Back to the Future: Historicism and Modernity in Film Costumes for the Story of Vernon and Irene Castle
Abstract
Costume films set in the bygone times have always been inherent in the Hollywood movie industry. However, the matter of authenticity of such costumes has always been resolved rather ambiguously. During the Classic Hollywood era, especially in the 1930s, the reconstruction of historical clothing for the characters of the film was a craft requiring vivid imagination from costume designers, as well as their knowledge of both costume history and current trends in fashion.
Obviously, what Hollywood costume films present to the audience is a rather idealized image of the past. The clothing made for the characters of these films is true to the era they represent just to the extent of being recognizable for the audience, so they can relate it to the right historical period. There is much more modern about these period costumes, and they can actually reveal the particular decade the film was made in.
In the scientific field the case of period costumes in Classic Hollywood cinema is exclusively covered by the films that are set in the bygone times. The representation of the recent past through the film costumes undeservedly remains beyond the scope of these studies.
This article focuses on how the recent past is represented on screen and how the costumes of the early 20th century were being reconstructed for The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939, dir. H.C. Potter). This motion picture is the main research object of this article – and it gives a good perspective for analyzing certain strategies that were implemented by costume designers of the 1930s to deal with the problem of short historical distance in costume making.
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