Thursday, January 7, 2010

Why can't we bring that back?

As you might have seen, I have been on a classic movie kick lately. Well, give a girl time, a library card and ... time, and that is what you get.
One major thing that strikes me as I watch these glorious films is the ... class, for lack of a better word. I mean, I know it is Hollywood, and that is mostly not real, but there is something about that golden age that strikes me.
The fedora for example - will we never see that the same way again? A man needs a hat - a good hat with character. And have you ever seen anything as suave and elegant as a man sporting a fedora?
Fashion today in general just doesn't compete with then. Back in the days where men wore suits with pants that more than covered their butts. The way clothing was built back then - there is just something about it. And of course, the ladies. Now there is class! Sophistication without trying to scandal. Pure clothing elegance. It also did somethind to how they carried themselves back then. Pride was apart of it, but also just a sense of confidence and comfort within themselves and the clothes. It accentuated them - in both personality and style.
I'm not knocking everything about today's fashions - I do like some of the clothing we wear. And fashion is only a small part of it really. More than anything fashion has to do with anything is the class of it all. Gentlemen could be both rugged and tough without forgeting their tenderness and heart. Ladies could be sensual and sexy without losing their class, brains, strength, and sophistication. I know that Hollywood glamorizes everything, but you can't fake some of these things, and there was a certain something about those few decades. Respect. Or maybe I am dreaming.
What the studio system in those days did was sell not only movies, but the dream. The press, the studios, the stars, the movies, they all sold a dream, no matter how real they tried to be, or aimed to be. Press didn't break down the celebrities, they built them up. In favor of sophistication, they forgot scandal, mostly. It was no perfect world then, and it is no perfect world now, but they handled it with a lot more grace than we do today. Stars were something to look up at and admire. Now, I don't think there are many of those anymore. They are human, and there is nothing wrong with that, and maybe there is nothing really wrong with seeing them that way, but I kinda liked the time when they were a little more like dreams.
I don't know, maybe I am crazy. Maybe it is better now than it was, but sometimes that is a little too hard to see.

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