Paris 1950
- Thread starter vertugarde
- Start date
TangerineBoutique
VFG Member
That was fabulous! Thank you. The yellow Paquin coat took my breath away.
Melody
Melody
laughingmagpie
Registered Guest
As a fan of fashion, 1950 and Paris - that was swoonable from beginning to end! I even loved the quick glimpses of the regular folk in the crowds.
Thanks so much for sharing it!
Jen
Thanks so much for sharing it!
Jen
vertugarde
Alumni
You're welcome. The 'Clouseau' commentary is quite a hoot I think. I had to work hard to recognise a few designers because of the pronounciation! Yes, it's really good to have the social context of the couture fashion and street fashion. Anyone have any reference to the 'guitar line' shape/silhouette?
catwalkcreative
Alumni
Wonderful! The Dior suits are simply 
. So elegant. Thanks for posting. 
. So elegant. Thanks for posting. 
TinTrunk
Registered Guest
I love this film!
I'm sure it must have been intended to help re-establish and promote the Parisian haute couture business after the war, especially in its biggest market, America - its certainly got very high production values (did you notice that George Stevens did the photography? Could it be THAT George Stevens??)
What I found fascinating about seeing the 'ordinary' people in the street scenes was that nearly all the women had knee-length, 1940s suits or dresses. They wouldn't have had a hope of buying any of those couture garments being paraded in front of them! I'm not familiar with French history so I don't know about their rationing, but I'm sure it must have been incredibly tough, especially after being occupied by the Germans.
That over-ripe French narration is hilarious! The British Pathé cataloguer has obviously struggled with the names and there are some mistakes in their written notes. The ones I've spotted (I'll skip the ones everyone knows!) are Clé Monsieur, Manguin (written as 'Mangone'), Jacques Fath (the cataloguer wrote 'Vert'), Jeanne Lafaurie, Pierre Balmain (written as 'Balmous'), Carven ('Carbon'). I did some checking on this a couple of years ago, so I had my notes all ready!
Wonderful stuff! Thanks for sharing, vertugarde!
Sarah
I'm sure it must have been intended to help re-establish and promote the Parisian haute couture business after the war, especially in its biggest market, America - its certainly got very high production values (did you notice that George Stevens did the photography? Could it be THAT George Stevens??)
What I found fascinating about seeing the 'ordinary' people in the street scenes was that nearly all the women had knee-length, 1940s suits or dresses. They wouldn't have had a hope of buying any of those couture garments being paraded in front of them! I'm not familiar with French history so I don't know about their rationing, but I'm sure it must have been incredibly tough, especially after being occupied by the Germans.
That over-ripe French narration is hilarious! The British Pathé cataloguer has obviously struggled with the names and there are some mistakes in their written notes. The ones I've spotted (I'll skip the ones everyone knows!) are Clé Monsieur, Manguin (written as 'Mangone'), Jacques Fath (the cataloguer wrote 'Vert'), Jeanne Lafaurie, Pierre Balmain (written as 'Balmous'), Carven ('Carbon'). I did some checking on this a couple of years ago, so I had my notes all ready!
Wonderful stuff! Thanks for sharing, vertugarde!
Sarah
vertugarde
Alumni
I did see the George Stevens credit and I have made enquiries. If I find out anything I will post.
There was rationing in France and as you may know the 'revival' of Paris couture did not go down too well amongst 'ordinary' people as it was seen to be insensitive to the austere post-war times and you can see quite clearly in the film that even five years after WW11 street fashion reflected the economic conditions. A number of factories producing textiles - worsted cloth for example - had closed down in France during the war.
If anyone has anything to add to the French post-war experience as to ready-to-wear fashions, rationing etc that would be great.
And thanks Sarah for the name checks!
There was rationing in France and as you may know the 'revival' of Paris couture did not go down too well amongst 'ordinary' people as it was seen to be insensitive to the austere post-war times and you can see quite clearly in the film that even five years after WW11 street fashion reflected the economic conditions. A number of factories producing textiles - worsted cloth for example - had closed down in France during the war.
If anyone has anything to add to the French post-war experience as to ready-to-wear fashions, rationing etc that would be great.
And thanks Sarah for the name checks!
