I started this list of fashion-spotting films last month, beginning with An Education. I was hoping it would be the first in my Movie Marathon of 60’s Fashion…but, the movie isn’t available on demand (i.e., iTunes, Netflix), so I assembled my marathon with several hours of entertainment (a few movies, a TV show, and a mini-series) that I could easily stream to the screen above my sewing machine.
Just in time for this week’s Mad Men-themed challenge at The Sew Weekly, I shall continue my tour – one, each day this week for the rest of the month– of selected,1960’s fashion on film with one of my favorite Sidney Poitier movies:
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967)
Directed by Stanley Kramer
Costumes by Joe King, Jean Louis, and Edna Taylor
The story is about a newly in-love, interracial couple who must reveal their relationship to their parents. Civil rights was a fresh topic in the 1960’s, so the notion of “mixed” marriage was hard to swallow for both sets of parents. I love how relevant the movie still is, even now….interracial couples (like my husband and I) across America still deal will people’s lack of tolerance and acceptance.
I re-watched the movie in the hopes I’d see some comment-worthy styles of the time, but the girl who plays Sidney Poitier’s fiance and her mother, played by Katherine Hepburn, were dressed unremarkably.
Just when I was ready to give up on vintage fashion-spotting, the daughter of the fiance’s family maid has a small scene. She walks past Poitier, who notices she’s hot, then she exits the house and runs into a delivery guy who’s in the driveway dancing to some unexplained, groovy 60’s music. The maid’s daughter starts dancing along with him and the two get in a van and drive off together. What?
It was the only odd moment in the movie. And, the only fashion-spotting scene, too.
A pink and coral striped sheath with a ruffled skirt…and, that hair! What a quintessential, late 60’s look! I almost knocked-off this dress for last month’s Oscars Challenge, but I couldn’t find the right kind of striped fabric. If I ever do, it is SO on.
Wanna Be Sewing Something 
This was a good remake as well. You might want to check out “To Sir With Love” or “in the heat of the night”. But for fashion.. I like “the graduate” or “a hard days night”. Then some horror with some fashion try “Rosemary’s baby.”
That era was fun for fashion.
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I saw the modern remake, it was cute and funnier than the original. The Graduate was one of the first movies I rewatched when I found out about the Oscars challenge…it was all leopard print furs and lingerie..great to see Dustin Hoffman as a shy kid. I almost forgot Rosemary’s Baby was set in the 1960’s…for that matter so was The Birds. Uh oh, time for a Hitchcock fashion marathon.
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I love that scene you described- sort of an in your face ‘ are you sure you want the fuddy-duddy world?’ kind of moment.
‘Where Angels go, Trouble follows’ is mostly in school uniforms, but the scenes where they are arriving after break have some great clothes….
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Hitchcock movies WIN for fashion!! I love The Graduate. It is a film school staple. What’s so weird about, is that Dustin Hoffman was not young when he made it and was actually only a few years younger than the lovely and talented Anne Bancroft. My favorite Anne movie is Prisoner of Second Avenue with Jack Lemmon (another FAVE) but that was made in the 70s.
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You’ve always got factoids in your pocket, Nettie…I didn’t realize Dustin & Anne Bancroft were the same age, I just knew he was MUCH younger than he was in Rainman ;-). I’ll have to look up that other Bancroft film…may have to re-activate the DVDs-in-the-mail side of my Netflix account so I can have a better selection of vintage-fashion hunting movies.
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I’m a film school graduate, so I know LOTS of useless film facts LOL! Prisoner of Second Ave is a great film. I’ve been thinking about doing the same with my Netflix account. They have great stuff to watch instant, but there are some gems that they don’t offer.
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i forgot all about that moment! perhaps casually thrown in there to signify the younger generation’s ease with crossing racial borders?
love this behind the scenes post, and totally relate to the interracial vibe. part of me is still shocked it exists, but just last week at a bar a (nice, funny and outgoing) woman who was hitting on ruggy (who was sitting RIGHT NEXT TO ME) couldn’t fix her face when she found out we were married. and it wasn’t about the faux pas. she beat feet immediately.
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Oh yeah, some folks have that “what are they all about?” look on their face even now…with Obama in the White House (hello!). You’d think there’d be more shocking things to be shocked about…like the special needs all-stars from Jersey Shore. Strangely enough…when me and my man are walking down the street (he sports a shaved head and goatee), black people give him the head nod..before noticing ME! And, at a wedding once, the entire table we were sitting at assumed he was just a fair-skinned brotha until something I said woke them up to the fact that (except for his love of soul music and curvy women) he was the whitest white dude at the event. In my circle of friends, my husband is just black by association. That’s how our generation rolls 45 years after Loving vs. Virginia.
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