Monday, 20 July 2009

Die Büchse der Pandora aka Pandora's Box (1929)

Pandora's Box on IMDB

Back Street (1961)

Susan Hayward plays fashion designer Rae Smith








Back Street on IMDB

Designing Woman (1957)

Lauren Bacall plays fashion designer Marilla Brown Hagen


Designing Woman on IMDB

'While on vacation, sports reporter Mike Hagen (Peck) meets fashion designer Marilla Brown (Bacall). The two instantly bond and quickly get married, only to realize they have little in common.

Mike is a sports fan and poker enthusiast with working-class friends. Marilla designs clothes for a wide array of artistic personalities. Their friends clash memorably one Wednesday night when his Poker Club and her Drama Society both convene at Marilla's apartment.

Marilla becomes suspicious of Mike after she finds a photograph of Lori Shannon (Dolores Gray), Mike's girlfriend. Mike tries to hide his former relationship, but fails miserably. Complicating matters even further is Mike's continuing series of exposés of the activities of crooked boxing promoter Martin Daylor (Edward Platt). Mike's life is in danger, but he hides that from his wife too. What results is a series of misunderstandings and mishaps.'
read more on Wikipedia

Cat People (1942)

Simone Simon plays fashion artist Irena Dubrovna Reed



Cat People on IMDB

'At a city zoo, Serbian-born fashion designer Irena Dubrovna (Simone Simon) makes sketches of a black panther. She catches the attention of American naval construction designer Oliver Reed (Kent Smith). Irena eventually invites him to her apartment for tea. As they walk away, one of Irena's discarded drafts is revealed as a panther impaled by a sword.

At her apartment, Oliver admires a statue, a crowned medieval figure on horseback impaling a cat with his sword. Irena informs Oliver that the figure is the (fictional) King John of Serbia and tells him a story. According to legend, a Satanic tribe invaded her childhood village during his reign and converted the residents into devil worshippers. When King John drove the evil tribe out and saw what the villagers had become, he ordered them all killed. However, "the wisest and the most wicked" of them escaped. It gradually becomes clear that Irena believes herself to be descended from the evil tribe, and that she fears that she will be transformed into a panther if aroused to passion, anger, or jealousy.

Despite her odd belief, Oliver marries her. However, dreading what could happen, she avoids sleeping with her husband. He persuades her to see a psychiatrist, Dr. Louis Judd (Tom Conway), who tries to convince her that her fears are of a more mundane nature. When she discovers that Oliver has confided their marital problems to an attractive co-worker, Alice Moore (Jane Randolph), she feels betrayed.

Later, while Alice is swimming alone in a pool, she is stalked by a large animal, shown only by its shadow. Fortunately, the water keeps the creature at bay. When it leaves, Alice emerges, wondering if she had imagined the whole thing...until she finds her robe torn to shreds.

Irena finally decides to consummate her marriage, but by then, it is too late; Oliver tells her he is getting a divorce. Later, at work, he and Alice are cornered by a ferocious animal. Thinking quickly, he grabs his T-square (which is in the shape of a cross) and tells Irena to go away. After it leaves, they call Dr. Judd to warn him to stay away from Irena, but he hangs up on them when the woman shows up. Attracted to her, he makes the fatal mistake of kissing her. She transforms into a panther and kills him, though he manages to wound her. When Oliver and Alice arrive a few minutes too late, she slips away, back in her human shape, and goes to the zoo. There, she opens the panther's cage and allows herself to be killed.'
read more on Wikipedia

Sunday, 19 July 2009

Zoolander (2001)



Will Ferrell plays fashion designer Mugatu

Mugatos range Derelicte is described as:
"a fashion, a way of life inspired by the very homeless, the vagrants, the crack whores that make this wonderful city so unique."

Zoolander on IMDB



'Fashion mogul Jacobim Mugatu (Will Ferrell) is charged by the fashion industry to find a male fashion model who can be brainwashed in order to assassinate the Prime Minister of Malaysia at an upcoming fashion show in order to retain cheap child labor in that country. Mugatu, with help from model agent Maury Ballstein (Jerry Stiller), selects for the task the dimwitted Derek Zoolander (Ben Stiller), formerly the top male fashion model in the world but displaced by the up-and-coming Hansel (Owen Wilson) at the latest VH1 Fashion Awards. After losing his fellow male model colleagues in a "freak gasoline-fight accident," Derek announces his plan to retire from modelling and returns home to his father Spencer (Jon Voight) and brothers and tries to work alongside them in the coal mines, but is rejected by his family and returns to New York City.

Mugatu offers Derek a role in the upcoming "Derelicte" fashion show—a show inspired by the homeless vagrants of New York—and brings him to a day spa to help him prepare for the show. Journalist Matilda Jeffries (Christine Taylor), who wrote a derogatory article in Time on Derek after his loss to Hansel, becomes concerned for Derek due to the impact of the article, and starts following him. She also becomes suspicious of Mugatu suddenly taking an interest in Derek after refusing to even let him model for him in the past, her suspicions seeming to be confirmed when she fails to find any information regarding Mugatu's past and she receives anonymous calls from a man who tips her off about Mugatu's "spa". Matilda follows the tip and sees Derek go into the supposed day spa, but before she can investigate, she is thrown out by Mugatu's tough female assistant, Katinka Ingabogovinanana (Milla Jovovich). In reality, the "spa" that Derek has been taken to is in fact a brainwashing facility, where he is programmed to attack and kill the Prime Minister when Frankie Goes To Hollywood's song "Relax" is played at the Derelicte show.'
read more on Wikipedia

Absolute Beginners (1986)

James Fox plays fashion designer Henley of Mayfair, Dressmaker to the Queen






Absolute Beginners on IMDB