Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Sewing Hollywood History: Holiday Inn

Holiday Inn is a 1942 film featuring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire with costume design by Edith Head. That's a lot of names I really like. The song "White Christmas" came from this movie, and was so popular that they went on to make the movie White Christmas. There's all sorts of holidays mixed into this one, not just Christmas!

Source

"Easter Parade" Shirtwaist Dress 

Linda Mason , played by Marjorie Reynolds, is Bing Crosby's partner at the Inn, and Fred Astaire is trying to snatch her away. This scene features the song "Easter Parade" and a lot of love triangle tension. As you already know, I'm a sucker for a shirtwaist dress, and this film gave me a great chance to explore 1940s shirtwaist patterns! 


Here are some vintage patterns in a similar style: 

1. McCalls 5184, 2. Butterick 2487, 3. Simplicity 4696

"Be Careful, It's my Heart" Evening Dress 

The next dress is quite fancy, with a sheer yoke and sleeves and sweetheart neckline.  



This one was hard to find! I discovered one similar vintage pattern, a wedding dress: 

Butterick 4420

New Year's Eve Gown

The final scene of the film features the whole gang performing a New Year's Eve number at the Holiday Inn.

Source
Source
I was delighted to discover that Katrina of Edelweiss Patterns sewed this dress from Sense and Sensibility's Swing Dress pattern at the start of this year! 

Source
Source
That's sewing Hollywood history coming to life! I love it!

4 comments:

  1. I had never seen this movie until it was on AMC last Christmas. It was actually a pretty cute plot. The costumes were lovely but the sets were AMAZING! I want to find that house! Another holiday movie with a similar set and costume aesthetic is "Christmas in Connecticut" starring Barbara Stanwyk. And the story is really funny too :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I thought about doing that one for today's post! I love that movie, and Barbara Stanwyk has a great pinafore in it that she wears.

      Delete
  2. I've never actually seen this movie, so i didnt know it featured so many different holidays! Thanks for finding matching patterns - i love searching through the vintage pattern wiki!

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.