WASHINGTON - GETTING READY FOR INAUGURAL GALA – Hollywood stars practice their parts today as they get ready for the big inaugural gala scheduled for Washington’s National Guard Armory Thursday night, eve of John F. Kennedy’s inauguration as President. Left to right: Gene Kelly, Tony Curtis, Peter Lawford, Kennedy’s brother-in-law, and Janet Leigh. (January 1961 )
I never really had the time to post this–and it’s been two years! It’s been locked up and accumulating dust somewhere in my files! An American In Paris is one of my favorite movie musicals out there (with the lovely Leslie Caron and of course, Gene Kelly too! *squee*), and it’d be a shame if I never shared this huhu.
I miss doing traditional artworks… I know, I’m so lame–I keep telling others how busy I am of my thesis WAHH but when I graduate from college this year, I have to promise myself to have actual time learning how to paint and illustrate. (ી(΄◞ิ౪◟ิ‵)ʃ)♥
*Is she having a bad time? No. (She’s putting on a successful show and is about to get an attractive job offer.)
… But even though Rusty isn’t consciously having a bad time, things are about to take a turn for the worse. That job offer is going to drive a wedge between her and Danny. He’s wearing green too, and his jealousy is about to be roused. So maybe there is some subtle “green = bad time” messaging happening here all the same.
The dress itself is clearly designed to be danced in. It looks backless when she’s moving, but in the closeup, you can see that it has a complete top that’s partly colored to match her skin so that it will disappear from a distance. She’s not wearing a necklace–that’s the decorated collar of the dress. So if invisibility was the intended effect of the top, why did they give it little cap sleeves? Is it supposed to look like she has organic shoulderpads or something?
The dress also has a rather daring combination of a springlike yellow-green overdress with a mint or aqua blue-green underdress. It’s not a combination I would normally make, and in fact, I am never quite sure that it works. It gives me a little jolt every time I see it, like hearing a dissonant chord in music. But dissonance in music can be refreshing when used judiciously, and maybe this dress is giving me the same effect visually.
In fact, all the dresses in this number have some unexpected color contrasts going on. If you look carefully, you can see the contrasting touches on some of the dresses in this screenshot, although the secondary colors become most obvious when they start dancing.
Also, I’d like to take a moment for a closer look at that jade-green dress on the far right (with blue underskirt):
