cracks

Cracks is a 2009 film directed by Jordan Scott (Ridley Scott's daughter), that is set at an English boarding school in the 1930s. It stars Eva Green as a much-loved (but seriously crazy) swimming instructor. I will say up front: the movie is not that great. It's very derivative of a number of other films and books (The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie comes immediately to mind). But the sets and costumes are gorgeous. And the actors portraying the boarding school girls are excellent, especially Juno Temple as Di.
But we're here for the clothes, duh! So, of course, Eva Green's Miss G gets to wear some amazing outfits. I wondered how a young boarding school swimming teacher in the 1930s was able to have such a large and beautiful wardrobe. The only explanation given for this is the presence of a sewing machine in Miss G's room.

This striped jacket--amazing. Especially loving the jewel tones against this misty forest backdrop.

Quite bohemian was Miss G. Loved her pants and the amazing top.

The story is set on a fictional island off the coast of England, but the movie was filmed in Ireland. The settings--particularly outdoors--are stunning.

But of course, it was the clothes the girls wore that I loved the most. They had uniforms, but were allowed to wear "mufti" on Sundays.

Orange velvet hat and coat. Amazing.

Love the colors, the boots, the coats, hats, scarves...

I want to move to England and wear shorts with a cute sweater and Wellies. Because I need to live in a place where it is possible to wear a sweater in the summer and not keel over.

Cutest sweater.

Look at the face on her! Pretty dresses, but do not cross these bitches. They gave me a flashback to junior high volleyball team.

This little old terrier reminded me of Lucy, and my first thought was "nothing better happen to that dog!" but he never appeared again in the movie. Whew.

Totally random shot having nothing to do with anything, but I'm glad it was left in the film. I loved these ladies, and the sheep behind them.

I did love Miss G's room, though I'm sure it was some sort of film metaphor for her very disturbed mind.
xoK

sweater love

Wool sweater, dates from first third of 20th century.

Lizzie over at The Vintage Traveler blogged on Monday about 1930s knitwear. She posted about how hard it is to find sweaters dating to before the 1940s. (Go read her post to see the reasons why, and to peek at some really cute 1930s sweaters.) Lizzie's post made me realize that I'd be much more excited about finding 1930s knitwear than a 1930s fancy gown. Overall, I'm more fascinated by the everyday things people wore in the past. Not to say I don't see the beauty in a gorgeous gown--I do! But...there's just something about day dresses, pants, workwear, shoes...and sweaters. Lovely, cozy sweaters. Look at these first four examples from the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection, plus--further down--some gorgeous examples of 1930s and 1940s sweaters from vintage crochet and knitting patterns, and see if you don't agree.

Late 1940s cocktail sweater.

1950s Elsa Schiaparelli sweater.

1950s wool deer vest.

The following examples are from wondertrading's collection of 1930s and 1940s knitting and crochet patterns on Flickr.

And finally, how amazing is this jabot print 1930s or 1940s sweater pattern, from Skiff Vintage Knitting Patterns?

xoK