ALT, Hollywood & Fashion

André Leon Talley chats with Fashion Designers about Movies, 1979

While researching next week’s newsletter, I came across a portfolio that ties in rather nicely with my newsletter the other day on Gilbert Adrian, Hollywood, and American fashion. Adrian’s essay, published in Harper’s Bazaar in 1934, discussed Hollywood’s influence on the American fashion industry. Forty-five years later, André Leon Talley spoke with eleven designers, both American and European, about the impact that Hollywood (and film in general) had on their designs, for The Hollywood Reporter.

The results are intriguing and revealing. Six of the designers he interviewed were American, the rest European (one, Tan Giudicelli, was Vietnamese and Corsican, based in Paris). Of the Americans, most found inspiration in different facets of the Golden Age of Hollywood—Calvin Klein looked to Katherine Hepburn, while Norma Kamali replicated Gene Tierney. Oscar de Renta, Bill Blass, and Mary McFadden all mention the films of Luchino Visconti, with costume designs by Piero Tosi (I republished a 1970 interview with him last year). For Halston, movies weren’t inspiring—but his celebrity friends were instead.

Strikingly, the Europeans seem less enamoured with the glamorous costume designs of old Hollywood—Guidicelli being the only one to extoll its merits; however, Givenchy talked about his part in the Golden Age (costume designs for Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina, Funny Face, etc.) Giorgio Armani and Gianni Versace both rejected the past and found their inspiration in a more modern way of dressing—as Versace told ALT, "We live in a modern totally going into tomorrow world. I could care less about Marlene Dietrich's furs or gowns. What I like is the modern stars, the casual approach to style.” Versace also mentioned how impactful Richard Gere’s casual way of wearing his costumes in Days of Heaven was; with this interview coming out two months before American Gigolo would be released and make superstars of Gere and Armani, this feels very prescient. Karl Lagerfeld also dismissed the Golden Age of Hollywood; he remarked,  "Stars from the past are not worth talking about anymore when it comes to fashion. It is too boring to talk about a Garbo or a Hayworth for style. Nothing can be worse than talking about the past when the '80s are two months on the other side.”

The main takeaways: most everyone loves Visconti and Diana Ross (I agree!)

The interviews below provide a good reference list for inspiring fashion films—nothing too unknown, but lots of good clothes.

Here is a piece I wrote on André following his death two years ago.