My favourite shot from the film. Gorgeous 1940s red coat and tooled vintage bag
The award for the most ridiculous, stonkingly bad film I saw all last year goes to The Edge of Love, starring Sienna Miller and Keira Knightly (should have been a clue right there). It is a biopic loosely based on a love triangle between Dylan Thomas, his wife Caitlin, and their friend Vera Phillips. In fact the interpretation is so loose as to be almost entirely disconnected; the director admits in an interview with the Times that there is no evidence that there was any affair, but adds “We wanted to find the dramatic truth about the characters”. Which I think translates as “the story wasn’t interesting enough so we just made it up and hoped no-one would notice”.
On the plus side, the film has some lovely 1940s vintage clothing; in particular I like what the girls wear once they move from London to cold, windy Wales. There are loads of sweet little cardigans layered with puff sleeve shirts, ruffled floral tea-dresses, socks and wellies. I am sure it is entirely unrealistic given the rationing and shortages that were in place in Britain at the time, but this is one instance in which I am happy to allow artistic licence.
Watch only if you wish to see Keira attempt to master a Welsh accent. (Spoiler: she fails. Our favourite line was ’damn yow for making me love yow’).
Striped short sleeve cardigan and pink floral tea dress, honeycomb cable cardigan and houndstooth pencil skirt
Blush pink embroidered cable knit cardigan
Pointelle cardigan and Fairisle vest
Long socks and turned down wellies. Tea dress and embroidered cardi on Keira and pleated pink wool skirt with lace blouse and grey trilby on Sienna
Does anyone know what this kind of knit is called? I’m not sure whether it is a kind of cable or something else
The floral embroidery on this cardigan is gorgeous, and it matches perfectly with the pale eggshell blue dress
Striped cardigan and peter pan collared blouse. Agitated blonde woman.
Detail of Keira’s cardigan from the first shot
Cream ribbed knit top
Military ‘boyfriend’ jacket (ha!) worn over the ubiquitous tea dress
(why would you sleep with skanky old Dylan Thomas when Cillian Murphy is on offer?)
A few delicate silk dressing gowns
Sassy black hat (need to remember to wear hats to the side more often)
The red coat from the first image, with embroidered folk-style peasant blouse
…and the rest of the outfit. Burgundy velvet skirt, suitcase and sunglasses
Coat detail. I like the single button at the top, the gathering over the bust, the neat little belt and the power shoulders. Much smarter than most of the coats we get around in these days.
Which is your favourite outfit? Or am I alone in my 1940s cardigan obsession?
1960s polka dot mod dress by Berketex
1970s green and red tartan knit jumper dress
1960s black and white check blanket dress
1970s floral print hippy smock dress by Emanuelle
>I love the tea dresses and cardies and knee length socks! Plus the tea dress witht the milatary jacket is a hot look!
>You're not alone – the outfits saved this for me, too! The mismatch of patterns and textures is gorgeous.
>How awesome is the pointelle cardigan in the third picture? With blouse and hat? (And why can't I seem to find any cardigans this season that aren't either really long with pointless itty-bitty pockets somewhere mid-thigh, or boxy and old-lady looking with very high round necks?) Sigh.
>Would cheerfully kill for any of these outfits.
I love cardigans. An audit of my wardrobe reveals one for every mood; today I am rose-pink cable knit.
>Lol, I agree. Neither one of them can act, but they do look perfect in these period costumes!
http://pixiedrivein.blogspot.com
>I am with you with the 1940s cardi obsession! Wish I could find some like that now :)
>We should start a cardi-lovers club. Need to try and source some more for the shop I can see! Such a shame that moths seem to love vintage knitwear as much as we do.
>I saw this film and just loved all of the outfits! It's been awhile since I've watched it so I can't really remember it too well, but like you said I don't think it was the best Keira film I've ever seen (minus the clothes).
>This was, without a doubt, the worst film I have ever seen in my film watching life. I only watched it for the outfits – but it was so bad that my mind blocked the whole thing out.
Looking at these photos though, makes me realise how lovely the clothes really are! So, so pretty.
Em x
http://www.ihategracefulpeople.blogspot.com
P.S. I think I am in love with your blog.
>Sienna Miller AND Keira Knightley. I knew in my heart it would be a horrendous flop. Not even Cillian Murphy and the "Dylan Thomas" storyline could save it. B lent me a copy which I play on silent when I'm writing up blog posts, just for fashion inspiration.
I agree, the clothes are highly anachronistic (looks like an ad for Topshop) but still lovely. I particularly like the rose pink cardigan with fluff embroidered in that Miller wears.
A from A + B in the Sea
>i just saw this movie last week and i love the 40s look! thanks for posting this! i want to try to find some clothes like this!
>Hi there
I was just blissing out over that cardigan (there is a pattern for it here: http://www.etsy.com/listing/48321163/vintage-1940-cable-cardigan-pattern-from (although as the seller states it is in the public domain so surely there must be a free copy somewhere?)
Just wanted to say how tickled I am that someone else disliked this film despite the gorgeous clothing. :) The clothing did sort of make it worth it though – I feel like screen caps (only that would mean sitting through it again.. sorta)
>i dont know what youre talking about. i think that along with having amazing clothes its a brilliant film and kiera and sienna CAN act very well- kieras accent is good! so what if its not accurate, its a FILM.
>The clothing was indeed the sole redeeming factor of this film, although I felt that at points the clothes were presented in a way that looked more like an Anthropologie ad than as they would worn in the time period. (And anyone defending the acting in this MOVIE needs to go take a FILM history & appreciation course and see some truly fine acting and directing.)