Friday, July 29, 2011

Mildred Pierce

Jumping back a decade to the 1930s, director Todd Haynes remake of Mildred Pierce is currently playing on Showtime on Foxtel. Unfortunately I don't have Pay TV, so I'm going to have to go the DVD route. Not only do the costumes look divine, but I'm a sucker for a good melodrama (please see earlier posts about Douglas Sirk films and Todd Hayne homages i.e. Far From Heaven).

The costume designer on Mildred Pierce was Ann Roth, responsible for other period films like Evening, The Hours, The Talented Mr Ripley, Cold Mountain (loved that book) and The English Patient (loved that book and that movie). You can read an insightful interview with her at the LA Times here.
My favourite quote? 'Costuming is not fashion ... we're not doing a Vogue spread ... it was the way people dressed.'

Has anyone out there - overseas perhaps - watched the mini-series already? Thoughts?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

The outfits are amazing! People in the past had such amazing style and I miss that style of dress. I will have to check out this series since I'm lost waiting for Downton Abbey to restart.

lauren said...

i could watch it a hundred times over just to look at every garment detail, it's a real feast for us vintage lovers!

Louise said...

Ooh, good to know Lauren. And I know what you mean GirlRural. I am bereft without Downton, and it was left on such a cliffhanger too. I suspect the second series won't air in Oz until next year, but am hoping the UK DVD will be out for Christmas.

collecting feathers said...

I don't have pay TV either and I am devastated. This is one of my favourite books of all time and the original with Joan Crawford is up in my top 10 movies.
I don't mind having to get the DVD, you can pause it to look at the frocks.

said...

I live in Poland and I've seen the show on the Internet, it's quite easy to find. Kate Winslet really suits 30s and fashion of that times.