October 22, 2016

U.N.C.L.E. FASHIONS

Happy Saturday, Spy Vibers! It's been another busy week of teaching for me and I'm psyched we can finally spend a little extra time in the Spy Vibe lair together. Isn't it strange how time flies so quickly? For example, I can't believe it's been over a year since The Man From U.N.C.L.E. movie made its debut. A bunch of us had such a blast down in LA for a series of special events around the movie. Our friend, FX maestro Robert Short, hosted a super cool exhibit of U.N.C.L.E. memorabilia and artifacts (see Spy Vibe post here), Quentin Tarantino offered up a triple-feature of classic U.N.C.L.E. films at his cinema, and a large group of us gathered to see the new movie together (see my review here). One of the strengths of the film was its attention to design. The sets were beautifully dressed, some locations could have dropped right out of the first season of the original series, and Joanna Johnston created some stunning fashion inspired by the crossover period (1967-1968) between Mod geometrics and the emerging 1970s vibe. Spy Vibe is dedicated to 1960s "style in action", so it was natural to bask in the film's design. But if I had one complaint about Ritchie's U.N.C.L.E., it was that the design seemed to hang over the surface of the movie like, well, a new suit of clothes. The original Star Wars trilogy, for example, worked so well because it was a "lived-in" universe. There were moments in U.N.C.L.E. where it seemed to me that actors were playing dress-up. But I saw great effort and attention to style, which I appreciated, and the narrative itself showed the characters literally dressing for their undercover roles. Maybe if everyone had slept in their costumes for a week it would have felt more authentic to me. Still, these musings are not to take away from the gorgeous design work by Johnston and others. Check out these costumes below. They sure do photograph well! Enjoy!













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