movie inspiration: Modern Girls

For this installment of movie inspiration it's Modern Girls (1986) - Virginia Madsen, Daphne Zuniga and friends go clubbing in Hollywood. Not much on plot, but some of the best 80s styling and my all-time favorite interiors. It doesn't hurt that I had half of this stuff...



like that pink radio.

One day I am going to paint a Lichtenstein-esque mural over my bed. It has to be.




If anyone ever finds one of these cat clocks you'll hook me up, right?





soooooo 80s




sooo much pink




I love her collection of Archies and Barbie magazines. I had stacks of that junk.




OK best livingroom, best pastel fabric-feather boa, and yeah, I had a plastic rock purse.



apparently in the 80s you could get your head tattooed in the club




that boa again. Golly I have always wanted that thing. I need to figure out how to make it.





pastel cigarettes




of course this has a fuzzy leopard interior




everyone in the clubs is wearing vintage. Virginia Madsen wears this perfect 20s via the 80s beaded flapper-style dress throughout. Also, she has my all-time favorite hair - it's actually her hair in Candyman has always been my favorite, but that's for another post. If I could get a perm to do that I would so be there.

and one last shot of that livingroom



Flamingo curtains, randomly scattered neon noodles and a life-size hot pink metal palm tree. It doesn't get any better. And that little pink round-back chair to the left.. it has bowling balls for feet on its 3 legs. Best ever. God the 80s looked good.

the first old movie I ever loved

I must have watched Where the Boys Are (1960) a dozen times before I was 12. I was completely in love with the girls, the boys, the clothes, the cars, Ft. Lauderdale in the 60s - all of it. This was the world I wanted to grow up into (no matter how far from reality I knew it was.) If that's what spring break in Lauderdale was really like I'd go every year. Heck I'd move there. Into this motel -




Yvette Mimeaux is heartbreakingly beautiful, and she wears gingham in almost every scene.




Love the little white daisies w rhinestone centers. Doing this soon.




helloooo George Hamilton



There are lots of good bathing suits, but sadly no sunglasses of any sort on anyone. And 1960 was such a great year for shades.. it's my only complaint with this movie.





Connie Francis has the most lovely voice. And that's Frank Gorshin (the Riddler) as a hipster douchebag.



So many good cars



Lots of scenes of the girls getting dressed up - it's a carnival of pretty dresses and crinolines and frothy pastel underthings









Connie Francis' belt w this green dress is clear plastic with little white plastic flowers.




Man I had such a crush on Jim Hutton's character, TV Thompson. I guess I still do. He'd be the one in the helmet here. I mean George Hamilton's pretty, but I do tend to prefer goofy.



Also, TV is a really good nickname.

and there's a Marilyn-esque bombshell, for good measure



She's one of those underwater mermaid ladies that swims in a glass tank in a fancy restaurant - like Weeki Wachee but with dinner. I love that that used to be a job.





I haven't seen the one they made in the 80s - it's not on DVD yet - but I have a feeling it's going to disappoint me bigtime. I'm sure I won't be hard in love with all of the ashtrays and pool umbrellas and beach hats and lamps and every other tiny detail..






Apologies for the old school screen caps (read: pointing camera at computer screen) but it is apparently not possible to take screen caps of DVDs on a Mac! (Yes I tried the templates trick to no avail. ) This is the first super annoying Mac issue I've come up against. Super duper annoying.

best bathroom

My favorite fixtures ever - Arthur's mint porcelain sink, tub and toilet on the short-lived live-action Tick TV show (click the link to watch instantly if you have Netflix.)




Just the most perfect vintage shade of mint and pleasantly chunky porcelain lines. These have been in my head as the ideal since the show first aired in 2001. I know I'll never have them but in the house in my head this is what's going on.

movie inspiration: why change your wife?

This week it's Cecil B. Demille's Why Change your Wife? - 1920, starring Gloria Swanson. It's the old story of the man who goes out to buy something nice for his wife, but picks up a lingerie model instead. Post-divorce, the wife takes refuge in shopping, and reinvents herself as a confident, independent, thoroughly modern woman. Again it's the perfect set-up for amazing costumes.

There are a lot of incredible shoes, though most look like they'd be torture to actually wear. People were still wearing 'straights' at this time - no left or right, both shoes were the same shape. These look like they have some distinction between left and right, but it's minimal.





beaded stockings




ladies pants in 1920 - keep in mind this is a lingerie shop, these are not for wearing in public





swimwear





the perfect shoes for the beach, no?


here is a shot of the resort



Gloria Swanson just drapes this liquid metal lame' on herself in about 3 seconds and it is the best dress I've seen in a long time





I imagine this military-inspired draped velvet dress is a golden yellow.


and here is what you wear underneath such a dress


the lingerie model


she adds the little heart shaped mole to her shoulder, then applies perfume to only her mouth, fur cuff and the heart sticker.




and the most outstanding piece in the film - a zebra cocoon coat.



I highly recommend this film, and not just for the clothes. The acting is really very good - far better than you might expect from the time period.