Miuccia Gatsby

What an amazing surprise it was for me to find out that Miuccia Prada, designer of Prada and MiuMiu, collaborated with costume designer Catherine Martin on the costumes for The Great Gatsby movie.

I love Carey Mulligan's makeup as Daisy Buchanan.

I'm super excited  for this movie, not only for the costumes but because Carey Mulligan is in it. You may, or not, know she is definitely my favorite actress, I love how she dresses and as a hostess at the Met Gala honoring Miuccia Prada and her exhibit she didn't dissapoint, dressed obviously in Prada.

These three pics were taken from this site, it has great shots of the movie.

Prada worked with some dresses from her old collections and revisited them with a 20s aesthetic. This collaboration is super exciting for fashion people. The other interesting thing? How the movie has already inspired collections based on the fashions form this era. This spread from WhoWhatWear is a great example.

What's not exciting is that the release date was moved from December to the next summer. Let's hope they don't push it back again! I need to see the clothes!

*Español

Fue una increíble sorpresa para mí el enterarme de que Miuccia Prada, diseñadora de Prada y MiuMiu, colaboró con la vestuarista Catherine Martin en la película The Great Gatsby.

Estoy súper emocionada por esta película, no solamente por los hermosos vestuarios, también por que Carey Mulligan sale en ella. Puede que lo sepan, o no, pero es sin duda mi actriz favorita. Me encanta cómo se viste y en la Gala del Met no fue la excepción, en Prada obvio, al ser anfitriona del evento en el que se rindió tributo a Miuccia Prada y se presentó su exhibición.

Prada rediseñó algunos de sus vestidos de colecciones pasadas (tanto de Prada como de MiuMiu) para adecuarlos a la década de los 20. Obviamente esta colaboración es muy especial para la gente que le interesa la moda. ¿Otra cosa interesante? La forma en que la película, incluso antes de estrenarse, ya está influenciando a los diseñadores para crear colecciones inspiradas en esta glamorosa era.

Pero bueno, siempre hay algo que aminora la emoción. En este caso, el retraso del estreno de la película que cambió de diciembre al próximo verano. ¡Esperemos que no se atrase más porque urge ver los vestuarios!

Downton Abbey

On a recent interview with Rachel McAdams for Glamour magazine, she talked about the importance of a character's wardrobe in a movie... The importance of costumes in a movie is as big as in real life. I wrote about this earlier, and every time I see a movie my point is confirmed. Downton Abbey, recommended to me by my friend Maya, is not a movie, but has the pretiest and most accurate costumes ever seen in a TV show, making me want to live there and then.

Image of the whole cast dressed for Christmas, from the series' official website.

Downton Abbey is a series set in the English countryside the beginning of the 20th century with the news of the sinking of the Titanic (I'm not giving anything away, promise!). The three sisters in the family (from left to right), Edith, Sybil and Mary, run around the house in beautiful custom-made dresses that they can't even put own by themselves. Even the servants who dress them wear pretty clothes when they're not working (almost never).

This image was taken from The Culture Concept, from a very interesting article (if
you ignore the Castle parts) on the series written by Carolyn McDowall.

I go back and forth between Sybil and Mary as my favorite sister.
Image from the Spanish blog El Norte de Castilla.

The costumes are so important and have such a role that the series site on the PBS website has a section on the style of the era and how they achieve the looks and whrere they get the outfits and ideas.

When watching a series like this one I can't not wonder how it would've been life in those circumstances and how would I look wearing those dresses. It is definitely one of my favorite fashion eras. And it doesn't hurt that the story is amazing. So amazing that I watched the 7 episodes of the first season in less than 24 hours.

And it's not only me saying it last year it won Emmys for Best Miniseries, Best Supporting Actress for Maggie Smith (one of my favorites from Harry Potter), Best Direction and Best Writing. I just couldn't find out why there wasn't a costume design award for them!

Watching this only increases my excitement for the upcoming The Great Gatsby movie, in which my favorite actress, Carey Mulligan, will play Daisy Buchanan in beautiful dresses.

Image from the DailyMail. This article has good pics of Carey Mulligan, Tobey
Maguire and DiCaprio on set.

And I know The Great Gatsby is set in the 20s after the War (unlike Downton Abbey), it's just that I watched Midnight in Paris last night, and just like Owen Wilson's character... I am a nostalgic for almost every era before my existence and can't resist daydreaming on wearing things from all these different eras.

Clothes+Movies

Last week was the Savannah Film Festival presented by SCAD. Just like last year, I couldn't get tickets for the evening screenings. I really, really wanted to see Like Crazy. It sounds like exactly the kind of movie I would love. And with Felicity Jones being called the new Carey Mulligan, I HAVE to see it. I will probably have the same luck I had with Black Swan: when it opens in the U.S. I'll be in Mexico, and when I come back to the States it will no longer be playing.

Felicity Jones, one of my new style icons,
on the BAFTA red carpet.

Anyway, I did see some other movies like Barry Lyndon and Take Me Home, but my favorite was with no doubt Let Go. This movie tells the story of Walter Dishman, a parole officer in charge of three very particular convicts. The story is a funny combination of heartbreak and hope, and each of the characters has a different struggle and different backgrounds.

The movie's poster, from IMDB.com

But what I loved the most is the way the costume designer gave them a personality through their clothes and appearance in general. Walter is tall and always wears beige clothes, so dull against the bright blue walls of the house he shares with his wife. Darla, who was in jail for trying to sell an engagement ring on e-bay always has bright coral lipstick on; and she always wears beautiful floral dresses. Artie, the 70-year-old-vintage-thief, seems stuck in the 70s and represents the nostalgia of an era through his knit shirts and polyester pants. And finally, there's insurance-fraud Kris who changes clothes as he changes jobs: from a valet parking to a hot-dog costume. (I wish I had images, but they were impossible to find.)

At a Q&A following the movie, director and writer Brian Jett commented no one has offered distribution of the movie. And I really hope he does because it is a wonderful movie. Character-based, funny and endearing.