Fashion 1950 S

Gunnar Fischer

He excelled in monochrome and was never quite so impressive when cinema turned almost exclusively to colour. His best work was Expressionist in manner, seen to its greatest effect in Wild Strawberries, which featured soft focus to embody a fondly remembered, if romanticised, recollection of the past, darker lighting for the more prosaic present and even darker to evoke the unreality of dreams.

Almost as striking was the camerawork for Bergman’s historical feature The Seventh Seal, which depicted a medieval encounter between a knight back from the Crusades and the figure of Death. Told in stark black and white, its most famous scene featured them playing chess together on a bleak Nordic beach. Borrowing a trick from the stage, Fischer lit the shot so that both men were seen in sharp relief against the dark, brooding waves. Pedants insisted that this image was impossible as it implied the existence of two suns in different quarters of the sky; Fischer dismissed the criticism on the ground that if the very notion of a knight playing chess with Death were accepted, two suns in the sky should be no more incredible.

She helped him gain employment in the film industry in 1935 as an assistant cameraman. He was taught by Julius Jaenzen, who had worked with Victor Sjöström and Mauritz Stiller, two pillars of the Swedish film industry in the silent era.

Fischer graduated to full-fledged cameraman in 1942 on It Is My Music, the first in a succession of run-of-the-mill pictures. He met Bergman in 1946, when they collaborated on a test sequence for the film Crisis. They became a production team the following year on Port of Call, a film influenced by the then current fashion for realism emerging out of post-war Italy, but it was not their forte. Subsequently they struck a stronger chord with Summer Interlude (1950) and Summer with Monika (1952), but these were essentially novelettish romances, however handsomely photographed.

The breakthrough was Smiles of a Summer Night (1955), Bergman’s first period drama and a masterpiece, with an elegance in script and camerawork that led some to bracket it with the perfection of Mozart’s opera Le Nozze di Figaro. Here Fischer’s admiration for the work of the American Gregg Toland, the magisterial cameraman of Citizen Kane and The Best Years of Our Lives, first came to the fore. Toland was celebrated for stylised deep focus photography, in which both foreground and background can be read with equal clarity. Thanks to this, actions of comparable significance could be staged simultaneously in two different fields. This lent the shot greater complexity.

1950s dresses - The Emblem Of Lavish And Dynamic Fashion Of All Times

The 1950s dresses carry the flagship of sophistication and exuberant femininity with the glamour of rockabilly outfits, inspired from a combination and fusion of both the rock n roll and hillbilly music that were popular at that time. The phenomenon of the hour-glass figure emphasized the 1950s fashion with stiletto heels, tiny waist and full billowing skirts as well as accessories like wrist-length gloves and little hats with veil and feathers. The decade is abundant with exquisite fabrics from organdies and chiffons in pale and delicate tones to bright printed fabrics and gray tulle in every shade.

The 1950s is also an era of the birth of renowned designers such as Anne Forgarty who added to the most sought-after collection of the 1950s dresses with her signature creations of poodle skirt and the "paper doll" silhouette look. She also inevitably stunned the world when she introduced a new swimwear trend - the bikini. The 1950s are also known to be a revival of the 1920s fashion but with extreme modifications. The chemise dress for instance was revived to appear more like a dress cut straight without a waist, with only a belt to define the waist for however style the woman prefers. Hence, the chemise dress became a favorite couture because of its versatility. These dresses also evolved later on with stiff flares near the hem line which were popularly termed as "trumpet" skirts. 1950s dresses also feature sleeveless dresses, from sleeveless blouses to harness tops that were made of fancy and luxurious velveteen fabrics. From day dresses to night gowns and accessories like velvet pumps and belt, the decade lavishly enjoyed an abundance of velvety outfits.

The "new look" designs of Christian Dior also influenced the fashion throughout the decade with his popular S, H and A-line cuts. Balenciaga also popularized the baby doll dresses with high waist, the tunic dresses and the sack dresses. These dresses are still raging in the modern fashion of today and have inspired a lot of the patterns and cuts of the modern designs of the 21st century. Some of the 1950s dresses also gave way to the allure of exposing cleavage, as well as a simple scoop-neck or high collar that put emphasis on the bust, thanks to magnifying effects of the undergarments like the "cone" bra. If the 1930s to the 1940s represented the minimalistic style of dressing, the 1950s exuded abundance and lavish fashion. Hence, the 1950s dresses are the epitome of a rich and exuberant decade of well dressed and glamorous women wearing four to five yards of fabric with bodices adorned with pleats, embroidery and laces.

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