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Blow-Up- I Say "No" and "Don't"
26 Plays11 days ago
Alright, maybe we wouldn't recommend watching this movie and maybe we don't agree with critics who think it is Very Important. The main benefit is the cutting edge 1960's fashion. Other than that, it just raised a lot of questions for us. Such as: if your protagonist is lost and unconnected, does the movie need to be that way too? Anyway, it's certainly a movie that we did watch and you can hear our unfiltered thoughts here!
And go get some colored tights, I beg you.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060176/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_in_0_q_blow%20up
Music: Cassette Deck by Basketcase
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Hot Set' Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
I'm Melinda. I'm Ariel. This is Hot Set, the movie podcast about costume design.
Setting the Stage for 'Blow-Up' Discussion
00:00:22
Speaker
Welcome back to our podcast. It's us, your friends. And we're here to talk about another glorious, amazing, wonderful movie. um And I'm going to give you a quick IMDb synopsis just so that we can really dive on in
Synopsis of 'Blow-Up' and Initial Reactions
00:00:38
Speaker
there.
00:00:38
Speaker
ah This is a film from 1966, I believe, directed by Michelangelo Antonioni.
00:00:48
Speaker
Synopsis reads, a fashion photographer unknowingly captures a death on film after following two lovers in a park. Period. Wow. This sucker's rated 7.4 out of 10 and I'm mad about it.
00:01:05
Speaker
There. Yeah. The even the meta score is like even higher. It's like in the 80s. I we so we're going to it's I think we should talk about how we feel about it before we talk about the costumes.
00:01:20
Speaker
OK. Let's talk about all of this. Yeah. Dive deep. So on Wikipedia. Yeah. yeah There's when you get down. Sorry.
Critics' Reception and Gender Perspectives
00:01:30
Speaker
i bull I'm hysterical.
00:01:32
Speaker
Once you get down to the critical reception. Okay. The first two critics. The first one is a man. Naturally. Who basically says this film is incredible and belongs in the upper echelon with like Citizen Kane and like a list of other like films. You know what I mean? Okay. Right underneath him is a woman who says this movie is, and I'm so sorry, i didn't write it down my notes, so I have to actually scroll back down. Please, it's worth it. and I was like, preach sister.
00:02:08
Speaker
Pauline Kael found blow up to be vague and vacuously symbolic. and She argued that these aspects led audiences to find the film artistic and intellectual.
00:02:20
Speaker
i love it. I love it. Rip another hole. And like all of these other critics that are listed on Wikipedia are all freaking men. This movie...
00:02:32
Speaker
has so many moments in it that like go beyond my no and don't from the last one, which is a funny face, to I am possibly a misandrist and I am a misandrist in this moment. Like what are men? Because this is like one of those written by men, directed by men, starring men, perspective of the world from a man kind of thing.
00:03:01
Speaker
That is just like, what what is it that you see here that is so deep? What is it here that you are elevating? Because this man, who we've met before, you and i on our journey, this is ah a gentleman from Barbarella.
00:03:19
Speaker
Of course. I knew that I knew the name. This is our little fella. Yeah. Wow. So this is pre. This is pre Barbarella. And then he also in Camelot with Vanessa Redgrave, who is in this movie for
Character Analysis and Film Comparison
00:03:34
Speaker
like four minutes. i know And like four glorious minutes. yeah Like just yeah like a bright spot. scene Yeah. No problem. Yeah. But like there are so many issues that I have about this movie and it's
00:03:51
Speaker
male perspective and the choices and things that this man is doing because basically it feels like this character is really trying to have a feeling like not the actor the character is trying to have a feeling like look for yeah on my yeah like I definitely felt throughout the movie that this character just was like lost like lonely morally bankrupt like or just like coat rudderless yeah uh but i have to say like my you know quippy quippy tagline would be blow up this movie's full of hot air like and you know what i love it nail them again but it was so it's one of those movies where you're just like
00:04:44
Speaker
Okay, let's drill down into what happens in it. And then you read anything that the director's ever said said about it. And he's like, oh, no, that doesn't matter. and you're like, okay.
00:04:55
Speaker
And you're like, what
Fashion Industry Depiction in 'Blow-Up'
00:04:57
Speaker
are you talking about? Like, yeah this is also a different period of filmmaking, right? Yeah, so it really is. It's... it's people trying to pioneer different different modes of storytelling, all these different things that are that are just not meant for me as an audience member. Right. But then you additionally have this – I say that he's morally bankrupt because he's just so gross with women. Yeah. And most the people that he's with in this movie are women. Yeah. And, like, he is disgusting. And I hate him, this little boy dressed in his Easter Sunday best. Yeah. But yet at the same time, it does seem accurate to what we have heard about the fashion industry because, of course, he is a fashion photographer, like high fashion photographer. yeah and so you're like, yeah, no, it makes sense that you're a monster.
00:05:43
Speaker
We got a soft launch in Funny Face. yeah Oh, for Funny Face was absolutely charming compared. got a soft launch on that one. Yeah.
00:05:55
Speaker
Fred Astaire being and like a dog was looking in your face and you go, no. No. spray him in the face of water this guy oh my god this is just assault like this movie is like nine years later and we are in hell like hell and like a hollow hell. but Yeah, like a it's like a Jean-Paul Sartre hell. It's like hell is other people hell.
00:06:18
Speaker
And it was just like, oh my god. But also it made me think of the last one where Fred Astaire was giving these directions to Audrey Hepburn. Don't do that. Do better. Fix your face. That kind of shit. And this guy is aggressively like, no, that's wrong. I hate this. hate this. Yeah. Like these instructions as photographers, is that anybody, please feel free to chime in. At least like Fred Astaire was like, look here, think about this, feel that. And this guy's just like, you're terrible and hate you. Like that's not direction. That's just insulting. And then would like make them feel bad. And then he would step in and be like, here, look this way, put your hand up, let this fall this way. And it's like, why did you have to take them to a place of despair first? Yeah. Oh, it was so important to him that they go to that place. There's also a factoid about this movie that makes me feel like it's haunted by a vicious ghost, which that the main character is driving is it like a Rolls Royce or?
00:07:22
Speaker
I guess I'm like, you could tell me that car is literally anything. Cause I like don't care. Like, but it's one of those.
Costume Design Influence on Characters
00:07:29
Speaker
Yeah. A fancy expensive car. Right. to And that car was owned by Jimmy Savile. Do you know who Jimmy Savile is? Yeah. um i know i do but i can't like place him right now jimmy savile was an entertainer who was okay everywhere yeah i don't know when he started it i watched a documentary if it was like the 60s but it's definitely the 70s and into the 90s he was a monster who abused
00:08:01
Speaker
Children and other. like Got it. was A monster. So that man's car was lent to this movie for this faux monster to drive around. And when this movie was made, I think that things about Jimmy Savile were just like.
00:08:18
Speaker
maybe because i can't my brain has been through a lot in the past few months so my memory is pretty shit but like i don't think that things about him were public knowledge they were kind of like urban legend right and so um this monster's car is in this movie it's like a serial killer's car being in a movie you know like christine yes So it's just like, was like, yeah, it's fitting that this character would be driving this fucking car. That's my little tidbit for that. was just like, most of my notes are angry.
00:08:57
Speaker
i I tried to just sort of detach myself from ah who I am while I was watching the movie. I tried to, I just kind of did like a light dissociation and just was trying to watch the movie and be like, what, what is this person trying to say in like,
00:09:19
Speaker
I don't think that I came to any particular conclusion. And I did kind of read what the director has said about the movie afterwards. And I read a couple quotes that Vanessa Redgrave said about the movie and how she understood this is kind of like when we saw Barbarella. Yeah. and We had this whole male perspective from the director, writer, and then we had the actress. what she Right. This is what I was contributing to. ok Yeah. And I do kind of like I kind of saw because what she was saying was that like that she approached her performance in the movie because she is a trained dancer. And so she performed she approached it with her like physical movement being like her way of kind of developing something that she could grasp onto in the film and that the sort of physical shapes and like shot setups and like motions were like what she was kind of like keying into and I was like okay I guess
00:10:29
Speaker
That's what you have to do when you're a performer because you have to find a way into doing the movie. So you have to figure something out. and I have a question for you. Yeah. that Input. Yeah. So if you were a costume designer in 1965, which is, I'm assuming. Which ah i wish, a dream. um That'd be a no from me, dog. If you were a costumer on this film. Yeah.
00:10:55
Speaker
And you're having conversations that we frequently have backstage, not even backstage because we're in like the shop or the fitting room, right? Yeah. um But pre-vis, like pre-show, when we are developing everything and we have conversations with our actors after we've had these conversations that are highfalutin with the director, the director's visual and like producers about budget, ah logistics. But you're at the point now where you have thought about the scripts. You have thought about, which by the way, this was offered to Sean Connery here turned to town. Smart man. He asked for a script and gave him a couple pages. And he was like, no.
00:11:38
Speaker
And he was like, sorry, dog. like words and I like to say them and understand them. not going sign for your weirdo. But like if this was you and you finally, you know, you've absorbed it and you're like, okay, this is what I'm seeing. Yes.
00:11:53
Speaker
This is how I see the character, which is not always how you can necessarily approach um ah something that you're designing or because like sometimes you're hired not to design. Sometimes you are literally just designed to be a stylist. Yeah. To be a stylist. Sometimes. Yeah. hired to just put clothes on people that like the director just tells you this is what you're putting on and that sucks yeah I don't appreciate that right it works for some folks it's not what I what I enjoy doing I like being part of the process I like it me too yeah I want to be a storyteller in the room yes as well. So like I want to be able to use my brain and my skills to assist in the storytelling. Yeah. So imagine that it's the best, this world, that we are able to be a part of the storytelling. And you sit down with Vanessa Redgrave and you go, okay, so your character is this woman that the main character sees in the park with an older man macking on each other. He takes pictures and he doesn't know it, but in the background he's captured
00:12:53
Speaker
a guy with a gun and a body. And you are in this series of
Color Palette and Environmental Setting
00:12:58
Speaker
photos trying to like protect your privacy. And you have chased this man down to get the film back.
00:13:04
Speaker
And then you have this almost intimate. um Yeah. Encounter. Yeah. ah Before you leave. And of course we find out that he gave you.
00:13:18
Speaker
Not that role film on purpose. um So I was thinking this is how, you know, here's some options for for what looks we could have, you know, for for yeah the same day, basically. So like, yeah, she's really only in the one outfit. We only see her like the one day. and Maybe here's what we're communicating that you are because you care so much about your privacy being.
00:13:43
Speaker
robbed from you by this guy. Okay, when you say that, because my understanding was that she was an accomplice in the murder and that she lured that guy there and then he got murdered. She's being filmed and she's like kind of posing to the photographer, the main character. well, my private life, I would like to keep private. so No, but i don't think it was I don't think it was like her private life. I thought it was because she was literally like involved in a murder. No, involved, but there's a line that she says to him.
00:14:13
Speaker
and I also kind of like zoned out in the conversation, but there is a line at the beginning of their conversation in the photo studio. Yeah. Like, you know, this is just like, she's justifying why she wants the film. And she's right she says something about Yeah, but it but like she's lying. Of course. and But it's like that's the lie that we're selling. it's like how do we want you to appear, right? If that's the lie that you're selling, if that's something that you've convinced this older man to get him into the park, that you're this woman with this background, what do we want the background to be? So how do we want you to dress in order for this lie to feel real? Because of course she's an accomplice.
00:14:51
Speaker
Come on. But like, how do we want to sell it? Do we want to dress you as like a part of this class? Do we want to make you look like a student? Like what, what do we want to dress you as? And she's like, i don't know, shapes.
00:15:03
Speaker
Well, but i I think it did kind of work because, yeah um I felt like there was throughout the movie, this really, really strong ah color palette of like, outside the studio and inside the studio.
00:15:23
Speaker
And outside the studio was very neutral, was very sparse, was very industrial, and not really industrial in the like design sense of the word, but like, but like,
00:15:36
Speaker
It was like there are so other than the park, there's like so few trees or anything green. Everything's just like paved over with bricks everywhere. It was like terrible to look at. um And so I felt like she kind of she still had like a very contemporary look like she was in very cool clothes, I would say, for the time. But it was definitely on the more conservative side Yeah.
00:16:06
Speaker
um But I don't know. I felt like that worked. She's short skirt. And so you see her legs. There's like a T-strap kind of kitten heel that she's got. Yeah. Kind of like a like a heavier belt that sits like on her hips little bit. Yeah. Her skirt was definitely like – it felt like she was – part of like the contemporary world in that she had the like sort of low slung skirt on the hip as opposed to like a high waist which like the dropped waist is very 60s and like a kind of a cheeky blouse I would call it with like a weird tie like I don't know I i thought it worked i I thought it looked great but yeah I just with plot like this what i'm I'm trying to imagine the conversation, right? And like what that would be if like how we build what your character is wearing, because it's like if you're a dancer and you're approaching this, it's like, I just imagine that it would be
Costume Choices and Storytelling Impact
00:17:01
Speaker
like we have to chisel it a stone a little bit to try to give you something, you the actress, to make your shapes and colors feel like a tool that you can use to inhabit.
00:17:13
Speaker
And on the other side, me going like, well, i have to make you feel like a real person. I felt like she was really i did feel like she was specific about what she was doing more so than some of the other people in this film. Yeah. I mean, she's Vanessa Redgrave. Yeah. Grounded. And she's also so tall and so like light. Like she just she's one of those actresses who just walked in the door and you're like, OK.
00:17:40
Speaker
Yeah. You're like, yeah, you you're a superstar. Yeah, we get it. right Yeah. Yeah. yeah um I know there was definitely like at least with with her, I was I did feel like I had something to kind of grab on to. I mean, obviously, like her character is involved in like kind of the only plot that the movie has to offer. And it's so short compared to how long the movie is. It's so short because also the movie is very quiet. Yeah. Yeah. Like we don't have dialogue all the time. We don't really have music all the time. Like there's just kind of ambient noise of like people running, people rabble, rabble, rabble, like trying to sound like a crowd, you know, like yeah the sound of life.
00:18:21
Speaker
And so with her, it's kind of like the grounded piece because other stuff to me just kind of feels like we're just seeing this guy's day of him making some crazy fucking decisions. Well, and just like, he is so...
00:18:40
Speaker
um so at one point when he's like going through the photos and realizes what he's like captured in this park um i was watching the movie with jonathan and i was just joking around because i was like i need like i this there's nothing going like this movie is not giving me anything yeah and um and i was like oh i think he's doing more to solve this crime than the police yeah Yeah, because we never see police. There's no police. And is ah Jonathan was like, oh, maybe he should start his own true crime podcast. And I just immediately was like, he could, but I wouldn't listen to it because he's such a prick. Like, I was just in like, like, there's... Incel does murder is like kind of what it felt like. like just Yeah, it was just like...
00:19:27
Speaker
I mean, we're just seeing this guy. like he iss He's ambling around. He's like going to locations like multiple times in the day. like In theory, this man has a job and a career, but like he was so aimless. He was so restless. He was so unsatisfied. He was so bored.
00:19:45
Speaker
but it's like the way that it was shown to us was also so empty. Yeah. it's like I kept comparing it to American Psycho. Because like in that one, we see somebody who's...
00:19:57
Speaker
It's a lot. It's manic. It's manic. It's bloody. It's gory. Like all these different things. But we are seeing depth to a character regardless of how we feel about him or his story. Patrick Bateman has depth. That is a a realized character. Yeah. This character, I can't even remember name.
00:20:22
Speaker
He didn't have one. Okay. Thank you. No one ever says it. He does not have a name in the movie. Very few people do. Oh, he's listed as Thomas. Yeah. It says it says that I read that it's it's written in the script, but no one ever says it. No one ever says it. So it's like layer. He's just man. He's just photographer man. Yeah. So it's like we don't even have access to his name. Mm-mm. And so it feels like this this film, all of it is just like playing out in front of you, but you don't have like an entry point to like walk with or even behind the character. Like you're just like no watching a guy walk around. Yeah, we don't even see him. Like it doesn't seem no one that we see him interact with in the movie. Does he have like a deep relationship with even? yeah it's that there's a lot of telling us, but not showing us. So there's like one guy that we see a couple times that we're supposed to understand is like,
00:21:14
Speaker
a business like a collaborator or something and painter that might be like a friend, you know, like, yeah, supposed to see these relationships. But I mean, it's effective in showing us that he has like no grasp on anything. Right. Right. As a viewer, it's really tough. And because we're only seeing a limited amount of characters, like in the first scene, we do see like this for some reason, um, group of people running. and i Oh, I loved them. I know. I was like, look at all this happening. What's yeah the rest of the movie? Yeah, they were. I put I wrote in my notes that they were freaking out the squares. Yes, because I think that's what they were doing. 100%. It's just like a squad of mod kids like yeah running around. in like a military jeep yeah and like stripes on stripes and checks and like all this stuff going on yeah and then we don't see them again no they come back at the end they come back that's right they with the the the they're they're the mime troop yeah they i think they are the mime troop yeah and so that's how this movie ends by the way is with a mime troop playing playing tennis tennis yeah and then he's supposed to grab the ball and throw it back and then the camera's like way above him and then he just disappears Like literally, i think I put like, i was like, oh, he's a ghost. But I think that that was sort of, i mean, I do, I i i hate to say this. i I truly hate to say this, Ariel, but I did kind of get it. Like I did kind of get it.
00:22:38
Speaker
i got it too. But is it, is it up there in the the heavens of the best cinema ever made? Absolutely not. So anybody who takes this and says, I get it. And now it's the best thing ever.
00:22:49
Speaker
eat a brick. It's like you're bullshit. Yeah. like this, I i get it. i get the hollowness and all of these different things and like that he's doing, he does some monstrous stuff in this. um and It's not like Patrick Bateman level though. No, but it is assault. There's like two teenagers. Yeah, that's, I was like, i was like holding my yeah hands like in my hair watching that scene because I could not understand no what what those girls were doing and what they wanted and it really really troubled me yeah it it it felt very much like
00:23:31
Speaker
a piece of a different time just kind of like and this is what is going to happen now and it's like this is awful yeah i hate this yeah and that's monstrous right but it was so confusing because i was like i don't know what the intention is in showing this if i don't get it don't know why it's here i don't know what's happening and hate it yeah and so like but the clothes the clothes area will get to the close i know i know the end of expelling our demons no no it's there's a lot in the movie but this this mime troop that we were talking about before we went down deep dark rabbit hole they the biggest group of people that we ever see Yeah. Everybody else. Well, no, there's a party. There's party. Yeah. And there's a concert. And there's a concert silent audience until the end the concert. That was really something. It was something because it's the yard verse. And it's just like a silent audience until kind of like the end of the song. And then everybody starts freaking out. Yeah. that was, it was very interesting. It's like all these different people just kind of operating in this world very strangely. Like there's not a single character who feels
00:24:48
Speaker
No. now Like Vanessa Redgrave has a lot going on, but she feels like a character in a Bond movie. Yeah, a little bit. Because she knows something that she's lying about, you know, like she has an intention and it feels like a lot of people are just there. And so it's a very cold world. And we only have these like moments of groups and they're acting in these very performative off ways. Yeah. Yeah. And they do have really ah awesome opportunities and moments for these costumes that are like, okay, yes, this is great. But like every other scene is just like a handful of characters together, not always talking to each other. No. Maybe they're just like...
00:25:32
Speaker
a little sentence a quick and just like a lot of this man in his damn car just driving back and forth from place to place from treeless neighborhood to treeless neighborhood just bricks to bricks yikes so it is it is a great example of fashion from a time but it is a hard watch so Like it's it's a hard watch because it's just it was not engaging for me.
00:26:04
Speaker
at all. No, it's really hard to make a movie where the commentary is like, look how detached everyone is. and you're like, yeah, but I got to watch that. too Yeah. So you got to find a way to make me be a part of that.
00:26:17
Speaker
So. Let's get to the costumes. Yeah. The big one that we're here for. my God. The first thing that caught me is the first fashion shoot. We have a couple of fashion shoots that we see with our- Yeah. To like establish. Right. Well, because like we do see before that the Mime Troupe running around and there's like all the stuff going on with them, but they're not, they have a lot of pattern going on and there is color in what people are wearing, but they're not- super duper standing out no it's a lot of dark and white it's a lot of black or like a dark color and white they feel like young kids who are challenging something but they're not challenging it the way that the fashion folks right are challenging it because like there's a focus on that in this movie so with the the crowd scene we see like you know shorter lengths of skirts and like
00:27:15
Speaker
Some funny, some weird weird hat situations going there's like a hat that giant check. Yeah, I loved that. I actually really loved that hat. Fantastic. And that has come back real hard. um But then my notes are just like...
1960s Fashion Innovation and Influence
00:27:29
Speaker
a But i I was like, I mean, i will say that this sort of particular ah period, very like so tiny period of the 1960s when people were doing this...
00:27:44
Speaker
is one of my favorite like periods of history that I've ever encountered with clothes um I do kind of feel like it's the last like truly like innovative clothing period that we've had like to date because of the explosion of materials and like different uses of materials and a really dramatic shift from ah what was considered like appropriate to in like the 50s and early 60s to like this stuff. I felt like it was a huge...
00:28:20
Speaker
cultural shift that I don't feel like has been replicated to the same intensity since then, personally. I agree.
00:28:32
Speaker
And I have like a little, a little disagree. So it's like the 60s are like what the 20s were just 40 years later. And that's that's really interesting to see that cycle come around of like the younger generation, how they're challenging fashion, right? yes And like there's so much, like you said, innovation in the 60s, like all these different – the polyesters, all these different plastics. Yeah, not necessarily like good, like in terms of like getting cancer, but like, but they were innovative. They were very innovative. And it's like, but like seeing the the younger generation's
00:29:10
Speaker
really take to like pushing back against other generations expectations and like what fashion is by like shortening things and changing silhouettes is like so cool to see because throughout other parts of at least Western fashion history that we're more familiar with, it's like, Ooh, bloomers, like pant,
00:29:33
Speaker
a pant um ah You could see an ankle like the the difference goes from like a couple inches to like all the way up the leg, you know? Yeah. So what a time and so much excitement for color because it's also like in the Victorian era when you have like poison being used as dye.
00:29:53
Speaker
so that you can have these like super bright dyes and like aniline dyes like coming in and really like shocking you with the saturation in color. The 60s really did that and like pushed against the 50s.
00:30:06
Speaker
And I think it's, I think the reason that it seems so intense to me because it's like, it's color and material And cut and like body consciousness like it's it's everything at once and I feel like other periods will have like a couple of those and this one I feel like it was all of it and I think that's why it looks so different. too Absolutely and I'm with you. i Yeah. Yeah. anything that i think changes and really pushes that is the body consciousness column where ah now it's more acceptable.
00:30:39
Speaker
it still shocks people, pearl clutch, but like nude dresses are a thing. and Yeah. and Carpets, you know, like seeing more of the body has just continued to push and push and push. So that one keeps going, but like the innovation now it's like people are starting to wake up to the fact like maybe we should have some natural fibers. Yeah.
00:31:01
Speaker
Yeah. We should stop putting stuff into the water. like Yeah. Right. oh no so the fashion industry is not necessarily fully catching up, but like we are seeing kind of like a regression in in a way towards older style of things because post COVID, especially post 2020, people got into handcrafts so much and were like knitting and crocheting that a lot of fast fashion is starting to push crochet, which yeah people don't understand. You don't have a machine for that.
00:31:35
Speaker
No, that's a person. That's a person. Yeah. And so I think that that was another gateway for people to understand just how awful fast fashion is. But like the 60s were a real landmark period. And this has some of those examples because like the photo shoots that we see from our ah evil undenamed man, there are the first one is like a black and white and silver of moment.
00:32:01
Speaker
And then the second we see is like very colorful Yeah. And the makeup is those like 60s eyes. with like Oh, my God. right Everything is overstated. Yeah. The hair, I'm sure if you touched it, felt like it had been shellacked. Yeah. It's hard. Hard shell. There's like ah in the black and white moment, there's um this hat. Yes. It's like a silver. It's like...
00:32:31
Speaker
I don't even know. It's like a hammered metal. Yeah. i It looks like scales. It's so great. Yeah. Like there's these like drapey caftan moments. Oh my God. The giant like sheer caftan that's like black and white block like – color blocked. I was just like like, I'm literally alive right now watching that stuff. And I think right across from her was this woman in a tunic and she didn't have anything underneath it. was like a tunic gown. It was, no, it was a tabard. tab It was not even connected on the sides. be closed It was a tabard. It was open on the sides with maybe like a little thing holding it together. I don't think there was of anything. Yeah. What the hell was holding it together? I loved it. God was holding that together. The spirit of our ancestors is holding it together. weight of the drape was holding that together. They were just like, and these were supposed to be kind of like fly by moments for us, Because we're yeah really supposed to be focusing on how he's treating the models and how uninteresting they are to him. Yeah, which I was like, get interested. Get out.
00:33:40
Speaker
I know. And I loved the sort of like weird like ah composition of the photography with like the weird props and like the weird like feather, whatever. What was that? In the color look, which was the model's second look, there was a peacock feather yeah situation. And it was just like...
00:33:58
Speaker
The color blocking. So I think a lot of people when they think of color blocking and for a long time, I thought of this as color blocking because it's what other people think color blocking is. And it used to I'm going to say it piss me off because if people think color blocking is just like having matching shirts when you go to Disneyland so you don't lose each other. Oh, what? No, that's not even remotely what it is. that's There have been theater companies that I've worked for that for photo shoots, for promotional photo shoots. I have, um because I haven't had super control, the kind of control that I've been allowed to have is just discuss with the cast what they but they have available. Right. Try to create a cohesive look. And sometimes that can be real boring. And sometimes it's like, well, it's all wear evening and it's all black and you just look good because you look good. But it's like, i don't really have the resources to give you the stuff to push it. Yeah. um But at least I can give you some information to make it cohesive.
00:34:52
Speaker
But some people will just be like, well, let's just have everybody in red. But it's not it's not what I think of as color block. No. Red T-shirts. And I go, no, we could have made this look so cool. We could do different shades of red. We could do even just just different types of clothing pieces. It doesn't have to be a T-shirt. We could do all these things. We could make it.
00:35:16
Speaker
Yeah. Like alive. And that's what this kind of colorblind You could express the character. you could go into the personality of the character. Even if just photo You could just have like. give some flavor. photo shoot show, but like a photo shoot for the actor. You could make it look really amazing. But you have to think about depth for that. Yeah. yeah If it's just flat, it's not really going to.
00:35:39
Speaker
Well, it just looks like it just looks like the family reunion. It just looks like we went to That's what a lot of people think color blocking is. they're Oh, that's so sad for them. And it's like, no, that's devastating. that Okay, first of all, that is what we would call monochrome. That is not color block. not color blocking.
00:35:56
Speaker
Color blocking is when you are... Like, okay, maybe I'm about to sound really stupid. to me, color blocking is like you have a singular garment, like a like I say, a dress in a high fashion photo shoot. And they're actual like pieced together things.
00:36:18
Speaker
fabrics together within that garment that are different colors. And there's usually a very strong geometric breakup of the body in a very particular way along very particular line that the designer has chosen.
00:36:34
Speaker
Yeah. And that is color block. And there's a really, really famous dress. I think it's by Mondrian that thank you i was everybody knows that dress. yeah le oni but it's lare on Close enough. um I believe. And um it's this like, I think everybody will have something in their mind because it's this like white, black, yellow, blue, red. And it's it was hugely it's one of those things like a Picasso painting that yeah influenced people the moment they saw it. It like changed people's brain chemistry when they saw that dress. And this is the period of this movie and the type of fashion that we are looking at. What's lovely is that we don't just have primary color color. black yeah and We have different.
00:37:26
Speaker
shades. Yeah, like tones and like levels of well, and and that's what I really like. I like color blocking that incorporates like neutrals that incorporates different levels of saturation like it. It really, i think like anyone who's into like modern or postmodern art could really get into it because it's like the way that the colors play together is what can make it really interesting to look at. Absolutely. And it plays with the silhouette of the thing, right? Because like if you took these dresses that like, let's say that the teenage girls wear, because we see them before the horrible scene towards the end of the movie. Right. But they're wearing like, it's not really like an exciting cut. No. I mean, like it's not tailored. It's yeah like an A-line, the dresses that they're wearing. And what makes them, what pushes them, like they're they're adorable, the cut. But it could look childish. It could look all sorts of things. But what pushes them, what elevates them is the color blocking.
00:38:27
Speaker
Right. And their tights. That's another thing that I love yeah so much is all the tights in this movie. Yes. Because they're like leggings. They're like industrial. They are opaque. And that is what is so fascinating about the 60s, especially like right when this movie is happening, like 66, is when connected tights were invented. They did not exist before. You had one leg and another leg and you had a garter belt and like –
00:39:01
Speaker
up until like this point in like Western history, that was what was on your leg if you had something. And it wasn't until this time that we had the materials and the technology to make knitted tights that came up and were like connected that you pulled on as one thing. And that's one of the reasons that enabled like mini skirts to happen. and Absolutely. Because you didn't have the line where you're Like hose ended and your garter belt started. and so it's like all these things are connected and like allowed this entire like fashion era to come into being. hmm.
00:39:43
Speaker
And so it's cool to get these glimpses and then we have to stay with this man for the rest of the movie. And I think what's also exciting about these fashion insights are the the insights into color and playing with color because like to harp on the tights again, we we know tights, we know stockings. We grew up post that by like 20 some odd years and change.
00:40:11
Speaker
And yeah, I was very used to growing up tights being neutrals only. i think that I would see tights that had color if they were like for dancers maybe.
00:40:26
Speaker
Okay. But like i I don't remember really having a lot of access to tights. And this is a thing that people won't really remember who are younger than we are. You would go to the grocery store, like the chain supermarket. And in the aisle of like toiletries and stuff at the end, there would be the legs hosiery section. Absolutely. Your plastic egg. that yeah and Your st stocking of choice. Yeah. side And my mom was a flight attendant. So she needed those stockings. oh yeah And I went to a Catholic school, so I would wear stockings. But like it was a it was just a thing that you would buy at the grocery store. You didn't have to go to the department store. That's how present stockings were um for i professional people. I definitely had some colored tights when I was a little kid. It's like I i must have, but I feel like it was white, black.
00:41:18
Speaker
black nude. Like I i just can't Oh, wow. think I definitely had. Okay. So i I remember I had a pair of like emerald green tights when I was in elementary school and I would, I had, um I remember I had, i think it was just a skirt that was like a white burgundy and green plaid. Very like Christmassy. And I would wear it with my emerald green tights. And that was like a look for me at like seven years old. Like that was and I definitely had some I definitely had like burgundy tights as well. I know I definitely had white and black, but I i distinctly remember the burgundy ones and the green ones. And it's like, I know that they must have existed. Like when we were growing up, there was a lot of color happening and a lot of patterns. Yeah. And it was post 80s. Like, it come on. But it's like, I don't, I don't, I literally can't remember if I ever had any, but like, i hope you The colors that you would see seems to be more commonplace colors.
00:42:25
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. than what you're seeing in this movie. Right. Which is like, if you think of the word puce, you wouldn't necessarily assume that you could find a pair of puce tights. Now I think you could because there are companies that are intentionally making... Definitely....loud tights and things. Yeah. But like there was a period of time for sure where it was like, yeah, a burgundy, ah specific shades of green.
00:42:48
Speaker
But it was like fashion was just thinking about how acceptable these colors would be and how many yeah outfits you could wear them with. Whereas... These are so experimental and so loud and so bright. And it's like, yeah, maybe you were just tied to this one dress that also has the same shade with it. But it's so, it's so creative, like exciting. And I was like, where are these, these guys? there's I know. Crazy.
00:43:16
Speaker
There was like a moment. There was... There's certainly like a... Like we can thank Gossip Girl for like the resurgence of the like brightly colored tight in like the late aughts, early 2010s. And I definitely...
Contemporary Style and 60s Fashion Legacy
00:43:32
Speaker
I definitely took advantage of that and had some like electric blue tights and like some hot pink. Like I definitely was excited to find those. For the skinny jean that had all those bright ass colors. had those guys. That was my best model.
00:43:49
Speaker
I was just like, I've always been so into 60s clothes that like if I could have like a mini skirt with like bright blue tights, was like so, so happy to wear that as much as possible. love that so much. like, I am home. Yeah. Meanwhile, I was like, don't think tights exist that are not white or... And like not even like a nude that works for everybody. It's like one shade of... Oh my God. That's like church lady nude. And it's always like...
00:44:23
Speaker
the most like a jarring color that like is like the color of like barbie like it's not a human color not a human skin color and even if it is it's like just two steps to the right on the shade strip you know it's just like crazy yeah so there were moments of like pretty fantastic fashion and i yeah actually wrote i really think i like men's boots from the 60s They're so good. They're just so good. they're They're just such a great look. Also, they're just like step in. yeah But it's like they're so sleek and they just look so good. Yeah. there's Like a little bit of heel.
00:45:02
Speaker
There's a real tragedy to current like contemporary men's footwear and how like a bulky and um blocky everything is. And that's just because i think, you know, men are afraid to have footwear.
00:45:18
Speaker
shapes and lines well i think that like it it extends into cars it extends into all of our relaxed wear is that like it extends into construction like beyond brutalism it's crazy and it's just like it's like we've lost I'm going to reduce it to something that's pretty stupid, but going to do it anyway. We've lost a sense of whimsy.
00:45:44
Speaker
i was literally thinking the word whimsy. I was like, she's going to say whimsy. But it's like beyond that, we've lost a sense of craft, I think. yeah And so when people see something tailored, anything tailored, they kind of lose their minds.
00:45:57
Speaker
And like, that's why... I'm not going to go into that because I actually can't follow that very much. But I feel like we've lost a sense of craft and having detailed things and having even our shoes have a silhouette to them and have yeah a shape to them. I think it's great to have the variety. Like, I think it's great to have the bulkier shoes because they serve purposes. I think it's great to have blockier shoes. think it's great to have all of these different things. But it's like we have lost a lot because. Yeah.
00:46:30
Speaker
of progress, change, whatever. And just like... fashioned Yeah, the the concentration of manufacturing into like smaller and smaller and smaller hands and the lack of... those yes Yeah. Just... standardizing clothes down to a point where like if they kind of fit we're like yeah that's fine yeah um and just losing the idea that things can fit and that anybody can look fantastic you just have to get them tailored and people don't know that that's a thing because it's not part of common consciousness well and also like you know tailoring actually
00:47:11
Speaker
you know, it takes a lot of ah skill and people want to be paid for their skill, which I will always, always, always support. But people, the like main complaint that I see of people online about like getting something tailored is like, I don't want to pay more for tailoring than I did for the garment. And you're like, that is a bigger problem. That's a bigger problem because it's like you even said it right there that you're paying more for a job than you are for a garment that was made by a person using a machine industrially that was $5. Yeah.
00:47:40
Speaker
And going to fall apart in six months. Right. Like none of that should. there's a There's so many layers of problems in that statement that go unacknowledged that like.
00:47:51
Speaker
oh, we could save that for a different day. box away. but just, but like, is yeah, if you were doing this movie now and you wanted those boots, like where would you get them? i know. It's like there are labels that make different shoes, but,
00:48:10
Speaker
you they're kind of like based in one country or another or you just have to kind of stumble upon them because also the the Google algorithm algorithm kind of sucks so much that when you're searching for something now you're not really necessarily going to find exactly what you're looking for. right I know, boomer. um But like, you know, you're not just going to go to like the city and go to a shoe store and have all of these varieties present for you. now You have to go to a specialized maker that makes like a leather based shoe or a dress shoe or whatever it is. And so you have to care to like hunt that down. It's not something that's going to come to you, even in the vintage shop, unfortunately.
00:48:52
Speaker
right you and it's going to be expensive when you find them isn't really yeah yeah but like they looked so good like i will say as much as i hated this man i did like his outfit you know but it was it worked for the cinematography because like there's a scene where he's like walking kind of like into the night and it's necessary that he have his bold white pants white pants white pants pants paper white pants that are a danger to anybody and just like so tight just like snatched okay there's one pair of tight pants that is even tighter than this one and it's one of the band members from the yard birds i think it's the guitarist who ends up breaking up the guitar and um they're like bell-bottomed his but they are
00:49:40
Speaker
so tight. I can see a social security number. And it was just like, my goodness, what a time when pants tighter and looser and tighter looser. Right? This is a time before stretch jeans. Those are 100% cotton. They're there.
00:50:00
Speaker
He's been poured in. This is like the era where you had to like lay on the bed to like zip up the jeans. That's my favorite. It's like from... That's like a famous image to me from like the 80s is like the specific brand of jean where you have to, yeah. And the style that you were wearing too was like for it to be on your body and you're laying down and you have to have like something to grip the zipper because your hand is just going to get torn to shit. So you have like a tool, not made for jeans, just a household tool. Pull it up. Yeah.
00:50:36
Speaker
o Man. and The fact that, you know, this is also the era probably jeans because jeans used to be made well like denim. Yeah. Where some people would, I don't know that everybody would do this, but you would like sit in the bath with them.
00:50:50
Speaker
Oh, right. So that the fibers would relax and conform to the shape of your body.
Fashion's Role in 'Blow-Up' Narrative
00:50:55
Speaker
And then to like clean them, you put them in the freezer. And of course, we might not have had freezers at this moment. No, we did. But like, but like, yeah, a big freezer that you could put. Yeah. How you take care of these clothes and they kind of wear you, you know, like you have to get yourself in there.
00:51:12
Speaker
And this is right before that really changes, before everything gets stretchy and elastic-y. And so it's this like push of innovation before a hard turn. It's like, well... um but But his outfit...
00:51:29
Speaker
I think it was impressive, A, that it stayed so fresh the whole movie. Yeah, he was doing a lot in that look. But also that he really does look like a little boy in his Easter best.
00:51:42
Speaker
Just yeah one slutty button undone. The color of the shirt. And it was such a like, it really made me think about photographers and how ah there's there's this kind of like interesting thing in the fashion industry where the people who work in fashion don't usually dress very ostentatiously. yeah and Not all of them. Not all of them. But this it's certainly like common. not Yeah. Yeah.
00:52:10
Speaker
And i think especially people like photographers that, you know, their whole identity is about being behind the camera and... like all of that yeah and i'm sad that you missed it just i mean it's like we could get into the psychology of that but we won't think both of us may have rolled our eyes oh yeah whatever uh But, you know, this idea that like, you know, I'm the observer and not the observed. So my clothes are simple and utilitarian and I have a uniform.
00:52:47
Speaker
And I mean, in the case of this movie, it takes place over like two days. So he ah doesn't change because he doesn't go home at night. So um sleep. No, he kind of does in that weird. yeah that Those people were doing drugs, Ariel. Can you believe?
00:53:06
Speaker
can't believe. I think they were smoking the Mary Jane at that party. The Mary Juana? For my eyes? I think they were. and dare. The devil's lettuce. I know, but I did kind of appreciate how like sweaty and gross everyone at that party looked. yeah i don't think that was necessarily intentional. i don't know.
00:53:27
Speaker
It definitely did look like all of their makeup must be like military grade. Yeah. stay like With the the heat of the lights, the heat of the room, because you know there's no ventilation in there. All of it yeah Nasty, nasty. It's like his his outfit. I'm glad that you brought that up. though Not necessarily being ostentatious, but for me, I'm like...
00:53:48
Speaker
This must be his uniform, like a form of pants with a belt, something tucked in, open collar, a jacket and like a boot. But like I also the white pants were such a strong choice because they really were. Yeah. You're laborer. You are not doing X type of job. is He's not even like setting anything up. He has assistants to do that.
00:54:11
Speaker
What do they call it? Swan in and out. I think on 30 Rock they call it soft hands and face workers. Yes. Oh, my God. That's exactly what it is. This is the story of the soft fix worker one a Because it's like he has an assistant.
00:54:29
Speaker
And then there's like a stylist who might be a second assistant. And the stylist – well, the assistant seemed – I liked that she had this like – I just want to say like a fuchsia number that she was wearing. She had long hair. She was like one of the only women think that had long hair that I remember at this moment. But then the second assistant stylist was, I just thought of her as like a little peapod because she has like lighter green, you know, tights and then darker green dress. And I was like, look at her. go little vegetable so cute yeah i mean it was was like even if it wasn't super ostentatious it was super cutting edge like it was very very on trend yeah it was not schlubby it was not i'm just throwing this on workman's gear to like sweat in smoke cigarettes and get out it was very clean very clean cut and very precise like all of it was very tight Yeah. And like unmistakable for like you if you saw him from like far away, would not like you would know what generation he was from. Like you're not going to confuse him for this is stylish man of this generation. Yeah. Yeah.
00:55:41
Speaker
And so I am glad that we saw these clothes because this is one of those films where they are like, oh, look, high fashion. And maybe at the time when they were making it, they're like, look at how ridiculous these clothes are because they're high fashion. I don't know what the perspective of it was at the time of filming because sometimes that's what we do, right? When we're making a film about fashion now, we're like, look at it. It's hot you know high couture and it's a little bit ridiculous to the the street wearer's eyes. But like...
00:56:11
Speaker
Right. Something there. So, you know, there's sometimes something being said, but this was such a cool snapshot of what was existing for street wear and what was existing for slightly elevated yeah clothing and like party wear.
00:56:27
Speaker
And we didn't specifically shout out the costume designer for the movie who is listed on IMDb as Jocelyn Rickards, but it just says dresses.
Acknowledgment of 'Blow-Up' Costume Designers
00:56:37
Speaker
So I don't know exactly what that means in the context of this movie. yeah So that's a little confusing. Just a call out to a bunch of people, just wear what you have.
00:56:48
Speaker
Like it very well could be. It's so hard to tell. So ah thank you, Jocelyn, for your contribution to the film, whatever ah that may be. ah There's also ah a wardrobe supervisor listed as Jackie Breed.
00:57:09
Speaker
and thank you, Jackie. like Thank you. i don't know. I want to know what the process was of of the costuming for these things. Yeah. because it's yeah Wild West, you know, of like, we're not documenting who's doing the job. So it's like, okay, what was their job, though? Yeah, like, what did they actually what is that? What is dresses? What does that mean? what did it entail? How did it go? Did you just chuck a dress at somebody? Like, right? Is it closer to what we know now Is it exactly the same as what we know now? But you just didn't get any credit for your work? Like, right? The perennial.
00:57:48
Speaker
It could mean so much. That we have. Yeah. But um yeah, I don't know. This was certainly a time. it was a time. And it for for a second, I was like, ah sweet relief. We're out of the 50s.
00:58:02
Speaker
I know. i mean, yeah i was I was thinking about this movie like in the context of like movies like this were changing what movies were. yeah and that's definitely a theme that has recurred on this podcast. And that the pioneers are not always the best.
00:58:24
Speaker
No. They're just chucking a rock into a pond and making yeah the waves first. Yeah. So it's like you can definitely recognize that, especially in the storytelling. um And from 2026, looking back and watching a movie from 1966, it's very easy to go. What the hell is this? Because our tastes have changed and our exposures to things have changed. Our conversations have changed. And it's also film and somebody uploaded it on YouTube. hi hi if anybody has interest in watching this it's just on youtube um so the quality of the film is not as clear yeah as what we're used to now so there are details where it's like i wanted to go wall wall wall like in a crime show where you like enhance enhance enhance actually which in this he did yeah which he did yeah But I don't have a darkroom, so I can't do that. No.
00:59:20
Speaker
And like really dangerous chemicals that are being handled with no gloves. No gloves. Maybe not even a shirt. Who knows? You know, we're just making it up as we go along in this decade. Just hanging out. Letting the chemicals do what they're going to do.
00:59:34
Speaker
I do feel like that is kind of the vibe of this movie. We're just hanging out. Like there's a lot of just hanging out. Yeah, nothing's too deep. Oh, there's a dead body. That seems wrong. Yeah, she knew something about that. No one else seems interested. he doesn't really communicate it very well to anyone that he does try to talk to about it. To his like the the guy that he finds at the end um party, like, I want to show you the dead body.
00:59:58
Speaker
He says we have to go photograph it. Yeah, I was like your priorities, son. They are off. They're there center Oh my god. Okay. Where are we? where Please, where are we going? you Please. Let's move on.
01:00:21
Speaker
Next up on our list, I am much more excited for her because it has Ms. Diana Ross. It has Billy Dee Williams. It has Anthony Perkins. This is nineteen seventy five s Mahogany.
01:00:37
Speaker
and i am real excited to follow Yeah. I've never seen it before. Cause I, yeah, but IMDB is playing like a commercial for it. Like it's not, it doesn't even feel like a trailer. I know it's trailer, but it feels like a commercial. It feels like a Miami Vice commercial.
01:00:55
Speaker
And Diana Ross is doing this like fashion. ah And I'm just like, yep, I'm on board. we're, we're entering into an era of every decade. Yeah.
01:01:08
Speaker
Melinda. Every decade has hair. Yes? Ooh, it has hair. But this one, I'm really excited about. There's been some in this trailer that is playing some incredible...
01:01:24
Speaker
incredible hairs. I'm looking forward to this. So mahogany is our next adventure. I'm looking forward to it. Me too. feel like there's actually going to be plot. So I'm very excited to be spoiled by this. Wow. There might even be an arc. So yeah, i'm I'm looking forward.
01:01:44
Speaker
And also, as a little addendum to this episode, in our last in Funny Face, I think we both said we were going to talk about Kate Thompson and then we both forgot to talk about Kate Thompson. Oh, I mean, she was, I mean, like unforgettable. Like we talked about her character. Yeah.
01:02:01
Speaker
I don't know if you knew this, but I just found out last recording that she was the author of the Eloise books. Oh, I do remember reading that. And I like I've never read Eloise, so it didn't like do a lot for me. Eloise was a thing for me. And apparently it was based on her goddaughter, Liza Minnelli.
01:02:24
Speaker
Oh, wow. So I didn't want to let that go. Yeah. to punch that in somewhere thank you and so i was like oh man i can't believe to mention that because yeah when was swanning across the screen it felt like somebody who would be less than nelly and judy garland i mean yeah mean yeah but here we are it's gonna be fun our next movie hope you join us thanks for listening thank you