Singin in the Rain Costumes

[Lauren]

Hello All,

I was watching Singin' in the Rain last night, and I think you all have corrupted me to look at the men's costumes! While it was supposed to be set in the 1920's, and the women's costumes aren't even close to period correct (as was the case with most classic films that were supposed to take place in a time period previous to the one they were filming in) I was impressed by some of Gene Kelly's costumes. I have no idea if they are correct for the 20's, but they look darn good. What do y'all think?

 

[Lauren]

 

[Matt Deckard]

I feel the same way about Singing in the Rain as I feel about the movie Good News.

The Fashion is always slanted to when the movie was made.

Today I think they are much better at making a period pieces look period. The Untouchables, A River Run's Though it, O Brother where art though, Tucker are pretty darn good for nailing the looks of the era.

The style from the begening of Singing in the Rain strikes me as 40's straight from the hat that Gene Kelly is wearing at the premiere.

Some of the suits harked back to the 20's, though they had a looser 40's cut.

 

[Lauren]

dang it, you got me before I could fix my pics! Haha.

But it seems you know what you're talking about regardless. Do you have a pic of a 20's fedora? What's the difference between that and a 40's one?

p.s. it was made in 1951.

 

[Wild Root]

In some ways the men’s stuff was good. Close to what they would have worn in the 20’s, but in other respects, it was very late 40’s or early 50’s. In my opinion, the women’s outfits were closer to being 20’s then say the women’s costumes in “The Benny Goodman Story�. Those were 50’s all the way through! The Beautiful Girl sequence in Singing in the Rain, I feel that there was some honest attention to detail to true 20’s fashion. But, in many other shots it was not very clear what time frame it was judging by the fashion worn by the leading, and supporting cast members.

I enjoy this film for its fun songs, Gene’s dancing and charm. Donald O’Connor was just so good in this film as well! Just an all out feel good movie!

And that’s my two cents.

Root.

 

[Wild Root]

Do you have a pic of a 20's fedora?

Well, I have some ads of fedoras from the late 20's to early 30's. These are what I think most of us guys dream about! Well, when it comes to good looking hats that is.

Enjoy!

Root.

 

[Wild Root]

This I like too! This is the look I think M~G~M was going for with Gene's hat in the shot in front of Grauman's Chinese.

Root.

 

[Michael Mallory]

Kelly's white hat is a bit too tapered for the 20s, though it's perfect for his face. Overall, the costumes for films like "Singin' in the Rain" were geared more to the glories of Technicolor than historical accuracy.

 

[Wild Root]

Good point! Since they started to use color in most post war films, it was a good reason to show off some fancy colors. But, you know, I have a friend that has an amazing collection of 20's to 40's clothing and there are some things that are rather colorful. It's really hard to know what colors were used in the early films, but I was told by a film historian that even though the film was black and white, they had some really stunning out fits! The detail in some of the gowns that Ginger Rogers wore were just out of this world. So, Hollywood even then didn't care if you couldn't see the color, they wanted to be 100% with every costume.

As for Gene’s white fedora, take a look at the side shot of it… he has the side dents in it! This was a very common look in the 20’s and early 30’s. I don’t think it’s the crown taper, it’s just the side dents that gives it that appearance.

Any way, Singn' In The Rain could have had better costumes, but it didn't. Still is a fun movie and will live on for ever.

Root.

 

[Michael Mallory]

Yeah, "Singin's" one of my favorite films, in part because it exists in that Hollywood fantasy land. Black-and-white films were indeed very colorful, but sometimes the colors were unrealistic. For instance, early cameras recorded red as black, so women tended to wear orange or brown lipstick. On Broadway, Harpo Marx wore a bright red wig, but he had to go blonde for films because the red photographed pitch black. On the opposite end of the stick, Stan Laurel had to wear clown white makeup in the early days in order for his light blue eyes to show up on film. Otherwise he looked like he had cataracts. Bela Lugosi in the original "Dracula" had to wear green greasepaint in order to photograph so pale. And for the first few seasons of "Superman" on TV, George Reeves costume was grey and brown, which looked in black-and-white like blue and red.

 

[Wild Root]

yeah, this is true. I have hear some of the different color combos they used to make things look right on film.

You seem to konw a thing or two about Hollywood film making.

Good to know!

Root.

 

[jamespowers]

Originally posted by Wild Root
Well, I have some ads of fedoras from the late 20's to early 30's. These are what I think most of us guys dream about! Well, when it comes to good looking hats that is.

Gee, wherever did you find such wonderful ads? LOL LOL

Regards to all,

J

 

[Lauren]

Apologies for the hat ignorance, but they don't look that different to me. What's the difference between the 20's fedoras and the 40's/early 50's fedoras, or any decades for that matter.

Thanks!
Lauren

 

[Matt Deckard]

Less like this and

More like this.

 

[Michael Mallory]

There are always different styles of hats in any given decade, of course, though here are a few sweeping generalizations:

1920s -- You still saw a lot of derbies and cloth caps. Fedora styles tended to be more like the original Victorian fedoras, which today might be considered soft homburgs -- tall crowns, center dent, side dents (as opposed to front pinch), and upturned brims.

1930s -- Crowns quite tall, straight and rounded, usually with center dents, snap brims, usually on the narrow side, often flat, or turned down all the way around.

1940s -- Crowns slightly lower, bashes more angular with pronounced front pinches, brims wider and with more of an upswing, and nearly always snapped down in front. Porkpies, popular in the teens, made a comeback, too.

1950s -- Not much difference from the 40s, though the brims got a bit narrower and crowns a tad lower.

1960s -- The end of the hat era, of course, though those that were still worn had quite narrow brims and rounded crowns, with more subtle denting.