Hello, and sorry for my hiatus! I need to go take notes over at the wonderful discussion re: balancing work at life happening at Gertie's blog -- a work deadline meant that blog posts were only happening in my head, which unfortunately meant that they weren't showing up here. Anyway, now I'm trying to get back on track and balance work, life, blogging and (gasp!) even actual sewing!
On to today's post. Mr. Pattern Junkie and I ventured out Friday to catch THE RUNAWAYS and enjoyed it quite a bit. Mr. PJ, having spent the mid to late 80s playing in punk bands, came out spouting questions about the movie's veracity -- I came out oohing about the fashion. ("Huh. I didn't notice that," was his reply.)
As I've mentioned before, I have a soft spot for the seventies, and the THE RUNAWAYS hits the decade's teen/rocker look right. Casual scrappy bell bottoms, tight T-shirts, wedge sandals and of course my fave, BIG COLLARS! Oh, just look at the outfits they wear to sign their record deal!
Here, for comparison, is a photo of the actual Runaways:
Can we just stop and worship Joan Jett's boots for a minute or two? Cherie Currie's silver ones are pretty impressive, but those white ones...wow! Paired with track suits?! Proof that when you're 16 and have a badass rocker chick attitude, you can get away with anything. Even JUMPSUITS:
One of the posts rattling around in my brain had been about the horrific jumpsuits in the McCall's and Simplicity spring collections -- and while the jumpsuit will still not be right for me (I'm no rocker chick -- Mr. PJ classifies what style I have as "demented librarian"), there are those out there who can rock it. Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart sure do in the movie. What I loved best about the costumes in THE RUNAWAYS was that -- even when they were garish sequined ensembles -- they never upstaged the characters and the story. They never screamed "Hey, look over here and laugh at the silly 70s fashion!"
Of course, this wouldn't be Pattern Junkie if we didn't make fun of something silly, so here's Vogue 7882 -- a jumpsuit pattern that may well have been rock-worthy, even if the pattern illustration failed miserably. The Runaways would NEVER rock pink and brown stripes and alien-bun hair:
Coming soon: updates on actual 70s sewing projects and recent eBay finds!