Fabulous February Films

Ideas to cheer the drear

In a word: dreary. That’s how this week feels. Spring feels at once like it is lurking around the next corner dressed up as a giant daffodil ready to fling a shower of blossom petals in your face, and also like it will never, ever come. The world is combusting, everyone is getting shot except for the people dismantling the world order, and it is still very cold.

Also in a word: grey. And today’s post endeavours to suggest a few films each of which provides a huge gulp of glamour, designed to saturate the mind in a marinade of vivid, delicious style.

And because this is my list and I can put whatever I want on it, it weaves carelessly between genres and eras, giving zero shits about cohesion beyond films that, on a cold, grey, dreary February day, will fill your eyeballs and your imagination with a bit of pizzazz.

Also, let me guess, you ‘hate musicals’. Ok, fine, I don’t care. Obviously you are incapable of joy and delight and I feel sorry for you. Don’t bother letting me know.

For the rest of you, I hope one/some of these will make you feel wonderful and excited and inspired by style, so much so that you forget it is February outside and dance around your sofa feeling zingy, dreaming of twirling around dressed Head to toe by Edith Head. In no particular order:

1. High Society (1956)

   My favourite movie of all time. Grace Kelly in this movie in the outfit by the pool talking about the toy yacht and “my, she was yar” is the most beautiful a person has ever looked and you will never persuade me otherwise. Also, Grace Kelly in every outfit and every scene is exquisite perfection. Also, Frank Sinatra! Louis Armstrong! One can’t help but get drunk on style. Watch with a coupe of champagne for the full effect.

2. Singin’ in the Rain (1952)

   “Dignity. Always, dignity.” A splendid, timeless story about the fraud of Hollywood just in time for the Oscars. Also a jolly old song about making the most of bad weather which is right smack bang on the nose for this list.

3. How to Marry a Millionaire (1953)

   Two words: Lauren. Bacall. Surely the sexiest woman who ever lived, wearing the most elegant costumes you ever saw. Marilyn Monroe at her hilarious best. Always, always the film I turn to when I really need a dose of glamour. You get gallons of it. And did I say Lauren Bacall?

4. Legally Blonde (2001)

   The film that made me want to be a lawyer (not kidding), watching it alone in the common room on the weekends at my boarding school in Oxfordshire on a fuzzy VHS, hours before anyone else was up. Sadly, the reality of life at the Bar is that we are the only profession left in the world that wears suiting - and not only suiting, but exclusively black suiting - but still the fashion, and the feminism, inspire. As a companion piece, can I commend to you the documentary ‘RBG’ about the US Supreme Court justice, Ruth Bader Ginsberg. A true icon, trailblazer, and introverted, feminist firebrand. You don’t have to make a lot of noise to make a lot of noise.

5. Funny Face (1957)

   Audrey Hepburn’s modern dance, all in black, at the beatnik cafe? The dresses? 1950s Paris AND New York? THINK PINK!

6. Bill Cunningham New York (2010)

   A man with seemingly no personal style, who relentlessly documented (and dictated) the street style of New York from the late-1970s until his death in 2016 at aged 87. New York! The 70s! Fuck February!

7. Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel (2011)

   Will there ever be another creative mind like Diana Vreeland’s? Another eye like hers? I don’t think so. How could there be? A woman who famously described her home’s interior decor in these terms: “I want this place to look like a garden, but a garden in hell”. Side note: the editor character in Funny Face (above) is styled on Vreeland.

8. Easter Parade (1948)

   Ok, so to be completely forthright I will actually be saving my annual viewing of ‘Easter Parade’ for Easter weekend but there’s no reason you should be so dogmatic. It is a film about hats, and spring, and really what else do you need to know? Bring back the Easter bonnet, I say!

9. A Good Year (2006)

   Provence, wine, Marion Cotillard in a white tank top, and Russell Crowe’s British accent. And while we’re at it: the Blackberry, the soundtrack, the exquisite but too-brief appearance of Tom Hollander. Sexy, sunny, and absolutely will have you googling ‘leggett immobilier france’ before the end. Turn up the heating and watch with a chilled bottle of Château Léoube rose for maximum escapism.

10. His Girl Friday (1940)

    Dialogue. Remember when movies had dialogue? I don’t care if I sound like a dinosaur, you can keep all the amazing AI-3D-iMax-Megapixal BS and give me Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell ping-ponging dialogue any day. And if you’re about to say ‘how can you suggest a black and white movie as an antidote to this grey, dreary, February dread?’ I shall reply ‘what a stupid question don’t be such a complete idiot’.

11. Iris (2014)

    I know, yet another mid-2010s fashion documentary. But really, I just adore this movie and Iris Apfel and all that she stands for. More is more is more. And if you ever find yourself thinking ‘it’s too late for me, I’m too old to have a glamorous glow up’ you shut your whore mouth and watch this movie and then search ‘costume jewellery’ on Etsy and get ordering.

12. Tomb Raider (2001)

    I can’t explain this entry, save that I find this an incredibly stylish film. A classic example of a movie that did not need to be re-made but was because Hollywood. More gun play than the previous several suggestions combined, but just an incredibly cool movie. Also the reason that I travelled to Cambodia aged 21 I’m slightly embarrassed to say. But worth it to see Angkor Wat.

13. Top Hat (1935)

    Back to hardcore, golden age of Hollywood glamour, dresses with cascades of white feathers, and Fred Astaire. After all, he’s puttin’ on his top hat, tying up his white tie, brushing off his tails… Eurgh, I really do hate living my best style years in the age of the ‘high end tracksuit’. Shudder. Whimper. Grimace.