DRESSING FOB THE FILMS.

Hokitika Guardian, 7 February 1920, Page 4

DRESSING FOB THE FILMS.

(By Josephine Earle.) Many of the women in a film audience must think how delightful it is to be a “star” and to wear such beautiful gowns, but they do not realise the thought and care given to the selection of dresses

Just because the him is in black and white, it does not follow that less care need be exercised over blending the colors one wears. Apart from the point that some colours photograph better than other, the general scheme of harmony must be perfectly arranged or the effect will be poor on the film. The film contains shades of grey as well as black, and it is these which bring out the effectiveness of a carefully chosen colour scheme.

I was many weekß selecting the dresses for “ The Fall of a Saint.” For one tiling, it was my first British picture and I wanted to look my best.

A second point is that, with an adventuress part such as I am playing, it makes all the difference in the world to your acting if you. know you are properly gowned. If I am playing a woman of the world I want to wear the clothes of a woman of the world, and then I shall feel like one. I also like to have colours which suit the different moods lam portraying. The film audience will not see this, but I know- it helps me greatly in my acting. The clothes must not only be well selected; they must also be good. The camera is a great critic, and therefore makes a million critics of the women in the audiences. They can soon tell whether a dress is the genuine article, and they will be more satisfied with' the actress if it is.

Take furs, for instance: any woman film-goer can tell the difference at once between skunk and rabhit-slcin when she sees it on the screen, so it is “ up to ” the film actress to wear the genuine article.

The large salaries of “ stars” in the United States must be partly expended on dress, and that is where I think the average British film falls behind the American. British “ stars ” pay too little heed to dress although Ibis is a point which must appeal to every woman film-goer.

I believe that British producers will have to think much more in terms of gowns when they are calculating the salary of a film “ star.”