Okay, to you young film makers out there (and the old ones like me),

let me warn you,

period pieces are hard.

If you haven't thought about it, you will when you start: locations need to look period, vehicles too, and of course,

wardrobe.

I actually did a LOT of research for this project.  

And I don't usually "do research."

But I'm hear to tell ya, Don't be afraid of research!  It was                                                      kinda fun!

I got to look up beauties like Veronica Lake, Ava Gardner, Ingrid Bergman and more - all in the name of getting a better product!

It was a kick looking at the old styles and noting how those fashions come and go and come again for women,

and how they really haven't changed all that much for men.

I mean, the vintage London Fog coat I got for Rick could very well be worn today
      - assuming you live in inclimate weather.

So... the truth here is I searched for DAYS - I mean it, DAAAAYS, looking for something Victoria (Leesa) could wear for our Noir segment.

Please note: I do not have the rights to this photo.  I modified it to put here, but the photo comes from TopRunway's site.

And while it was indeed fun at first, looking at hair, clothing and shoes, I have to admit...

I bombed out.

It's true.  I couldn't find anything worth buying.  Nothing I was willing to spend my hard-earned money on for a personal project

of this nature.

I was probably throwing a tantrum of some kind when Lori sent me an email with the above photo attached and a link to TopRunway's eBay site.

Call me crazy, but I thought it was perfect.  

There were a few perfect ones, in fact.

All of a sudden, I was happy again.

From that point on, Lori did all my wardrobe searching - except for the hat                                   (but I'll get to that in a minute).

The lady at TopRunway was exceptionally nice.  She totally guided us through - now get this, because it was amazing to me -                                                                          ordering our custom dress suit, tailored specifically for Victoria.

Maybe I'm easily amused, but - talk about cool!

I asked Victoria all kinds of embarrassing (for me) questions about  measurments and stuff.  I got that info to Lori, and she relayed that to Cynthia at TopRunway and in 2-3 weeks, we had a dress specifically made for our project.

Sweet!

I started looking up vintage stockings and shoes -
       (all in the name of Art, mind you)
               and sent those links to Victoria.

She supplied her own stockings and even went on a shopping mission and found appropriate shoes.

The result,
         I think you'll agree,     was awesome!

There's not much to say about Anthony's (Rick's) wardrobe.

Classic styles seem to

 sort of stay classic forever.

I got Anthony's measurements from his casting site and Lori found several options for overcoats.  

One was chosen that fit "The Look" as well as my budget (which, at one time was zero, but kept growing the more cool stuff we found) and was ordered from Vintage Whistle's eBay store.

But I told you I'd come back to my "story" about the hat, right?

Guess there's not much to tell after all, but there sure was drama in my little fuzzy head about it at the time.

I found fedoras up the yin yang on ebay and such, but the only ones that matched the photos I found of Bogie were in the hundreds of dollars!

Not acceptable.

I was pulling my gray hairs out when Lori once again popped up with this gem.

It fit the look and feel of what I wanted, and best of all,
       it was in my price range.

We only had a few days to spare, but the seller (UniformWarehouse) assured us we'd get it on time,

and darned if that wasn't so.

Anthony brought his own shoes, black slacks, shirt and tie, and his wardrobe was complete.

The ironic followup to this "story" is
the week after the shoot, we walked into a discount outlet store and found
DOZENS of fedoras.
The guy selling in that section saw me looking and said, "Nothing over $40.00."

Quite the couple, don't you think?

I didn't have the heart to look through them to see if the perfect one was there all that time.

Evan's costume was fun.

Okay, they were all fun,

but Evan's was the most fun, because I didn't have anything to do with it.

Well, that's almost true.

I did do quite a bit of research on what our Military Boys in the Sky were wearing at the time.

The internet is a wonderful thing.

I sent those pics to Amy (Evan's Mom, remember?) and asked her if she could pick up a few things from a local costume shop.

        I guess they had fun doing that, and his final look is quite dashing,
I think you'll agree?

As a result of all the time, money, effort, house rental and all the rest that Amy and family contributed to this project,

I'll be endentured for the next 18 months.

Not that I'm complaining, mind you.

And then there's the Modern Day segment to "Only a Child."

It's good to have actors who can bring their own wardrobe.

In the course of our conversations, I asked my actors to bring wardrobe that would be appropriate for, "a couple that has been together for around 10 years, but are still in love and want to look good for one another.  In other words, Comfortable but Sexy. 

"But not too sexy... Remember, there's a kid in the room.

Both Victoria and Anthony brought me several things to choose from.  
We had them try on a few options and settled on a nice look that showed these guys had nice bodies, but still looked relatively realistic for what a couple might wear lounging about the home.

Know Your Gear
I know my camera doesn't do well with fine patterns (in fact, it's terrible at it)(it moires like crazy), so that was something we all avoided in our selection process.

One thing I wish I hadn't done was allow Victoria to wear a logo.

I'll be paying for that decision in Post.

Amy and I also had a few conversations as to what Evan would be wearing.

"He's a hip kid," I said, (yes, I still say, "hip"), "so he should wear something fly."

(er... Okay, I probably didn't say, "fly,"
                           but that was what I meant.)

When I got there, Amy laid out PJs, sweats, shorts and all kinds of sleep wear.

In the end, I opted for something similar to what "Dad" was wearing.        It was a conscious effort to have them in similar clothes.

Like Father like Son, right?

It's like I said, it's good to have actors that can bring their own wardrobe.