A while back I had the chance of doing a lecture on films tackling themes such as juvenile delinquency and on how some of them influenced or had some impact on fashion trends, especially when it came to menswear designs.
Entire books may be written about specific styles seen for example in Pasolini’s movies, but one film that allowed me to make some interesting connections between juvenile delinquents and fashion was Luchino Visconti’s Rocco e i suoi fratelli (Rocco and His Brothers; mentioned in a previous post in this blog in connection with a Dolce & Gabbana campaign inspired by this movie).
When Visconti first started shooting the film, e planned to open the story with the funeral of the protagonists’ father, a very sad moment that had to show how poor the five protagonists were.
The initial shot in the end was cancelled, but the researches done about the locations allowed many collaborators of the director, such as costume designer Piero Tosi, to understand better the background of the main characters, their origins and the desperation that pushed them to move to the North of Italy to look for a job.
Tosi spent quite a few days trying to find used clothes in old trunks: the patched up shirts and worn out trousers he managed to find soon entered Rocco, Vincenzo, Simone, Ciro and Luca’s wardrobes and were mainly sported by the actors during the first part of their Milanese adventure.
Tosi then started looking for cheap ready-to-wear clothes in popular high street retailers such as Onestà, Standa and Upim, to give the boys a more urban look, but essentially kept an eye on what youngsters wore in the streets as the main inspiration (Suzy Delair, starring as the laundry manager, is the only actress who wore in the film a designer dress created by Biki, famous for being Maria Callas’ favourite designer).
One of the main rules Tosi followed was making sure not to pick extremely fashionable items from those times to avoid giving the film a dated look in the following years (great tip for all those directors and costume designers interested in shooting a film that lasts rather than just a very fashionable and trendy instant hit).
To help Tosi looking for the perfect wardrobe for the brothers, the bullies and city boys in the film, tailor Umberto Tirelli visited many bars, gyms and dancing clubs in the outskirts of Rome.
One night he saw two young men, one was wearing a faux leopard jacket and the other a black satin jacket with an embroidered tiger on the back.
The jackets were later worn by Corrado Pani and Renato Salvatori in the film (see also the video embedded above around 5:27 - apparently French critics liked the film, but they also praised the bullies' look...).
Often seen in films from the 20s and 30s, leopard furs and prints appeared and reappeared in fashion collections decade after decade, symbolising power, luxury and wealth. The popularity of leopard (and animal) prints rose in the 60s when they became rather fashionable, assuming new meanings, hinting at independence, boldness, a liberated sensuality and sexuality.
In the "Basic
Black" video (1968) shot by photographer William Claxton and featuring Peggy
Moffitt, Léon Bing and Ellen Harth, the models showcased Rudi Gernreich's animal-patterned dresses with
matching tights and underwear (see embedded video from 3:14)
Leopard furs came back in recent womenswear collections to evoke an image of sophisticated woman, a sort of stylish Amazon endowed with the most appealing attributes of leopards.
One good example is Lanvin's pre-Fall 2010 collection that included quite a few animal prints piled one on the other and a few leopard fur coats and jackets.
Yet it looks like leopard spots are back also in menswear, as also proved by Trussardi 1911’s Spring/Summer 2011 collection, that seems to evoke through some of its designs a urban look with bold connotations.
Milan Vukmirovic almost displayed an insane obsession for leopard spots, printing them on pony skin or leather jackets, coming up with leopard printed denim jackets and bags with a casual touch.
Streamlined trousers and rolled-up shirt sleeves contributed to give the collection a sporty direction with some references to teddy boys and bullies.
The old adage says that a leopard can't change his spots, but it's interesting to see that, thanks to their wild connotations, leopard spots can actually change our look, appearance and style, creating emotions, assumptions, distortions of behaviours, and eventually turning into symbols indicating a particular state of mind or mood.
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