Educate yourselves.
I was really eggcited when I read on Susie Bubble’s blog that the British Pathé Film Archive had put up all their super duper old films on the Interwebz. So yeh, I immediately headed over and spent a good three hours poring through the videos tagged under fashion instead of burying my nose in that ever increasing stack of readings on my desk. Of course it’s all right if I spent those three hours doing something totally unrelated to the ethical and moral dilemmas that arise in social research. Sure, it’s fine that I glued my eyes to my laptop screen, violently salivating over YSL’s luxurious 1964 Spring collection, when I was supposed to be reading … something by some old dude called Allan Kimmel who wrote that book in 1989. Because really, if I have to be absorbing some text from years and years ago, might as well be videos of designer collections from before.
And well, if you’re simply too lazy to pick through the whole sea of clips, here’re some of my favourites:
- Balmain 1962 Spring and Summer fashions
- 1955 Leather Fair
- Dressed To Kill (ultimate star of the lot - watch it for the theme of Jean Varon’s 1965 fashion show, which was inspired by the 1960s British television series The Avengers, his supremely gorgeous sleeveless lace catsuit OMGDIEEEEE and fucking irritating poodles at the end)
- ‘Dior’ Comes To Bleinheim
- Liz Taylor Fashions (that’s right, that Liz Taylor who used to be hot, then became a hot mess)
- Paris Fashions for 1969 (showcases YSL, Nina Ricci and Emanuel Ungaro; I FUCKING LOVE THE FRINGED LEATHER JACKET FROM YSL OMGOMGOMG)
I basically watched every single video involving anything that is an original YSL creation because … that frickin’ genius of a man is fashion designer God in my book. Everything he came up with, I consider them all 10/10 perfect. I love him THAT much, you hear? And to be able to actually watch his own collections being worn on models on the runway … it’s just some Betty Crocker icing shit on my already pretty large cake.
Please note that we plebians only get short previews instead of the full films and while you might complain, I think that’s just great given my considerably (and selectively!) pathetic attention span.
This, and the fact that Darren’s done me a solid and recorded the latest episodes of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations and Iron Chef America on Foxtel, I think my week’s worth of entertainment is pretty much set.
