"Joan Crawford became a star because Joan Crawford decided to become a star" (Frederica Sagor Maas)
Thursday 26th July, we teamed up with the British Film Institute to celebrate all things Joan Crawford. It was a night of fun, fabulousness and festivities!
Joan Crawford is one of our heroines and we are super excited that there is a whole season of her work showing at London's BFI through August and September. We decided to cerebrate her life, her work and one of our favourite films 'The Women'.
The Women is, like many of the films of the era, full of cliches, stereotypes and you kind of have to suspend all your feminist principles for 90 minutes BUT when you are able to do that, when you just go with it, wow! this one is a corker!
I love it how they all use the same salon to trade gossip, the best yarns are spilled in the bathtub (though with full make up and coiffed hair of course!) and the back stabbing and in fighting (largely over men of course, golly gee! Did we mention the fashions? Oh! Th e glorious 1940s fashions!!! Theres one scene in a boutique almost completely given over to featuring the most amazing dresses!
So, to celebrate, The Women, Joan Crawford and 1940s Fashion we decided to get together with the British Film Institute to run a night we called 'Jungle red'. Jungle Red is the nail colour that all the women choose to have their nails done in that salon while they gossip away. The lovely Powderpuff Girls came along to give our attendees a colour and polish!
To kick off the night, Nigel from the BFI gave an informative talk about the life and work of Joan and what made her become the iconic actress she is today. Whilst he was speaking, and throughout the rest of the event, two screens played clips from her movies that the BFI are showing during their Joan Crawford season. The clips made for quite the talking point throughout the evening as everyone discussed which films were their favourites.
Just like in the film "The Women", we had ladies having their nails painted 'Jungle Red' by the lovely Powderpuff Girls.
Later on in the evening, one of the Powderpuff Girls took to the floor to teach us how to perfect the infamous Joan Crawford eyebrows. Thank you Sian for volunteering your eyebrows to be demonstrated on!
Of course no Joan Crawford event is complete without hats so we asked Atelier Millinery to create two peekaboo hats that would not look out of place in her wardrobe. Not only were Atelier on hand to give advice on Crawford's legendary millinery looks they also set up a photo booth for guests to channel their inner Joan Crawford!
Big thank you to everyone who attended, we had a wonderful time and can't wait for our next event!
You can still catch Joan in all her fierce glory at the BFI from August to October. Find out more here.