Black and White Life

Movies mirror society. Changing cultural norms have significantly influenced how costumes are designed and how they look on screen, as have advances in technology.  

In Black and White, silent movies, designers created visual interest chiefly through silhouette, pattern, contrast between light and dark, and reflectivity of satin, beads and sequins. Mark Bridges, costume designer for the film The Artist (2011) has said that ‘the silence was very freeing because you don’t have to worry about microphones rubbing against taffeta, and dangling jewellery’.

The silent movie era, which bore the strong influence of vaudeville and music hall, was marked by exaggerated conventions of performance. This was matched by costume design which was often intended to convey a strong archetype on first sight. Actors in silent films usually were portraying classic characters who were easily identified and defined by their clothing, hair, and makeup.  For women, this meant two main categories of characters: the virgin or the vamp. There were other types that branched from this including the flapper, the ingénue, the girl next door and the ‘It’ girl. The fashion in these silent movies helped to portray the characters to the viewers. The characters were defined by what they wore and in turn women of this era also became defined by their fashion. 

With film becoming extremely popular with the general public it meant film helped to spread fashion trends out to rural towns as well as the usual fashion forward cities, which gave everyone a taste of the new styles emerging. 

Possibly the most iconic persona of the silent movie era is ‘The Flapper’. This persona helped inspire the fashion of the twenties but still inspires fashion houses today. Actress Colleen Moore personifies this character. Her characters were entertaining, lighthearted, daring, and free-spirited, but never vampy or obscene. Her portrayals helped make the flapper accessible to the public.