsy Malone meets Shakespeare meets totally unexpected gay plot line in the Merchant of Venice. Those of you who aren't going to or never will see this production can believe that that's true. And I will pretend along with you. Frankly if that dress met that silk dressing gown, they would end up tumbling into bed together, probably slightly tipsy on champagne... And the way the matching green shoes and hat accentuates the blue in the dress with the finishing touch of those oh-so-bright-red lips... I'm completely seduced and it's barely the first scene of the play.
(also slightly wistful in the way I always am when someone is wearing wonderful dramatic lipstick - somehow that stuff just doesn't work on me. I always look like a little kid who's inadvisedly broken into their mother's make-up box. People just tend to just silently hand me their embroidered handkerchiefs so I can wipe it off as soon as possible. Or that's what they would do. If I ever wore it. And if embroidered handkerchiefs were suddenly all the rage again...)
And we're just going to pause to admire the beauty of the fall of those wide, silk sleeves... And the size of the borders of the sleeves...And the lace on the borders...
Ok moving on, there's a lot to see in Bugsyland
What's great about Rob's outfit (right) is the cravat, the black and white brogues (yes. YES. And I don't care if every Hoxtonite and his brother owns a pair) AND the wonderfully foppish wave of his hair, which simultaneously calls to mind the crinkles that flappers would set their hair in (good) and Hugh Grant (meh. but you know. very pretty public school basically). Ironically I then found that his hair has nothing to do with the role and is just naturally like that...
What's great about Harry's outfit (left) is that HE LOOKS JUST LIKE DUCKIE FROM PRETTY IN PINK. He just needs to jauntily knock that hat back a little... Also the over-sized clothes, while ridiculous, are rather wonderfully so. This is worth remembering when you next find that top, shirt or jacket that you can't bare isn't in your size - you get away with swimming in your clothes if you swagger (aka Duckie walking down the school corridors. And those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, shame on you. What use of your time can possibly have been more valuable than catching up on classic 80s teen films?)
Hats. What happened to hats? I think it is one of the great fashion tragedies of our age that along with eradicating rationing, institutional sexism and the stigma attached to pre-marital sex, we lost the assumption that men would leave the house every day in a flattering trilby or bowler. Baby, bathwater, etc. When have you seen a boy who didn't look great in an old school hat? Exactly. (yes. Just like the three-quarter length black jackets...)
See those two little glittering touches on the dress where the sequins are catching the light? Eye-catching isn't it? Eye-catching and pretty. Basically a Very Good Thing. Just know where to draw the line - T-shirts that have words spelt-out in diamante lettering exist somewhere far beyond the scrap of notepaper on which that line was once drawn...
Cumberbands. Always a bit bewildering. It's not that they look bad, just sort of...why? To be fair they get off to a bad start which that god-awful name. And let's face it. Girls get a black tie invitation and run off to buy a new dress. Boys get to...wear pretty much exactly the same thing they've worn to every other event. And some of you would like to add a little originality to that. So who am I to judge?
THAT. HAT. With that wonderful, flourishing feather. (And yes, Nick and Eve look adorable. There is an unselfconscious intimacy to that pose that is so different from stage affection)
Gold buttons (good), semi-fascist chic (unsettling). I was once sat next to someone at dinner who started raving about a man she was seeing on account of him being "in uniform". This seemed to be quite the most desirable and glamorous quality any man could have in her eyes. I couldn't see why and she was equally lost as to why I would be questioning such an obvious marker of eligibility. There are a lot of things I would do for buttons but...
YES. The girls are now dressed as boys (but then if you knew the play you'd have been expecting that. Eagerly expecting I hope). I'm just going to leave you to take in the stunning effect of this transformation in the next two pictures. But any girl reading this who doesn't own a white shirt and dark jacket - seriously. There is nothing better on certain days than feeling mischievously boyish/gentlemanly/roguish (as you will) as you pull your cuffs down...
On a different note (but a familiar one) WHY HAS IT STARTED SNOWING AGAIN?? And when is going to be trench coat weather? (and does anyone look at a long cigarette holder and not think of Audrey Hepburn?)
Romeo and Juliet. The Musical. Brief trailer interval in the play.
(don't give the photos arbitrary captions Jess. This is supposed to be a very serious fashion blog)
We could have been anything that we wanted to be... (plus cigarettes - curiously absent from the original)
Obviously-a-coat-someone-sweetly-put-around-you-because-you-looked-cold. Very sexy look.
The Merchant of Venice
Costume Designers: Georgina Haseldine and Paula Petkova
Really? There are other films, books and plays where people dressed like this? Yeah, but it was Bugsy where we all saw it first. And this doll-ed up version of Venice didn't just have the clothes, they had the music, including a wonderful live cover of this song (Mary Poppins, what are you doing??)
Reasons not to be an actor: Dress rehearsals which were set to start at 7.45pm starting sometime after midnight.
Reasons not to spend your time photographing actors: ... but then they looked so good I stopped caring.
How about you smudge my lipstick Bugsy? (those of you who wear it, revel in the fact that you can actucally use that line)
i wanted scenes from Bugsy Malone the proper child one, a part from that good.
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