The silent film star Betty Blythe is little known today, yet she appeared in some 161 films, from Slander (Fox) in 1916 to My Fair Lady (WB) in 1964. She was dressed nearly topless in The Queen...
American Gigolo is a film that purposefully captivates from the brilliance of its look – clothing, interior decor, Beverly Hills shops, Palm Springs modern architecture. This is the beautiful...
https://silverscreenmodes.com/american-gigolo-the-depth-below-the-gloss/
Designing Hollywood: Studio Wardrobe in the Golden Age is my new book published by the University Press of Kentucky. It grew out of several of my blog posts over the last few years covering the H...
https://silverscreenmodes.com/designing-hollywood-studio-wardrobe-in-the-golden-age/
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 s...
https://silverscreenmodes.com/western-costume-companys-golden-age/
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 value...
https://silverscreenmodes.com/fashion-shows-in-film-1925-1930/
An American in Paris was made in 1951 at the very peak of the Hollywood studio system and the pinnacle of Gene Kelly’s artistic career. It was the perfect combination of art, dance, music a...
https://silverscreenmodes.com/an-american-in-paris-art-dance-music-costumes/
Turner Classic Movies is presenting FOLLOW THE THREAD, a series of films broadcast on TCM cable on Saturdays in June and July. Each will be moderated by TCM with guests from the fashion ind...
https://silverscreenmodes.com/bonnie-and-clyde-blowup-on-tcm-fashion-focus/
The now classic Somewhere in Time was released in 1980 in the midst of a Screen Actors Guild strike. Although the movie starred Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymore, they were barred from promoti...
I remember him as if it were yesterday, as he came plodding to the inn door, his sea-chest following behind him in a hand-barrow–a tall, strong, heavy, nut-brown man, his tarry pigtail falling ...
https://silverscreenmodes.com/treasure-island-from-page-to-screen-to-cable/
Mary Ann Nyberg was one of those talented young women destined for Hollywood: she was pretty, she was artistic, and by 23, she was dating movie star and singer Rudy Vallee. By that time in 1946 s...
https://silverscreenmodes.com/mary-ann-nyberg-her-cinema-sunset-came-too-soon/
Have you seen this boat bed? It appeared prominently in five movies, and was originally owned by a French entertainer. Its status is now unknown. Although it won’t come to mind as a famous mo...
Costume designer Anthea Sylbert always added life and character into her costume designs. She designed for many notable actors in her career, and the movies they starred in are classics of the la...
https://silverscreenmodes.com/anthea-sylbert-wit-character-in-costume-design/
The actors in the earliest Hollywood movies came ready for the camera in makeup. And that makeup was usually a carry over from the stage – powder and greasepaint in the form of different co...
https://silverscreenmodes.com/hairstyle-makeup-in-classic-hollywood-film/
The Classic Movie Blog Association Hidden Classics Blogathon One of the greatest love stories ever filmed is barely known. Its director Max Ophuls and co-producer John Houseman are masters. And i...
https://silverscreenmodes.com/letter-from-an-unknown-woman-a-hidden-classic/
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released their Oscar Nominations March 15, very late, and in an abnormal year to say the least. With the Covid pandemic, movie theaters were shut a...
https://silverscreenmodes.com/oscar-best-costume-design-nominations-2021/
Early and silent films are known to have low survival rates due to many causes. But there is no more lethal enemy of early film than fires. Approximately 90% of American silent films are consi...
The Coronado Island Film Festival, Reframed, is happening November 11 -15, 2020. We deliberated for most of the last year on what the Festival, our 5th Annual, should be like considering the p...
https://silverscreenmodes.com/coronado-island-film-festival-2020-november-11-15-2020/
Alfred Hitchcock never admitted that he used any symbolism in his masterpiece, Vertigo, let alone incorporating any mythic elements. Yet this film, obsessed with the hopeless task of bringing a l...
https://silverscreenmodes.com/vertigo-hitchcocks-myth-symbolism/
Classic films abound in comforting stories and feel-good endings that are right for our times. After years of dystopian movies it’s great to have a plot that doesn’t have everybody dying. Dur...
https://silverscreenmodes.com/classics-for-comfort-feel-good-films-to-watch/
The Turner Classic Movies Classic Film Festival celebrated its 10th anniversary last year, 2019. And as with every film festival or other event this spring, the 2020 TCM Classic Film Festival...
https://silverscreenmodes.com/turner-classic-film-festival-looking-back-10-years/