Tall order: Streep as Julia
I consumed "Julie and Julia" like a small box of Teuscher truffles– greedily, quickly. But the costumes stayed with me. Not Amy Adams' generic young-professional attire, but Streep's '40s and '50s WASP wear. For I am a Julia, tall, big-boned, enthusiastically cusineacious. How did the filmmakers present the average-height (5'6") S
treep as Child, a towering 6'2"?The sets were slightly shrunken, benches and counters altered to make her loom. She wore heels the real Julia would have avoided like curdled cream.
Camera angles did their magic, but the costume designers, led by the incomparable Ann Roth, have earned a Costumer Designers Guild nomination for best period costumes (deservedly shared with Catherine Leterrier for "Coco Before Chanel"). A lot of shots cut off Streep's feet so you couldn't see the boosters, or hid them behind props.
Streep wore hidden platforms in her shoes to help her loom above Stanley Tucci. But even more than this stagecraft, I reveled in the formality-within-ease of her clothes. Not one interlock gave its life for Julia's wardrobe.
We were back in the world of woven-fabric blouses, frosted with fine lace. Pants were wool; sweaters, cashmere, pearls permanently in place. 
Julia's clothes fit her, despite a large frame. At one point she mentions that she can't shop for dresses with the other expat wives in Paris, because nothing is made in her size. I thought, it's no different today. Her sister must have sent boxes from Peck & Peck.Not everything evoked a wave of longing. Stiff hats nestled into little pincurled coifs, like those worn by Linda Emond playing haute-bourgeoise Simca Beck, did not call to me.
There is not a false note in the costumes. The Americans in Paris look different that the Parisiens. Streep as Julia evokes my friends and family's attire in the late '50s to mid-'60s, before psychedelic prints and bellbottoms.
I was also captivated by the costuming of Stanley Tucci as Paul Child, especially his bold turquoise ring. Not many straight men would dare this. But Child, a character in his own right, had served in China with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). Maybe the ring was a souvenir of that posting.At any rate, it served as symbol of his suave unconventionality and self-possession. I hope Tucci kept it.
Comments
A co-worker and I were recently discussing how Streep just totally *inhabited* the character of Julia Child and the costuming was part of that. She didn't seem like she was wearing "period" clothing. Some of her jewelry was fantastic too. I'm still swooning over that monogram brooch.
I guess if you are over 6 feet you have to accept yourself. Nowhere to hide.
As for the fashion--erghhh--my nemesis--tucked in shirts.
Something that men seem to have maintained and women have lost is that notion of dressing in a comfortable, practical, timeless and, yes, stylish way. When I flip through The Sartorialist (which I love to do) there are so many men over forty who have built their wardrobe on basic pieces that they might update or combine with more or less whimsy. They have maintained the building blocks for style over time. Women, on the other hand, seem to have lost those building blocks, and by that I mean most of us have discarded skirts in favour of pants, blouses for t-shirts, cardigans for polar fleece. It's not that we shouldn't be comfortable and warm which men's clothes have going for them in spades, it's just that we don't need to try to look good in jeans, or leggings or yoga wear, we can wear the clothes that we 'own' and adapt them for the times (accessories) and use them to communicate both femininity and individualism. For me it's one of the appeals of movies set before the '70s - it's women looking like grown-ups and looking wonderful. Not that we can go back but maybe we could reclaim the clothes that are rightfully ours and make them work for us now. Maybe then we'd see a few more women over forty captured by the Sartorialist's lense.
Pseu: Yes, that brooch was superb! Perhaps she will bring back 'real'clothes.
Frugal: Never wanted to read the book; in the film there are allusions to his disappointment re his career.
Toby: I'll vote taffeta! The dress is my fantasy too, maybe we can find a dressmaker and have two made.
l'age moyen: I'm so grateful for your comment. You have described my "clothing loneliness" to a T- not tee. I don't want those stupid silk ties we wore with suits in the '80s (well I did), but to the dresses with beautiful draping and Irish linen blouses that were all but gone by the '70s.
I saw a museum exhibit here several years ago of postwar fashion: hand-loomed tweed suits, Dior evening coats, tailored raincoats- and swooned.
I'll be posting soon on some Sartorialist shots of mature women, they are all Italians.
The clothes remind me a lot of things my mom wore.
Paul's letters stand out (and yes, his role in the OSS was that of a creative/"artiste," so the ring may have been a re-creation).
I have a feeling the book may give a more in-depth look at Julia's creative process than the film, but I'm sure the film's costumes make up for that!
The look and the feel of that time was excellent as was Tucci and Streep!
Vix: The ring establishes his character (He wears it in every scene, I think) as I've heard costume designers say they aim to do.
lady jickey: One can still find the same dishes Julia loved readily in Paris, but not, in The US the clothes!
For maman, this Look symbolised liberation, perhaps it was ironic that liberation took the form of unabashed femininity.
But as a very busty person with very small, sloping shoulders (an old-fashioned body type) I am very relieved that t-shirts of the more elegant type (silk, hemp, fine cotton) can sub for blouses. Blouses were a nightmare for me, even if too large they gaped and unlike the Queen I couldn't afford to have them made to fit.
I had avoided this film as the "Julie" part bored me but I guess I'll sit through that to see Julia. Right now I'm in Amsterdam where Julia would still be slightly above average height for a woman. Duchesse is pretty much an average Dutchwoman.
But Duchesse, this is serendipity: I'd been avoiding visiting my secret pleasure websites and either working or walking around, but I happened to see this: http://www.montrealgazette.com/life/fashion-beauty/Past+perfect/2537877/story.html
The Golden Age of Couture show (think it was at the V&A) has opened in Québec City. Perhaps a stretch to go there from Toronto, but from Montréal it is not much of a jaunt by car bus or train.
By the way, anyone of 60 or older can take a Canadian VIA train with a friend (or relative or...) and the second person of whatever age doesn't have to pay). So the equivalent of half-off if you travel together.
The Royal Ontario Museum presented the fantastic exhibition "Elite Elegance: Couture Fashions in the 1950s" in '02. Curated from their own collection bequeathed by Canadian women. Breathtaking; I returned several times. I'll be using that train discount to visit son in Mtl before too long.
The 'Julie' parts were ok to start with, then got boring, and towards the end just pathetic, whiny and saccharine.
I'm still considering buying the DVD, so I can just watch the 'Julia' parts!
And the Goddess Streep- there is no actress working to day that is of her caliber.
Unfortunately, I have more recently seen Stanley Tucci in "Lovely Bones" and he was so creepy, I may never like him in any role again.
But that's off topic.