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I tip my hat to you, Sir.

Looking like a dapper 1950s gent, don't forget your hat. The Fedora was the hat of the 1950s but what ever hat you choose, wear it well.

Hats are both functional and stylish. They can cover a bad hair day, keep your head warm, and shade your eyes from the sun. They can also be worn to cover a receding hairline, which interestingly enough is why Frank Sinatra, an iconic hat wearer, start wearing one in the first place. They give you touch of class and sophistication, impart personality, and add an interesting and unique accent to your outfits. And hats are a sure-fire way to boost your confidence. A cool hat can quickly become your signature piece and give you extra swagger.

The Flat Cap

The Fedora

The Porkpie

The Homburg

The Bowler/Derby

Wearing a Hat

Cock your hat–angles are attitudes. ~Frank Sinatra

Hats can give you a feeling of effortless cool and manly confidence. Few people loved hats more, or wore them better than Frank Sinatra. He was constantly playing with the idea of angling and tilting his hat to convey different attitudes. Here’s how Frank wore his hat to reflect his mood:

• Wear your hat pushed back to seem more open and accessible
• Tilt your hat over your eyes to seem mysterious and intimidating
• Tilt your hat up 1 inch from completely straight to project an all-business attitude

Hat Etiquette

In adopting the hat as your signature piece, you must also accept the responsibility of hat etiquette. Often ignored, hat etiquette will show that your uniqueness extends not only to you choice of headwear, but to your manners as well.

• Promptly remove your hat upon entering an elevator, restaurant, or someone’s home. Never wear your hat during a meal.
• Touch the brim of your hat lightly when greeting a friend.
• Raise the hat by the crown when meeting a female friend in public.
• Remove your hat during the national anthem and place it over your heart.

http://artofmanliness.com/

1950s Makeup

 The 1950s were all about creating a softer, more feminine look. Back in those days, women wore softly curled hair, gorgeous lipstick, defined eyebrows, and rosy cheeks. Here is a great tutorial on how to do authentic 1950s makeup. I’ve also summarized ways to get the look below.
To get the full ’50s makeup, you’ll need:

Any brand will do.

1. Apply foundation and concealer, blending the lines well. This will create a blank canvas for the rest of the look. For a matte skin finish, apply a pressed powder to minimize shine.
2. Comb your eyebrows and define them with a eyebrow pencil that is a little bit darker than your natural shade. Make sure to fill in the lines and define the arches in your brows.
3. Sweep a rosy blush up and outwards starting at the apples of your cheeks.
4. Use a lip liner to create an outline for your lipstick, defining the arch in the upper lip. Apply a matching lipstick (preferably in a matte red, coral, or pinkish-red) to top off the look.
5. After sweeping a light, shimmery shadow across your eyelids, take a black liquid eyeliner and carefully line your top lashes. The line should be dark and solid, starting from about the middle of your eye. Make sure the lines sweep outward and upward to “extend” the look of your lashes.
6. Curl your eyelashes and apply a thick (but not clumpy!) coat of black mascara to your top lashes and a very light coat to your bottom lashes (this creates a subtle, doe-eyed look).             

Celebrities have embraced 1950s makeup in recent years, while still making it look modern. How to do this? It’s all about switching up the color of the lipstick. Instead of using a red or pinkish-red lipstick, you can try a deep nude or even a bright fuchsia if you’re feeling daring. Just keep your lips precisely lined to keep with the ’50s vibe and, ideally, go for a matte or satin-finish lipstick for the most retro-fabulous look.

Collegefashion.net

'Don't forget the cocktail party'

Ernie Malone "What are you girls made of? What was that?",  "Just equal parts of scotch, vodka, brandy, and gin' Lorelei Lee.

Enjoy our cocktail special with 2 Cosmopolitans for €10 this Saturday. Share with a friend or keep them all to yourself!

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Showgirl Sparkle

For a less risqué but equally stunning showgirl look take inspiration from the most show stopping sparkliest ensembles of the film. Start with a sequined dress, if you don’t have one hiding in your cubord from Christmases past they can be found in all good charity shops. To add abit of cleavage wear a low back, back to front or make a small slit down the centre fold inwards and pin with safety pins or a simple stitch. For abit of leg, have a friend cut the slit for you and tidy rough edges by folding in and giving a quick stitch or using safety pins. For accessories, costume diamond bracelets and necklace and a sparkly brooch on your hip. 

Showgirl Chic

For those of you who want to be a bit risqué, the showgirl outfits from our ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’ poster are quite daring but why not?  Russell and Monroe wear playsuits but a black bustier and a pair of high waisted black shorts would be just as effective. For a real showgirl look think sequins and other sparkly materials. 

Lined tights are an essential part of any vintage ensemble, you can buy them in high street shops but you can also take a thick black marker and draw a line down a pair of low denier tights. If they are new make sure to keep the cardboard insert in and move it down as you go along with a ruler and the marker, this will keep it stretched in order to draw the line straight the whole way.

For the golden ruched detail you can gather some gold material and put a thread through it, pull the thread , tie it up and pin it to your outfit. Cheap and cheerful big flower brooches will do just as nicely. Add a pair of black peep toed heels to complete the look.

Being Jane: our guide to recreating the perfect ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’ outfits

Put on your glad rags and step back in time to a nostalgic Saturday night at the movies full of  classic Hollywood glamour and good old fashioned fun. For our screening of ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’  the audience is invited to help set the scene by dressing in their finest vintage clothing or going all out as 1950s stars and showgirls. 


Dressing up is not essential but for those of you who want to sparkle like Jane Russell, coming up to the event, we will be posting some helpful hints on how to recreate outfits from the film.

'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes' is a film full of sparkle, diamonds, sequins, bustiers and plunging necklines.  Glamorous, sexy and accessible to all shapes and sizes so everyone who wants to can unleash their inner 1950s starlet.  Our posts will break down the outfits to the bare bones so you can work with what you already have, buy an in-expensive version or play make and do. 

If you are considering buying a new outfit or a few extra accessories to make your styling pristine for the event, make your way to Wild Child on Drury Street, Dublin 2.  They have a brilliant kilo sale on at the moment where you can find real treasures for very little money.Wild Child will be styling our exceptionally dapper DJ duo, The Andrews Sisters Brothers.

      Jane Russell in “Ain’t there Anyone here for Love”

This is a very simple look to recreate.  The key pieces are skinny high waisted black trousers and a black bustier or halter-neck which are staples in most wardrobes. If you can, try for a black sweet heart neckline bustier, if there is no halter, it can be easily done with a piece of black ribbon and a simple stitch in place just underneath the arm.  The pants Jane wears are ankle skimming cigarette pants but a pair of black skinny jeans would be just as good.  

Pair with black strappy sandals, diamantes optional, to jazz it up.  For accessories inject some colour with a canary yellow scarf and for some glamour , diamond drop earrings. Plaid overcoat optional but not recommended for dancing. 

If you have any other ideas on how to make an outfit for the event, leave your comments here.
Film Fatle X

Film Fatale on Jane Russell

Once upon a time, a Saturday night out at the movies was an event. Cinemas we're as glamorous and exciting as the films they played, a trip to the cinema wasn't a second choice it was an event for guys and girls to put on their glad rags and make a night of. The audience would emulate their favourite stars, men wanted Humphrey Bogard's swagger, women wanted Lauren Bacall's pout and popular music and fashion reflected Hollywood films and icons.  Film Fatale was created to bring back that old fashioned fun and glamour to the movies, to emulate our favourite stars and mirror the films being screened, creating a vintage night unlike any other in Dublin. 

Jane Russell, the screen siren of the Forties and Fities, was one hell of a femme fatale and after her passing we decided to put on a fitting tribute and celebrate her with a screening of her most acclaimed film ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. With her famous brand of moxy and humour, Russell became more than just another sex symbol. bringing heart, sassy smarts and sexual confidence to many roles, never more though than the role of Dorothy in her most famous film ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’.  As the no-nonsense showgirl, she brought a unique modern touch to what should have been just another 50s’ musical. In this beloved classic, Hollywood Director Hawks brought Russell and Marilyn Monroe to the silver screen as showgirls Dorothy and Lorelei, who cause nothing but trouble aboard a Paris-bound cruise. Platinum blonde Monroe’s doe-eyes can only see diamonds and her sugar sweet voice lures men only to wreak havoc, while the raven-haired, sharp-tongued Russell follows only what she desires.  


In spite of these comedic oppositions, there’s a wonderfully sisterly affection between these bosom buddies. Lorelei wants Dorothy to ‘stop having fun and find happiness’ because being sensible and marrying money is the only way to find it, while Dorothy, although gently ribbing her friend throughout the film, shields her from trouble in her misadventures.The title suggests a cliched buddy movie and a vehicle for Marilyn, but Russell steals the show. She is a breath of fresh air, giving the film bite with her fantastic comic timing, effortless wisecracks and an unmissable sardonic turn dressed up as Monroe singing ‘Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend’.  Russell's big number, 'Ain't There Anyone Here for Love?', performed in a gymnasium against a backdrop of dancing athletes, light heartedly objectified men and showed off a sexual confidence prowess which helped to make her an icon. 

Film Fatale is about celebrating the glamour and old-fashioned fun of classic Hollywood films and their stars and we’re delighted to be paying tribute to such an iconic actress. With fantastically racy music numbers and all the glamour and sparkle and 50s Hollywood, it’s the perfect film to pay tribute to Jane Russell.

Film Fatale X

Win tickets to Film Fatale in today's Metro Herald

Film Fatale Facebook Competition

Win tickets to Film Fatale present 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes' on April 2nd. Simply like us on Facebook and make Film Fatale's profile picture your profile picture to enter the draw. The winner will be announced on March 28th on our Facebook page.  


How to make our profile picture your profile picture?
1. Open the page showing Film Fatale's profile picture
2. Click on 'download' on the bottom left of the page
3. Upload Film Fatale's picture as your new profile picture
4. Good luck!

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Review

Hailed by no less than R.W. Fassbinder and the great Chicago critic Jonathan Rosenbaum as one of the top ten films ever made.

Directed by Howard Hawks

Starring: Jane Russell, Marilyn Monroe and Charles Coburn

Adapted by Charles Lederer from Joseph Fields and Anita Loos's stage musical, Blondes opened to immense success in July of 1953. Its appeal at the time lay less in the fact that Hawks had slathered the movie in hallucinatory glitz and big, luscious colors and more because it starred Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell as two showgirls making their way to Paris on a luxury ocean liner.

A cruise boat it may very well may be, but Hawks's bombastic comedy doubles as something of a voyage of the damned. Leaving behind her would-be poindexter of a fiancé (Tommy Noonan), the heir to an unfathomable fortune, unabashed gold-digger Lorelei (Monroe) decides to head to the city of lights with her best friend Dorothy (Jane Russell) on vacation. Flirting with a diamond kingpin (an outstanding Charles Coburn) and attempting to nab Dorothy a bachelor, Lorelei remains unaware that her fiance's untrusting father has sent a spy to provide proof of her unfaithfulness. This might all have turned out peachy if the spy wasn't Ernie (Elliott Reed), a lower-class charmer who has caught Dorothy's eye.

Those with mind enough to read the title of the film should pick up on the high-grade cynicism that Hawks is playing with here. Faced with broad stereotypes, the director rebuked a common instinct to indulge in moralistic balance and embraced caricature completely, favoring the patently outrageous to a tepid concept of "normal." It is certainly no mistake that the eldest and richest man on the boat is nicknamed Piggy and that the most mature and reserved of the characters has yet to celebrate his tenth year on this plant. And this is not even mentioning the central conceit of Lorelei (blonde) obsessing over a diamond tiara and Dorothy (brunette) falling for a gaggle of sailors before Ernie swings in.

Joyously and rigorously vicious in humor, tone, and narrative, Blondes reaches hysterical sublimity in its musical numbers, directed and choreographed by Jack Cole; it would be cruel to be asked to choose the most gleefully perverse. Paired in red sequins so bright they give off radiation, the duo open the film while singing about the boys that broke their hearts in Little Rock before splitting up. Dorothy's man-crazy hunger is realized in a swimming pool replete with athletes flexing and stretching during "Ain't There Anyone Here for Love?;"Lorelei levels the place (and the playing field) with the incomparable "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend." Sumptuously shot, these numbers push the already demented sexual proclivities of all parties included into a state of full-on lunacy.

Blondes, it must be said, is anything but romantic: The men are feckless and easily manipulated while the women are shallow, dim-witted but all powerful. Indeed, the viewer will encounter trouble locating someone to fully root for here. And yet, there is not one single moment when these characters, or this rightful classic, wear out their welcome.  

Chris Cabin

filmcritic.com

Tickets now on sale!

Tickets for the next Film Fatale with 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes' are now on sale. The event pays tribute to brunette bombshell Jane Russell. A night of Hollywood glamour and good old-fashioned fun! Buy Tickets

Opening Scene......we want to see lots of simlar sparkles on the night......

Film Fatale pays tribute to screen siren Jane Russell with ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’

Film Fatale, Dublin’s most glamorous bi-monthly film event is delighted to announce the next event on Saturday April 2nd. A tribute to the late Jane Russell, the screen siren of the 1940s and ‘50s, with a screening of the classic Hollywood comedy ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’. 

This night of cinema nostalgia and old-style Hollywood glamour will transport the audience back to the golden age of cinema with a 1950s showgirl theme mirroring the style of the film.

The screening of Jane Russell in one of her most iconic roles will be followed by a themed after-party including performances by Film Fatale’s own Marilyn and Jane Russell. They will be backed by the rip-roaring Jazz Cats and DJs The Andrews Sisters Brothers, playing music from the films era. 

The audience is invited to help set the scene by dressing in their finest vintage clothing and snappiest suits, or going all out as 1950s starlets and showgirls. 

In keeping with the classic cinema theme, the Film Fatale usherettes will be on hand serving popcorn and sweets and there will be a classic signature cocktail prepared especially for the night. Sit back in the sumptuous surroundings of the Sugar Club and enjoy a cocktail along with Howard Hawks’ smoldering musical comedy before dancing the night away to ‘Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend’.

One of Hollywood’s greatest directors, Hawks brought Russell and Monroe to the silver screen as showgirls Dorothy and Lorelei. Flirtatious platinum blonde Lorelei is committed to marrying a millionaire so that love won’t be tainted by money worries, while the sharp-tongued, raven-haired Dorothy follows her heart towards all the wrong kinds of men. 

With fantastically racy music numbers, this stunning Technicolor extravaganza is one of the most charming and entertaining musicals of the 1950s.

Film Fatale presents ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes – Tribute to Jane Russell’, followed by a themed after-party on Saturday, 2 April at 8pm in The Sugar Club, 8 Lower Lesson Street, Dublin 2.  Tickets €15 will be available at www.tickets.ie.  After-party from 11pm with tickets at the door (€5).  For more information see filmfataleevents.blogspot.com or facebook.com/filmfataleevents.