Fashion in cinema and the columns of the 50s

Elisa Nori
May 21, 2022
3 min read

In this weekend, so as to cheer you up for a few hours of relaxation, I'm back again with my now scheduled list as a suggestion and expansion of your cinephile and stylistic/costume knowledge; the unmissable films and it's the turn of the 50s.

The list of 15 titles becomes a 15+1 for today only, paying homage to an extra masterpiece from Japan.

Tales from the pale moon in August is a film in which the union between the real and the supernatural remains fundamental.

The doubling is used to delve into and explore themes such as honor, responsibility, family and love.

Several of the following films have won Academy Award for Costume Design and others have been nominated.

For fashion, especially in Europe, it is the era of the boom; the mythical golden age.

It is still anchored to heavy social stereotypes, but leaning towards the first winds of emancipation.

The dress is a real language, and even women who are not part of the entertainment world have highlighted breasts and hips in recent years, so that the hourglass shape sometimes given by a simple optical effect, sometimes by real physical qualities ... can seduce.

Narrow and high waist for feminine trousers and skirts, sweaters with double stitching on the décolleté and shirts strictly worn inside the garment.

The idea of well-being, prosperity and wealth are represented by a more atavistic femininity.

The round necklines in the majority, square or V, are always deeper.

The Capri model, which makes its way into fashion also because it is worn by actresses such as Brigitte Bardot and Audrey Hepburn, are trousers that are a little shorter than the ankle, but which give an extremely sexy peek-a-boo effect for the time.

On the one hand, more modest women dressed in sweaters and cardigans of the same fabric and colour, the so-called twin sets, on the other, provocative women in black pencil skirts, with plunging necklines.

This gap, to stay on the subject, so deep between two looks so different from each other would never have occurred again in the history of fashion.

Supported or not by rigid tulle or taffeta petticoats that gave a trapezoidal appearance to the garment, are the bell-shaped skirts (or even half-bell skirts).

Defined as a bon ton garment, it was however used in a decidedly sexy way in "When the wife is on vacation" because the skirt that Marilyn lets flutter over a road grate is precisely bell-shaped.

The color trend dominates, expressed through large and small polka dots, mostly horizontal stripes and tartan in all versions.

Sling backs and open toes are among the most used footwear, those that are considered classics today. Let's not forget that the 50s were also the years of scarves, worn in all possible ways.

Women all over the world copy and admire garments worn by the great divas: Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, Ava Gardner, Grace Kelly, Brigitte Bardot, Sophia Loren, Jane Russell, trying to bring back the same fashion and same charm.