August 24, 2009

FUTURE FASHION: URSULA ANDRESS

FUTURE FASHION: URSULA ANDRESS
For keeping those cosmic rays out, nothing says Space-Age Futurism like a plastic visor! One of my favorite costumes from The 10th Victim with Ursula Andress (recently re-released on DVD), has a slight Gaultier-Fifth Element feel with its minimalist approach to using strips of cloth. In my research on cold war anxiety and fashion, I've seen many visors/helmets, but none capture my imagination and design-love like the one that Andress wears briefly in one scene in the film as she de-planes in Rome. The white strip over her head echoes the overall theme of the outfit with strips connecting her gloves and arm, and strips fastened around her ankles. It gives her a wonderful cartoony look in contrast to the alternating white and black stripes on her companions' sleeves. Add spy-fi Italian soundtrack music and a story that involves international assassins and you can see why The 10th Victim is one of the only films that I look to as a collector of stills and posters. For more on futuristic fashions (including video), also visit the Mods to Moongirls and Fear and Fashion articles on Spy Vibe. Movie stills and posters are available at Movie Goods.



2 comments:

  1. I just ran across another devotee of the 10th Victim (and Pizzicato Five!) while surfing the web:

    http://www.dangerousminds.net/index.php/site/comments/the_tenth_victim_kitsch_klassic1/

    Now that I've recently re-explored the Matt Helm film The Ambushers, and listened to Mike Meyers' commentary on Austin Powers, it would appear that The Ambushers was the inspiration for the bra guns- not Ursula's outfit from the Masoch club scene in The 10th Victim.

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  2. I love the 10th Victim! I wrote a review on it awhile back at Retrohound.com. Very stylish.

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