The Style of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival

Santa Barbara, like many Southern California beach cities, offers a sunny climate and casual and comfortable atmosphere that rubs off on the styles and attitudes of residents and visitors. Although I’m a new Manhattanite, who loves New York City, I’m also an Angeleno at heart and I love the vastly different styles of both areas. So when Muse invited me to go to the Santa Barbara International Film Festival to cover the fashion side of the event, I welcomed the change of style and pace.

I kicked off my weekend in Santa Barbara by watching the documentary Diane Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel. The film, which was released with a book of the same title, is based on the life of famous fashion editor Diane Vreeland. It was an excellent way to start my trip covering the fashion and culture of Santa Barbara. Although Vreeland was a European American who worked in New York, she was a big advocate of the bikini and blue jeans so I think she would’ve appreciated how the women attending the festival incorporated the city’s casual beachy style into their wardrobes.

Female attendees and honorees of the festival found simple but clever ways to accessorize their casual apparel for the Virtuosos and Vanguards award ceremonies. Whether they were wearing an evening top with jeans, a t-shirt dress with leggings, or basic cocktail dresses, audience members dressed up their outfits with heels, blazers, and jewelry. Obviously the honored actresses Bérénice Bejo, Rooney Mara, and Shailene Woodley stood out with their red carpet outfits (Melissa McCarthy was also honored but sadly could not attend). At the Virtuosos Award ceremony, Rooney Mara looked chic in am emerald green Louis Vuitton dress. Although the stiff construction of the dress paired well with her sleek pulled-back jet black hair and porcelain-like skin, Mara’s dress unfortunately also matched her energy. She was incredibly uncomfortable and awkward during the whole ceremony! Shailene Woodley, who also opted for stiffer material, wore a navy leather 3.1 Phillip Lim dress. Woodley, a Southern California native, best exemplified the casual chic west coast aesthetic—she
dressed down and softened her edgy leather dress with a basic black blazer and by wearing her her flowy, long, and slightly highlighted brown hair down. The following night was the Vanguard Awards presentation, sponsored by Ugg Australia. I learned that Ugg is actually a Santa Barbara based company, which isn’t that shocking since their footwear epitomizes the comfortable, laidback attitude of the city. At the event, actress Bérénice Bejo surprised me by showing up in a white Dolce & Gabbana pantsuit. At first, I was really disappointed in her outfit choice; it was something only Diane Keaton could truly pull off. It did however pair well with her The Artist costar Jean Dujardin’s black suit. Throughout the ceremony Bejo proved to be such a well-spoken, poised, and charming woman that, by the end of the evening, I was less bothered by her outfit and insanely impressed by her radiating beauty and confidence. She proved the often ignored but incredibly important fashion point that the woman makes the clothes and that the clothes don’t make her.

Overall, the 27th Santa Barbara International Film Festival was a fun, sunny, and chill affair where attendees were able to enjoy great films while dressed in comfortable and cute apparel.

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Leave Christina Hendrick's Breasts Alone: A Rant

Just happened to catch part of the local news just now doing a "wrap-up" on Emmy's fashion. I say wrap-up with quotes because no one appearing on the local news knows shit about shit, I've decided, based on this segment at least.

The woman who will henceforth known as Skinny Bitch Guest Correspondent had the audacity to place Christina Hendricks in the Worst Dressed category, not because the dress was ugly, not because the dress didn't fit her, not because she looked bad, but because she had too much cleavage. Seem like a reasonable criticism? Well, clearly you don't have large breasts or understand the mechanics of large breasts.

I get the criticism that some dresses may be in poor taste like the one Gwenyth Paltrow wore that one time. I don't need to tell you which dress I'm referring to, because we all remember it. It was a little trashy and had a lot of nip. I also get criticisms about, you know, a dress looking like a plastic cup with a bunch of holes in it like Juliana Margulies' was tonight, sure, yes, when your job is to critique fashion, I get shit like that.

But Christina Hendricks looked stunning. Yes, she had a lot of cleavage. But NEWSFLASH, SKINNY BITCH GUEST CORRESPONDENT, CHRISTINA HENDRICKS HAS CLEAVAGE BECAUSE CHRISTINA HENDRICKS HAS BOOBS. BREASTS. SHE HAS THEM. SHE HAS ACTUAL BREASTS OF AN ACTUAL LARGE SIZE. SHE POSSESSES LARGE BREASTS. DO I NEED TO EXPLAIN THIS AGAIN? HER BREASTS ARE HUGE.

For those of you still asking "But why does she need to have cleavage?", allow me to explain a little something to you. When you are born with large breasts, like I was, like Christina Hendricks was, like countless women are, the only way to NOT have cleavage is to cover them up completely. Is to wear a boatneck or turtleneck. Are you trying to say that because I am a D cup, I am forbidden from wearing a dress or shirt with a v neck?

A couple years ago, I got some shit from a male employer for "showing too much cleavage" at work. Was I wearing low cut tops? No. Sure, some were lower cut than others I wore, I guess, I own a lot of shirts. But I wasn't trying to be provocative. I wasn't trying to look sexy. I was wearing clothes. Clothes just like anyone else in the office. But because my breasts happened to be large, it was "distracting" and from then on, I had to make a point of trying to own more uncomfortably high necked shirts. Needless to say, he wasn't my boss for long.

But even if I understand having to dress extra conservatively for the workplace, this isn't going to the office. This is going to the Emmys. This is dressing to the nines to celebrate your hard work and the hard work of everyone else in your field. When you work in television, this is your party of the year, your time to go all out and look amazing. And you, Skinny Bitch Guest Correspondent, is saying that Christina Hendricks should have thought about how distracting her NATURALLY LARGE BREASTS BECAUSE SHE HAS NATURALLY LARGE BREASTS CAN I BE ANY CLEARER ABOUT THAT are and dressed more conservatively? Really? Julie Bowen and Heather Morris waere practically not wearing a front to their dresses, but oh, they're really skinny, so it's okay.

It's hard enough for me to find dresses that work with D breasts, let alone whatever Hendricks is sporting. Add to that her gorgeous slightly fuller figure than most Hollywood designers are regrettably not used to designing for, and you get someone who probably has a hard time finding the perfect thing to wear for these kinds of events. The size 0/A cup women she is surrounded by can more or less get away with wearing any sort of design they want. Hendricks has a harder time mostly because she needs major support for her chest. Her options are limited.

When you look at Hendricks' dress, it is in fact gorgeous and incredibly tasteful. As far as necklines go at this sort of thing, the dress isn't even *that* low cut. The only way for Hendricks to not have cleavage is to dress as she does on the show, and on her special night out, I think she should have the freedom to, you know, not dress like she is a secretary in a repressed 1962 environment. If *any* other woman had worn that dress, there would be no complaints.

It really bothers me that if Hendricks looks up anything relating to "fashion police" she will see one article after another (E! and AOL are guilty as well. EW thankfully understands what women are) saying she "needs to try a new look instead of this same old silhouette." or "it was just too much." To me, it sounds like a bunch of women intimidated by the confidence of a truly feminine woman, unafraid of her body, even if it doesn't fit the stupid mold the media wants it to fit and they want to make Christina feel bad about it and stop showing off her god-given assets, which she happens to pull off by doing nothing but wearing a pretty dress. Fuck em, Christina. Your breasts are beautiful, your body is beautiful, and you should wear whatever makes you comfortable and happy.

Oh, and be sure to head here for @eruditechick's thoughts on the matter, as well as some awesome photographic evidence

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Inglourious Dior

I'm not exactly a fashionista. The world of haute couture is generally offensive to me, since it's largely comprised of ugly threads on painfully unattractive people, but every few years designers seem to unanimously decide it's time for them to appease me, and the industry turns universally toward fashion inspired by the military uniforms of World War II. Recently on the Parisian runway, class-act Christian Dior revealed their Fall ready-to-wear line, and my heart exploded in my chest.

The 1940s comprise one of my favorite periods of history, particularly from a sartorial slant.  While the gowns in this collection are plainly influenced by the '30s and have basically nothing to do with the fashion of WWII, they're still stunning.

 Slouchy, tomboyish, hot as hell. This jacket. THIS JACKET. And the bag.

Drapey harem-flood-pants are strange, but strangely appealing.

The dress I could give a damn about. I see what they're getting at, but ruffled tiers are not my schtick. Again, though, I say- THIS JACKET.  Doubtless not vegan. Doubtless, the direct result of the cold blooded murder of a cow or a sheep or something, but goddamn that shit is for the greater good. The shearling cuff under the additional leather ring cuff is a beautiful detail. I'm also digging the thigh-high stockings that are used in pretty much every ensemble of the collection. Jewelery not so much, dog tags would fit better.

Battlestar Galactica dog tags.

I would wear this outfit in its entirety. The Lieutenant jacket, the beautifully pocketed, military green pencil skirt. I yearn for a kick-pleat in the back, but there are not posterior views, alas. Again, the thigh high stockings. Working. Yeah, EVERYTHING here, I would do very naughty, probably illegal things to own.

So you see what I was saying about the 30s here. By the 1940s, dresses like this had been foregone entirely for things that were much more structured and frequently had sleeves. That rounded empire waistline, the fishtail draping, that's all 30s, and I am totally okay with that. I think this dress would actually benefit from being worn by someone who actually had breasts, an ass and a waist, seeing as without these things, it just makes her midsection through her thighs look boxy and bloated. So sign me the hell up, because I have more than enough T&A&corsetry to make this work.











The only thing missing from this collection, which you can view in its entirety here, would be well tailored men's style trousers. Those weird drapey harem-flood-pants are fine, and in theory should be the curvy girl's answer to skinny jeans, but I'm looking for something like this:

Maybe not so short, but one gets the idea. In fact, a denim or heavy-cotton jumper similar to the one pictured would do extremely well, a rolling over of the Summer's obsession with catsuits and rompers in the Fall's brilliant revisitation of military staple gear. The only thing I beg is that they stay away from pleats. Hollywood store Bettie Page has a line of 'Big Daddy Pants' that come so close, but lose it at the pleats. You can see them here.











Hopefully, the trickle-down to other lines sold in places like Nordstrom, Lord&Taylor all the way down to H&M will maintain some of these details and the cleanliness of line, because I am jonesin' for this stuff, real bad. When my closet looks like the wardrobe from Band of Brothers and Inglourious Basterds, I'll be happy.

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