Thursday 10 January 2008

AMERICAN GANGSTER

I have to switch to english for this one guys...(sorry but this blog is not going to be easy for you french friends who have decided to stick to german or spanish throughout your teenage years. My bad).

I wanted to share with you all the great esthetical satisfaction I had from watching American Gangster the other day with my "moitié". Set aside the thrillingly exciting story of a black man came-from-nothing-5$inthepocket-type-thing who after 20 years in NYC was in the position to actually use the mafia as his bitch distributors for his heroïn imports, I want to give a big shout out to the film's costume designer, namely Janty Yates (Miami Vice, Gladiator - won oscar for that one - , Enemy at the Gates, Kingdom of Heaven...not that those last three experiences could have led me to think she would master the black 70's swag so well - you get me).




It was amazing to see such abundance of codes from that period, from the tilted flat caps to bi-color fur coats with matching top hat (all that fox man!! it's a sin!!!), vest and open collars to butt-hugging flared pants, not forgetting the 3 button wide collar polo's and ruffle shirts, all assembled with the greatest style and care and never bordering on caricature. Which is what I enjoyed the most (the non-caricature bit). It was pure eye candy (from a professional perspective only obviously)...and I can bet you Denzel, RZA, Common, Cuba Gooding Jr. and T.I had a freegin ball dressing up every day (I'm pretty sure only dust was left from the wardrobe when the shoot was done). Not mentioning the super sleek dresses of the lead babe.

Here's a few screen grabs...tried to find a good selection but didn't find much (missing denzel's fox coat, a masterpiece of "too much is too much" attitude like they knew how to do it back in the days!!)