Film before the 90's - Grease (1978)

http://musicalmathematics.co.uk/five-film-soundtracks-you-should-listen-to/

Grease is a musical film made in 1978 directed by Randal Kleiser. The film is about a teenage male name Danny Zuko (John Travolta) and a teenage Australian female named Sandy Olsson (Olivia Newton-John) who fall in love with one another in the 50's.

The reason I chose Grease is because this is a film in which my mum loved watching in her teen years and is one of her all time favourites! So we decided to sit down together and watch it together, I have seen Grease many times before but was more than happy to watch it again because I loved the music, the humour, the love story and I am fascinated by the fashion back in the 50's. 

I decided to reflect on Sandy's character because I feel her transition as a character changes the most throughout the film. She starts off as a clean cut girl with straight blonde hair, with a fringe and an Alice band. She would always dress in plain, formal looking clothes, usually in the colours pink or yellow! I would describe Sandy's character as innocent and naive, she was the perfect role model for doing the 'right' thing at high school. However Sandy fell in love with Danny who was in fact the complete opposite to herself, he hung around with a group of boys known as T-Birds whom Danny was the leader of. T-Birds were all seen as hit cool dudes with an egotistic image and would taunt others to make themselves look more superior. However they would only hang out with the cool, rock 'n' roll girls, known as Pink Ladies who had taken Sandy under their wing. Although Sandy was friends with the Pink Ladies she was still very prim and proper and Danny didn't feel her image fitted in with his so even though he loved her he dissociated himself from her when he was with the T-Birds and this broke Sandy's heart. By Danny doing this was the start of Sandy's transformation throughout the film and you are able to see how Sandy dealt with a broken heart and how she got advice from her friends who were seen to be cooler than she was through the eyes of others, so she ended up hanging on to their every word and took all their advice in a bid to rekindle her romance with Danny. Sandy suddenly gained a lot of confidence and made a drastic decision, she completely restyled herself by piercing her ears and curling her hair, but the biggest transformation of all was her clothing. She wore skin tight satin leggings, boob tube top and plat-formed high heels. Sandy done this so she could be this rock chick that would fit in with Danny's image so she could win his heart back, which she surely succeeded in, so this is one love story that had a very happy ending.

The visual motif of the film was Sandy loosing her innocent, timid self and transforming herself into a rock 'n' roll chick to win the heart of the man she loved, Danny.

I completely loved the fashion styling in the 50's so I was amazed by all the costumes, make-up and hairstyles used in the film.
It was always easy for the Pink Ladies to rock a good look, Sandy with her pretty dresses and Rizzo with her cropped do and scarlet lips. Their Make-Up throughout the day was a soft, peachy complexion which gave them a healthy glow. However in the evening their Make-Up was more dramatic with high arched eyebrows, liquid black eye liner and caked on mascara for flirty lashes. They also wore scarlet lipstick so they had bright red lips to give them that real retro look.

One of the most classic items of clothing was the leather jackets which all the T-Birds wore throughout most of the film keeping their bad boy reputation up at all times. Towards the end of the film once Sandy gains all her confidence she also daringly wears a stylish leather jacket. Also what seemed to be the 'in' trend at Rydell High was the rolled up denim which the majority of the boys wore and felt this was a very bold fashion statement in the film. Full length skirts were also a big fashion statement, all the Pink Ladies wore these along with dresses, it was the cute and carefree casual style of the 1950's. Midi pencil skirts were another item of clothing which was popular for the girls at Rydell High, this allowed them to show off more of their curves but still keeping the traditional ideal of the 50's. Lastly another popular clothing was the varsity/bomber jackets in which the Pink Ladies wore. This showed their identity as a group by wearing matching jackets, although throughout the film the Pink Ladies built up their own personal character and style which is when they no longer wore their jackets at the same time.

http://blog.doodleheart.co.uk/2013/01/a-sweetheart-but-with-punk-rock-manners.html

http://www.fashiontimes.com/articles/487/20130816/fashion-fame-grease-modern-looks-inspired-classic-musical.htm

http://www.cinema.de/stars/star/jeff-conaway,1545131,ApplicationStar.html

https://www.pinterest.com/laurenanne4280/greased-lightning/

http://www.tapuz.co.il/blog/net/ViewEntry.aspx?entryId=4981252&skip=1

http://www.fashiontimes.com/articles/487/20130816/fashion-fame-grease-modern-looks-inspired-classic-musical.htm

Source Information

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077631/fullcredits/

https://greasetheofficialvideogame.wordpress.com/2010/08/11/how-to-get-the-50%E2%80%99s-grease-look-hair-and-make-up/

http://www.fashiontimes.com/articles/487/20130816/fashion-fame-grease-modern-looks-inspired-classic-musical.htm