Today, Hollywood as an entity is the thing that most influences our fashion choices. Whenever a famous actor or actress is photographed styling a new, interesting look, you can bet your bottom dollar that it will appear the next day in all of the fashion magazines, all of the newspapers and, dare I say it, all of the fashion blogs – and pretty shortly everybody will be adopting the style. The same is also true of other celebrities, but for some reason, the stars of the film industry usually seem to be the leaders of the pack. Hollywood has a strong history of this influence – the classic stars of Hollywood have always set more fashion and style trends than other celebrities. Just think about Vivien Leigh, Katharine Hepburn, Ingrid Bergman, Grace Kelly and of course Marilyn Monroe and you can see why Hollywood has managed to become the situation for setting fashion trends.
Category Archives: Actresses
Sacha Baren Cohen’s Dictator
So the Oscars have just taken place in California once again, with the stars of Hollywood in attendance. Most of the fashions and styles being exhibited by these stars was pretty typical for this sort of event; the women wearing their expensive designer gowns and high heels, and the men mostly opting for the traditional evening black tie wear. Mostly. Because there was a certain gentleman who turned up to the ceremony in something rather different. I am talking about controversy superstar Sacha Baren Cohen, creator of comedy personas Ali G, Borat and Bruno. And now it seems like he has added another character to the list. Cohen turned up to the red carpet as the “Dictator” – the titular character from his upcoming movie of the same name. Wearing a white military-style uniform and a huge false beard, Cohen caused a substantial amount od disruption, but nothing too extreme.
Aimee Mullins
Aimee Mullins is a tremendously talented woman. As an athlete, she has competed at the highest levels with success. As an actress, she has appeared in successful movies and TV shows. And as a fashion model, she has also had great success, modelling for Alexander McQueen in 1999. But what makes her really extraordinary, and sets her apart from most other people, is that she has achieved all of this success in spite of having no legs. A medical condition which she was born with meant that her legs had to be amputated at a very early age. I suspect that most people, if they had this disadvantage, would not have the drive necessary to achieve all of her accomplishments. But in a strange and quite unpredictable way, her condition has actually given her certain advantages as a fashion model. In order for her to do this job, she uses prosthetic legs, and she is therefore able to change her height by changing her legs – a very useful thing for a fashion model since she can model a larger range of clothes than other models. Whether modelling sportswear running, or acting, she seems to be able to do it all.
Liv Tyler
Liv Tyler is not only very well known for being an extremely beautiful woman and a fantastic actress, with movie credits including Stealing Beauty, Jersey Girl and Armageddon – she is also well known for being the daughter of famous rocker Steve Tyler, the singer from the band Aerosmith. Given this connection, you would think that she would surely let her father know if she was going to be doing any public singing. But when Liv recently demonstrated her vocal talents in a new commercial for Givenchy’s perfume Very Irresistible Givenchy Electric Rose, she apparently did not even tell her family or her dad about her work on this project. I hope that her father was pleased about it once he did actually get to see it, and I am sure he was very impressed with the result.
Celebrities and Tanktops
I expect that everyone reading this has at least a couple of tank tops in their wardrobe right now. It is just such a useful piece of clothing. A white tank top can really go together with a huge amount of different styles and outfits. If you are just heading out for a relaxed day around town, and you are wearing jeans, a tank top is the perfect thing to just throw on and go. You can also achieve many slightly smarter or ‘smart/casual’ looks by doing nothing more than just adding a few accessories to your outfit – such as a fashionable scarf, or some nice-looking jewellery. You can combine a tank top with a short skirt to achieve some great summer outfits, or with a longer skirt to get a kind of ‘business chique’ look, which can be great for the office. The tank top is also a favourite of many celebs, like Selena Gomez, Jennifer Aniston, Pixie Lott and Milla Jovovich.
Sex and the City Fashion
The world of popular culture at the moment seems to be dominated by sex, celebrities and fashion. This is why there are so many magazines, television shows and movies that feature these themes heavily. The television show Sex and the City, for example, was a hugely successful production (mainly amongst women), because it contained a lot of sex and a lot of truly beautiful fashion apparel. A huge number of pieces from the biggest and best fashion designers were featured in the show and in the spinoff movies, including items from Dolce & Gabbana, Prada, Dior, Chanel, Gucci and many, many more. In the movie, Carrie Bradshaw, the writer portrayed by Sarah Jessica Parker, wore, amongst other things, a stunning D & G dress with a studded belt. No wonder we eat all of this up and ask for more!
Movie Style
Movies and television shows often have an undeniable impact on us, particularly with regard to the clothes that we wear, and the trends and styles that we adopt. I think that this has something to do with the celebrity culture that is prevalent in our society – actors and actresses are, after all, some of the biggest celebrities in the world, in terms of their fame and influence. And as movies are often very stylised, in order to give a certain look and feel to them – you can see how they can very easily be influential in terms of style. Just think about all of the long leather jackets and stylised sunglasses that suddenly popped up everywhere after The Matrix was released. And if a famous movie star starts to style his hair in a new, interesting way, you can bet that many guys will have copied the look in a few days.
Weisz Ad Pulled
We all know that the creators of some fashion commercials tend to take a bit of ‘creative license’ with what their products are shown to be capable of. Personally I think that this is definitely not a good thing. I think that it’s important for commercials to be honest, and to give a realistic demonstration of what their products are capable of achieving, instead of using software like Photoshop to improve and enhance these effects. This is why I am pleased that a L’Oreal commercial featuring the actress Rachel Weisz has recently been pulled from UK television by the Advertising Standards Authority. Not that I have anything against L’Oreal per say – I just think that if this kind of thing is allowed to continue, there’s no telling where our adverts might end up. Maybe we’ll eventually have a bottled water company claiming that they can grant eternal life…
Lingerie Museum
In Los Angeles, or more specifically in Hollywood, just a few blocks away from the famous Chinese Theatre, there is a rather garish and large building. It is painted grey and pink, and stands out rather distinctly from the surrounding buildings. This unique building is called Frederick’s of Hollywood, and is a very famous and very distinguished lingerie store. Here you can buy an extremely wide range of different lingerie styles and types. But what is particularly cool and unique about this store, and what makes it suitable for this blog, is the so-called ‘Celebrity Lingerie Hall of Fame’. Here one can walk about and view their exhibits, which consist of lingerie worn by the rich and powerful at important events. Some examples include a top worn by Madonna, the boxer shorts worn by Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump and a corset worn by Ingrid Bergman. Check it out if you’re ever in the area.
Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie is one of the most famous actresses working today. Actually, scratch that, she is one of the most famous people alive today. As well as her acting accolades, she has also been called the world’s most beautiful woman, a title which has only added to her fame. This is at least partially due to the excellent fashion and style choices that she makes when she appears in public. Her marriage to Brad Pitt, a man regularly featured on ‘sexiest men’ lists and articles, has also contributed to her massive public image and presence. Jolie and Pitt have recently appeared together at the Producers Guild Awards in Beverly Hills. Angelina dressed in a full-length black gown with floral patterns and a thigh-high slit. She also wore some great rose gold jewellery.