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Hands down my favorite class I took in college was a film studies course on the cinema of Australia and New Zealand. Thanks to my amazing teacher, Mrs. Paula Massood, I was exposed to a collection of incredible pictures that I probably would never have seen, or perhaps even heard of, without her guiding hand (Priscilla, Queen of the Desert not withstanding...) Still, for every movie we screened, there were at least two or three more that we read about but were unable to watch, either due to time constraints, availability in the US/on the correct DVD region (stupidest, stupidest system EVER), or both. I'm still dying to track down Vincent Ward's Vigil!
Such obstacles aside, I've been trying to play a little catch up with my Australian cinema, starting with the seminal coming-of-age-in-the-outback effort The Year My Voice Broke, and ending up most recently on Gillian Armstrong's My Brilliant Career. In class, much of our discussion of the film centered upon the fact that the story was more than a bit of a fantasy, since painfully few women of the time living in the bush had any such possibility of escape as the main character eventually finds--but nevermind, it's an awfully nice idea! Judy Davis is, to quote Hannah, an Australian Anne of Green Gables--all straw boaters and haughty glares and that shocking mane of hair. And can we just talk about Sam Neil, in period dress, in all his 25-year-old glory??
Last week while looking around for images to go with my Brie et Char interview I came across this set of original lobby cards for the film being sold on bidStart. Would that I had the cool $89.95 it takes to make these babies my own!
I'm always incredibly eager to see Marina Muñoz pop up on the blogs around Fashion Week. Her style never fails to knock me flat, with her consistently elegant mix of tough, slouchy menswear and soft feminine details. She has the most amazing collection of hats, many of the kind you might expect to see on weather-beaten old gauchos riding the pampas--but on her, chestnut hair in her favored low side-braid, a swipe of lipstick here or a crinkle of pale silk there, she appears as the impossibly winsome love child of Katherine Hepburn and Indiana Jones. Basically, everything I've always hoped and wished to be someday.
Hearing her speak with such intensity about the dedication she applies to her work only makes me admire her that much more. It's far too easy to let the fashion game get you bitter and worn out, especially when working in an assistant's position. It can be a LOT of long hours on little sleep and schlepping and sweating and making frantic phone calls and taking the blame. But the way she describes it reminds me of what it is that makes that work worth something, even if it's only worth it to you. It's obvious that no matter what Ms. Muñoz sets her sights on in the future, the outcome will be no less than amazing, and I cannot wait to see just what's in store.To learn a bit more about Marina, check out her Q&A on Tomboy Style.(video by Style Like U)
