Amazing film on Paul Poiret

Midge

Midge

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Staff member
Arte, the franco-german culture channel, has a whole Belle Epoque-themed weekend with documentaries, movies etc. - everything ca. 1900 to 1914. I'm just watching this amazing film on Paul Poiret, which tells his story, partially in his own words:
http://www.arte.tv/guide/fr/050795-000/paul-poiret?autoplay=1
This will be available for the next 7 days to watch.
It shows original photos, drawings and films from the time, but also actual dresses in the collection of the Museé des Arts Decoratifs - absolute eye candy!
It's only in French or German. This link will lead you to the French version, if you hover your mouse over the movie window, you can click on "version" and choose "version allemande" to watch it in German if you find that easier to understand. I'm watching it in French right now, it's beautifully spoken and not too fast.

Karin
 
I was just inspired to blog too... I have those fashion magazines from 1913 and 1914 that I bought last month...

This one is also a good watch, it was on TV yesterday night - it's called "24 hours in 1913", it's like a collage of all sorts of films that were made before 1914, mostly in France, but you'll see some different places too. Even rare color footage. There are snippets from movies, but also scenes that just show ordinary life. The commentary is very good, giving a good picture of life at the time - from country folk to the rich and famous. Quite a few shots showing ladies's fashions too: http://www.arte.tv/guide/fr/050756-000/24-heures-en-1913

Karin
 
That one is great too! I learned something too... There is a part near the beginning where they show women combing out hair switches before sewing them into pieces and wigs, and they cut briefly to French country women removing their bonnets to have their hair cut. It makes perfect sense that country women who always wore a bonnet would harvest their hair to make extra money, probably once every two years. I never even considered it as a sort of 'crop'.
 
Yes, I found that interesting too! And here's an ad from the 1914 and 1915 Weldon's Ladies' Journals (same one in each issue) for these switches. In a documentary I recently saw somewhere else they mentioned that with using curling irons etc., women often ruined their hair as a reason for wearing wigs. Not sure though if this is true. They also mention the first hair dyes by L'Oréal - I'm sure those weren't too hair-friendly either...

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Karin
 
Jonathan said:
It makes perfect sense that country women who always wore a bonnet would harvest their hair to make extra money, probably once every two years. I never even considered it as a sort of 'crop'.
Click to expand...

It still happens today. Poor women sell their hair for use as hair extensions. The longer it is the more it sells for, so generally less than once every two years.
 
Midge said:
...Not sure though if this is true. They also mention the first hair dyes by L'Oréal - I'm sure those weren't too hair-friendly either...
Click to expand...

I have to come back to watch the second film, but was recently reading how Jean Harlow used ammonia, chlorox, and lux soap flakes to achieve her platinum blonde color (and possibly the toxic combo that caused her death). Slightly off topic, lol, but the hair dye mention reminded me of it.
 
I can't really hear soundtracks online, so not knowing either French or German isn't the handicap in this instance... :rolleyes: But the film looks chockful of beautiful images, so I'll be savoring it tonight--when DH has a poker game and I'll be on my lonesome (and unable to watch Downtown Abbey till he's home...)

Thanks for posting the link to this, Karin! (What exactly is Arte?)
 
Carrie, Arte is a cultural TV channel (publicly run and part of the standard TV program) - a cooperation between Germany and France, hence the language choice. They have all kinds of things on art, culture, politics etc. on, lots of documentaries, but movies too. They often do themed evenings with documentaries, movies etc. following one theme. In these often also show rare or old movies. They also have some regular art magazines etc. Often they also show operas, like the season opening of the Scala in Milan - live. They produce a lot of their own documentaries which then later sometimes find their way onto other channels too. Yesterday and today they were also showing some quite early Charlie Chaplin movies that you wouldn't see on TV otherwise - in short, it's a treasure trove of interesting things to see. It's the non-English TV channel I watch the most - if it's on Arte, you can usually depend on it that it's good.

Karin
 
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