Ecclesiastical Fashion Show From Fellini's Roma.

Roma, 1972.

I love everything, everything about this. I can't stop watching this clip. The Nino Rota music is so cool and the over the top yet humorous staging is all at once enchanting, terrifying, and completely removed from reality. Plus rollerskating clergy!

It's the Etruscan She-Wolf! Before Romulus and Remus were added.

At the upscale brothel. I love this outfit. 

What a great inspiration for costuming and drama and of course, our upcoming Odyssey through Italy and Greece. Pre-travels we are supplementing our study of Italian language with some classic films, especially ones that we haven't seen. Alex recommended Roma, but I wasn't too interested until I saw a few later scenes such as the above and also the part where they discover ancient frescos while working on Rome's underground system. A drill crashes through a hollow wall and the oxygen streaming in destroys every painted surface in a matter of seconds. That scene broke my heart. I always get into a panic when artwork is in jeopardy. Once we watched Ararat, which I wanted to see because it centers on Armenian artist Arshile Gorky (of course, the art subplot was just a vehicle for a Genocide film). But in Atom Egoyan's film, one of the Gorky paintings gets knifed in a museum. I had to cover my eyes in anger and despair. There is also some footage of the medieval Armenian churches, especially Aghtamar in Lake Van. The church is on an island now ruled by Turkey. Standing before Mount Ararat, site of the great Noah's ark, this church has the most incredible (and the oldest) exterior reliefs.

Aghtamar, Church of the Holy Cross, 10th century. Palantine church of Vaspurakan king, Gagik I.

Costume Drama.

I've got costumes on the brain. Lately I've been wearing my measuring tape as a daily necklace. You never know when you might spot the perfect piece.

Greta Garbo gives good face in Anna Christie.

Directed by Clarence Brown, 1930's.

This play is filled with great lines such as the above. Watch the film or come to New London, NH for our upcoming performance in June!

Although the film keeps it modern (1930's), we're doing it in period costumes. The period in question is the Victorian/Edwardian era, though the play, Anna Christie, is set in 1910 America rather the UK. However, the silhouette and style fits within these categories more or less. I'm having fun putting together bow ties and tweed, granny boots and hats with feathers.

It's nice to take a break from art history, mostly the laptop, and get back into design and theater. My last adventure in the Northeast involves working on a very Northern play. Written by Eugene O'Neill, Anna Christie is a story that takes place on a coal barge stopping in New York and Boston. It's full of salty longshoreman and wharf rats, fractured relationships amidst stormy weather. If only a sea shanty could make its way in. The two heavy drinking principles, Anna and her father Chris Christopherson, are more Northerly, originally from Sweden.

In other totally non-related costume findings...Italian designer Roberto Capucci. I must be craving color. The costumes in Anna Christie are mostly drab. New England is equally drab at the moment. Color therapy!