Franco is back

and now he's promoting other people's work:

Coco Before Chanel

I watched Coco Before Chanel last night largely because I watched Amelie a few weeks ago and wanted more French eye candy, which seems like a long-standing a genre of movie in need of a proper name. I would like to propose something like "glaçage d'oeil," which I believe could translate loosely to "eye frosting," but there's definitely no way I can remember that exact phrase, or how to spell it. But honestly, FEAST:

Green and red. I love these colors.

Coco Before Chanel is a radically different palette, but if anything is more lovely than Audrey Tautou, it is Audrey Tautou in slightly mannish clothing. You should see her in men's pajamas, which effective next paycheck will be my exclusive sleeping attire. Behold:


I know right? Almost as perfect as this:

So, to bring us back to the movie, it was lovely to watch but less lovely to think much about. The movie is too wrapped up in Chanel's love life to give much consideration to her fashion, and I ended up feeling the whole thing was a little disappointing. Several moments were like Mad Men, in that they test my ability to sit and watch historically-approximate sexism. But again, like Mad Men oh how pretty it is to watch. Watching a movie and wishing to own or make the wardrobe prompted me to wander over to Design*Sponge to see if they have any new posts in the "Living In" category. Indeed they do, one of which is Coco Before Chanel. Here are the highlights:

Bonnie and Clyde
The Big Lebowski
An Education (my favorite style movie this last year)
Breathless (Oh summer haircut!)
Paper Moon
Oh Brother Where Art Thou?**

In honor of movies and pretty things, I bought a bunch of tomato-red fabric this morning and hope to make a dress out of it. I realize this flies in the face of the heart of the movie, and of timeless evidence that the best thing I could do for my wardrobe would be to remake all of my clothing out of men's business attire, but it's summer, and it's Virginia, and there is no way on earth I'm wearing pants or a tie.


**If you think it's tacky to do a fashion summary of a movie in which the aesthetic is largely that of poverty, you should see The Last of the Mohicans post. I know. I know.

Also: I still plan to blog on movies and poverty-chic. Maybe it's also a nice time for an old-fashioned Indians post to go along with our Westerns/genres posts? We could use Umbert Eco's equivalent of the Bechdel test for Native Americans in cinema.

[photos, 1: SUBMIT to the awesome power of red and green, without looking like a Christmas card. The key, I believe, is to wear read in a green environment. 2: oh my god, 3: ohmygod, 4: OHMYGOD! 5: If I make this dress and wear it with doc martins maybe, just maybe, I will look awesome]