Great Hats of the Silver Screen

By Harry

Mad Men character, Don Draper

Chasing fashion has never been more exciting, as designers like Michael Kors create new runway collections based on the hit TV series “Mad Men”. The design department for the award winning series has fashionable heads turning to an era in which women were elegant and feminine, men dressed in slim suits polished with skinny ties and pocket squares and would never be seen without a handsome hat.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Biltmore, Bugatchi, cufflinks, Don Draper, Edie Hats, Fedora's, Mad Men, Magill Hat, Qortezan, Roger Sterling

The crafts of hat-making and film-making have been closely intertwined ever since the birth of film in the late 19th century. Even today, hats remain an important part of American culture and, consequently, American cinema. In this series, Hats and the Movies, I’ll be discussing movies that make special use of hats.

The 1967 crime film Bonnie and Clyde is a classic: stylishly directed and edited, starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway. At this time, Beatty was an established player in Hollywood while Dunaway was a newcomer. Her iconic role and look in this film propelled her to superstardom.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Beret, Bonnie and Clyde, Edie Hats, Faye Dunaway, Hats, Warren Beatty

The crafts of hat-making and filmmaking have been closely intertwined, ever since the Birth of Film in the late 19th Century. Hats were in their heyday at the time, as the exciting new medium of the motion picture captured and immortalized numerous facets of American life, including daily fashions, of which the hat was an essential component. Although their influence have lessened over the decades, hats still remain an important part of American culture, and consequently its movies. In this series, I will detail movies that possess a strong association with hats, starting with a childhood favourite.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Edie Hats, Fedora, George Lucas, Indiana Jones, Movies, Silver Screen, Steven Spielberg

At the start of World War II, the fate of the free world hangs in the balance at the posh Hotel Splendide in Bordeaux. Cabinet members, journalists, physicists, and spies of all persuasions gather in order to escape the Nazi occupation of Paris. High society socialites hobnob with jailbirds. Murderous intrigues, scientific secrets and love affairs flourish. And some very stylish 1940′s-era hats are on display as well.

It won a raft of César Awards (the French “Oscars”), including (naturally) Best Costume Design.

Jürgen Fauth , World Film guide for About.com, writes: “Tightly plotted and smoothly told, “Bon Voyage” moves at a brisk pace. Between all the accidents, chance encounters, and surprising reversals, Rappeneau and his co-writers find time for compelling characters and smart dialogue that hits just the right balance between seriousness and hilarity. As in [Director Jean-Paul] Tavernier’s “Safe Conduct” and Bertulucci’s “The Dreamers,” French history is inextricably bound up with the movies of the time (at least in the minds of French directors.) Fittingly, “Bon Voyage” is a big movie-movie, with immaculate production values, big stars, and a soundtrack that swells in all the right places, and a story that begins and ends at the movies.”

Visit the official Bon Voyage site here!

Above: Peter Coyote and Wolfgang Pissors in “Bon Voyage”. Below: Isabelle Adjani. Photos © 2003 Sony Pictures Classics. All Rights Reserved.

Starring Brigitte Bardot and Jeanne Moreau, and co-starring George Hamilton, this romantic comedy is set south or ghe border at the turn of the century. Directed by Louis Malle from an original screenplay, it concerns itself with a troupe of touring performers in the tropics. In true “Perils of Pauline” tradition, Maria I (Moreau) and Maria II (Bardot), a song and dance team, romp through hair-raising adventures and manage to escape unscathed.

The entertainment milieu allows for a variety of colourful costumes – and some great hats. In the scene at right, Brigitte Bardot and Jeanne Moreau are dep in thought, contemplating blowing up a bridge – no mean feat, considering the trappings they’re wearing. Brigitte is garbed in a beribboned sailor laden with organdy flowers; Jeanne’s hat is a matching storm of feathers, ribbons and flowers.

Viva Maria has been released on DVD with a restored ending!