I Love You Tube: THIERRY MUGLER/GEORGE MICHAEL "Too Funky" video

This is why I love You Tube; you can literally find something new everyday.  And if you're really lucky (like I was today) you could stumble upon a gem like this: A behind-the-scenes look at the making of the Too Funky video, circa 1992  (watch for newbie Tyra!)




Here's the video in its entirety--I couldn't embed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXj2TudPCYU

Thierry Mugler is brilliant, non?  And just sooo French. 




Sigh. I miss the 90's.  And fashion misses Thierry Mugler.

1976: Three Lovely Ladies Become Angels

I never really appreciated seventies fashion until my late twenties while studing fashion design in college. I was born in the seventies so I didn't know much about it.  However, I vividly remember watching my Mother get ready to go out: hair in big, feathered waves, maroon lipstick, tight, wool bell-bottoms with a puffy satin blouse.  That was the quintessential seventies outfit.

In 1976, a TV show called Charlie's Angel's premiered and launched the careers of three rather unknown actresses; Kate Jackson, Farrah Fawcett & Jaclyn Smith.

Watch the pilot intro HERE

What this show also did was brilliantly display the fashion of the mid to late seventies.

The return of the three-piece suit was a hot trend--and not just for men:

Although, John Travolta did a great job at creating a huge fashion craze when he sported his tight 3-piece suit in 1977 in a movie called Saturday Night Fever:

Another big trend in the seventies was the peasant style, brought to life by Yves Saint Laurent.
Floral-patterned prints, more unstructured styles and soft ruffles.

And those tan, t-strap shoes! The ones on the left that Kate Jackson is wearing in the 1st photo. I LOVE those shoes--I always have.  My Mother had a pair just like them but they were gold lame.  I used to call them her Disco shoes.  Honestly, the t-strap shoe will always be classic.
Just ask Christian Louboutin--he makes at least two designs every season.

But, I digress. That's the power of footwear.


Then, there were the bell-bottoms.  A trend that immediately comes to mind when someone mentions fashion of the 1970's:

Farrah's look in this image is an instant classic.  Even though the jeans are high-waisted, it works with her shape and the gold lame belt adds drama to the basic white shirt.  So all-American gorgeousness.

Someone in the mid-seventies was quite the Poster Child for cool, luxurious elegance: Roy Halston Frowick.
If you were a rich socialite or a famous movie star and had an event to go to in 1976,  Halston would be your designer of choice.

I'm not sure what the girls are wearing in this photograph but the dresses remind me of something Halston would design.  He loved white and wore it himself, often. 
How great is this photo?

The Halston Muse: Bianca Jagger

Elizabeth Taylor in Halston, circa 1976:

He was so cool.

The 1990's: I Miss It

When I first saw Christian Lacroix couture, it came in the form of a sweater on a hot, young model named Micheala, circa 1988:

Once I saw this image (in Anna Wintour's very first Vogue issue), I became infatuated with that look and tried my best to copy it. It wasn't easy and the results were often quite appalling.

Micheala is the only one that could pull this look off. Sometimes, a style is impossible to copy--even if you have the exact same items to work with.

This image forced me to fall in love with fashion. That's the power of a well-styled photograph, people.

What else did the 90's have to offer?
The start of a phenomenon called 'The Supermodel'.


The early 90's is when we started to see 'The Waif'. Her name was Kate Moss.

Chanel in the 90's produced some of their best advertising, imho. I LOVED the ads that featured Claudia Schiffer--she was always my favourite Supermodel.

However, as much as the 90's were a time of innocence, grace and style, it was also the first (and last, Thank God) time we were witness to The Grunge Look. Thanks to Marc Jacobs for Perry Ellis, young girls everywhere stopped washing their hair and started to borrow their boyfriends dirty plaid shirts.

Yuck!
We must all forgive Marc Jacobs, though. He's given us so much since The Grunge.

The 1930's: A Beautiful Contrast

When I hear someone mention the 1930's, visions of The Great Depression and Prohibition start dancing in my head.
Lately though, I've been thinking about Amelia Earhart and how great it's going to be to see her life on the big screen. Not to mention the fashion!

Take a look at some of the movie stills:

While this decade was a harsh one, the ironic thing is, it was a fantastically gorgeous time for fashion.
In the 1930's, there was a return to the more feminine, lady-like style of dress. For this is the time when the bias cut became the supreme method of producing elegant, flowing evening gowns.

Apparently, there's only one woman to thank; Madeleine Vionnet--one of the first designers to use the Cross Cut Bias Method.
Some say she invented this while others say it was done as far back as the medieval times. Whatever.

Below is a picture of THE 30's girl herself, Greta Garbo wearing her draped evening gown.

Have you seen the film Atonement? If so, you'll remember that stunning emerald green dress that Ceclia (Keira Knightly) wore that night while she got it on in the library with Robbie (James McAvoy). HOT, HOT, HOT! (I'm talking about the dress, for the most part)

It helps that Keira weighs about 10 pounds. Any larger than that, she couldn't pull this dress off as this dress is made for the waif, not the Pamela.
The dress was designed by costumer, Jacqueline Durran. A perfect example of the quintessential 1930's evening gown.

The daywear was altogher different--a sharp contrast to the glitz of the evening wear.

Up until the 1930's, wealthy women didn't really need practical day clothes. However, as their lives became more busy, they needed a chic yet pratical wardrobe--something they could move it! Dare I say, something comfortable.

They owed this to Coco Chanel (she believed you didn't have to be uncomfortable to be fashionable) because you can definitely feel her in every image of daywear of the 1930's:

Here's Greta Garbo doing casual. This outfit is so timeless.

Gorgeous Katherine Hepburn and the menswear influence on womens daywear:

Which brings me full-circle to Amelia: a fashion icon but she probably never knew it.