Film costumes: City Lights (1931)

I was watching Charles Chaplin's stunning masterpiece City Lights (1931) this weekend and couldn't help but constantly gasp over the stunning costumes worn by the extras. I was especially impressed by the ones in the daytime street scenes - so many gorgeous hats, dresses and shoes!

I just had to share some screencaptures of these wonderful late 1920s / early 1930s daytime looks. Actually, if you look closely, you'll see many of the same dresses re-appear, even in different scenes. Perhaps Charlie loved the dresses so much that he wanted to make sure people noticed them? Well, I sure did. Hee!





The one above is, perhaps, my favorite look in the film. This is what I call chic!







I love these two girls and, yes, I'm such a sucker for a pretty Peter Pan collar!


Virginia Cherrill is wonderful in the film as the blind flower girl. She's very beautiful too, and I love her hair.



In the end Virginia too gets a darling dress with gorgeous lace collar and sleeve detailing to wear.




All together now: "Awwww!"

Speaking of City Lights... To celebrate Tampere Film Festival's 40th anniversary, the film was recently screened at Tampere Hall and was accompanied live by Tampere Chamber. Over 1400 classic film fans attended the screening. I'm truly heartbroken that I missed this grand event but at least it was for a good cause as I was myself working hard at the festival. It must have been amazing, though, to see a film not only accompanied live but also shared with such a huge audience, reminescent of the way the silents actually were seen back in the day.