In these times of stress and turbulence, the musicals of the 1930s-1950s with their notes of hope and escape may end up providing a relevant model for some of today’s movies. Certainly our dystopian movies of the last ten years have run their course. And the Golden Globe voters agree, having lavished the movie with a record seven awards. Blue is often the tinge of the (successful) Hollywood that is always surrounding Mia and Sebastian. Everything from Ingrid Bergman to murals of classic film stars to The Van Beek club are tinted with it . These are the people who made it, who steered their career in some way Sebastian and Mia have not when we first meet them. Shown above is Mary Ann Nyberg’s original costume design sketch for Cyd Charisse in Band Wagon, 1953. Charisse plays the younger ballet trained dancer to Astaire’s older (now somewhat tarnished) star. But sparks fly as they walk and then Dance in the Dark in Central Park. The costume sketch design has been somewhat modified for the film as the top has the front décolleté. Remaining is the free-flowing pleated skirt shown below.

La La Land’ Never Shined So Brightly: The Use of Color in ‘La La Land’

At the end, her dance dress is white, no doubt inspired by Cyd Charisse’s dress from the “Dancing in the Dark” scene in Band Wagon. Helen Rose began her career designing costumes for showgirls . So she knew how to infuse flash and movability in her movie designs. She also specialized in using chiffon and had a great sense of color. Below is her costume design for Marge Chapmpion who danced frquently with her husband Gower Champion in movie musicals at MGM. The design was for Give a Girl a Break, 1953. It’s a perfect dance gown – an eye-catching red color with decollete top and full swinging chiffon skirt with sequins. He gets dressed up for a date,” continued Zophres. “I love that he has a shirt, a tie, and a blazer on when he meets Emma at the movie theater. And she’s wearing a dress. To me, that’s the most romantic moment, from a clothing point of view, in the movie, because they both dressed up for that date. People should do that more often, as far as I’m concerned.”

The opening sequence of La La Land establishes the tone, mood, and message of the film, especially through its Mise en Scène. The director of La La Land , Damien Chazelle, uses the elements of Colour and Costume particularly well to convey a message behind the characters living their hopes and dreams. EDWARD MARKS RIP, SEPTEMBER 11, 2023 Many things come to mind when thinking about Hollywood costume, but few think about the venerable Western Costume Company, founded in 1912 when fledgling studios were start-ups in Hollywood. The company was started by Louis L. Burns. Burns had collected Native American clothing, jewelry, weapons and props for […] christian esquevin One of the more unique musical numbers was that of Maureen O’Hara’s in Dance Girl, Dance, directed by Dorothy Arzner in Edward Stevenson designed the costumes including the costume sketch below. Maureen O’Hara plays a ballerina forced to work in burlesque, where she gives a feminist lecture to an audience of leering men.

La La Land Costume Designer Mary Zophres Reveals The Films La La Land Costume Designer Mary Zophres Reveals The Films

Los Angeles is wallpapered with billboards—another production detail that would have immediately dated the film. So Wasco and Reynolds-Wasco created vintage billboards for fictional movies that the actors walked past in several scenes, while others—including a fictional billboard for Chazelle’s first film, Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench—were rolled past the actors by crew members on the studio lot where Mia works. Below is Frank Sinatra’s stand-in dancer and Carol Haney dancing , with Gene Kelly waiting his turn. I’m glad you enjoyed the post Inge. How wonderful it was to see such a classy nod to the old Hollywood musicals. I couldn’t resist La La Land features intertextual references from the Musical Golden-Age of Classical Hollywood cinema. Chazelle captures the old Hollywood feel and pays homage to Classical Hollywood musicals including,

Modern fashion shows often link to the glamour of old Hollywood movies. Important designers get movie stars to attend them. Fashion shows are produced with high entertainment and production values, and designers wage campaigns to have stars wear their gowns at major Hollywood award shows. Once upon a time Hollywood put fashion shows right in […] christian esquevin Emma’s white dress had more volume and a more complicated pattern than her other costumes,” explained Zophries. “It had a silk chiffon top and a very lightweight silk charmeuse underneath, so it was like two layers, all hand sewn. It’s beautifully done. I’ve seen the movie seven or eight times, and that white dress slays me every time. . . . It’s funny, because the movie is so known for its color. But the white dress . . . I get teary-eyed when it is on camera, because it’s everything I wanted it to be. It just rises up in the air as you spin in it.”

Lala Costume - Cosplay Costumes - AliExpress

They both sacrificed their love story to achieve their individual dreams. As afterall, they came to Hollywood to discover their dreams, not to discover their romance. The preferred reading is intended to remind the audience that although life in a musical can have its fantastical elements, there is always a darker side to the consequences of dreams, when the story is grounded in reality. In ConclusionAlthough La La Land filmed exterior shots at the actual Griffith Park Observatory—the landmark that appears in the James Dean classic Rebel Without a Cause—Wasco actually re-created the inside of the planetarium. This was done mostly for practical reasons, but also allowed for extra period authenticity—since the planetarium had been renovated in the years since Rebel Without a Cause was filmed, and had lost some of its original details. Wasco re-created the original planetarium, in all of its Art Deco glory, based on photo references and scenes from the James Dean classic.