y young woman her age would
have been banned from polite society as a "loose" woman with such makeup. Not to mention the evident mascara. Accuarte period costuming can require extensive research. Professional costuming companies have been known to undertake enormous
research for authentic fabrics and trimmings of the era to use in the costumes, as well as using old homemade dyeing processes to get the exact color. The greatest effort is normally given to womens' costuming. Items may be involved that the camera never records. Actresses have often been quoted saying that wearing tight corsets and layers of petticoats in period films affects their posture and carriage and helps them to "feel" the character. Less attention is often given to children's costuming--especially boys' costuming
Many movies show clothing and school uniforms worn in specific countries during certain countries. In most cases those films were made in the country in which the story is set. The clothing depicted is often quite accurate when dealing with contemporary times. More care needs to be taken with films set in historical eras. Some films take great care while others with limited budgets can be very misleading. HBC as with much of the site is most familiar with American and British films, but is aware of some foreign films, mostly French. Hopefully HBC readers will suggest other relevant foreign films. These are particularly rich sources of information for countries for which HBC has no local correspondent. HBC has noted several Australian films of interest, but at this time can not recall the titles. Perhaps the most famous is Walkabout which shows a brither and sister in school uniforms. Belgian films look remarably similar to French ones. I do not know of particularly classic Belgian films, but HBC correspindents have provided some sample images.
English clothes at the turn of the century are shown in How Green is My Valley (19??) including Eton collars. Clothes during the 1930s are depicted in Lassie Come Home. English school boy clothes during the early 1940s can be seen in Hope and Glory (1985?). The short pants suits worn even in secondary schools during the 1960s can be seen in Kipperbang (1980?). French clothes and school uniforms worn during the 1940s are shown in Auervoir les Infantes (1990?). Clothes and school uniforms worn a decade later are depicted in Murmer of the Heart (France, 1971), including the white knee socks worn by schoolboys at Catholic colleges (private secondary-level day and boarding schools). Zero for Conduct (France, 19??) is another well known film. A film that shows French children's clothes during the 1950s is Happy Road. It was made by Americans, but shot in France. HBC has little information on German films. The Tin Drum has excellent post World War I costuming. HBC has virtually no information on Italian films. Italian clothes styles are nicely shown during the 1940s in The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (Italy/Germany,1970?). HBC has little information on Japanese films. The various Godzilla film, however, often have roles for children in which the boys usually wear the short short pants so popular beginning in the 1950s. In a few instances there are also parts for American boys whonalways wear long pants. Turkish films often show children wearing the black or blue smocks and white collars that the schools require.
Movies in a variety of subjects provide useful information on boys' fashions. It is often difficult to wade through long lists of movie titles to find films on so specific themes. This section will give you an alphabeticalmlist of films touching on certain topics. Some films may be on mote than one subject list, depending on the theme and plot line. One common theme in American movies during the 1930s-50s was that rich kids were spoiled and often dressed in fancy sissy clothes. Movies with that them included
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), many productions of Tom Sawyer (the Sid character, and Newly Rich (1931). It was called Forbidden Adventure in the UK. Newly Rich is a good example of this genr