I love this film. . .
However, in other posts folks have said how they didn't like her hair-do or thought it didn't flatter her. . .
Every time I see this film I find the bangs really jarring.
Mostly because they don't seem humanly possible.
Whataya think?
Any stylist out there who can shine some light on this mystery. True to the period of the film? True to the styles of the 40's?
Thanks!
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Yikes!! Those bangs are even worse, not flattering. She could look so cute, sheesh. That's always been my one teensy issue with this movie, OP. Fortunately the movie more than makes up for the bangs, but they are distracting. I agree with TheEverFabulousElbow, it's the 40's. Here's another great movie with terrible bangs:
http://www.imdb.com/media/rm43620352/tt0036775
http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1987287040/tt0036775
Double Indemnity, like Meet Me in St. Louis, came out in 1944. Fortunately, Barbara Stanwyck was also able to overcome the Big Bangs to turn in another great performance, but look how much better she looked (I think) in 1937 http://www.imdb.com/media/rm3075709952/tt0029608.
To me the hairdos (and the clothes) in the 30's were softer, prettier and more natural. In the 40's the hair got weird (and the clothes with those football pad shoulders! eesh). Maybe all the good hairdressers had been drafted!
Maybe I'm in the minority here, but although she looked like the Judy Garland we all know and love in The Wizard of Oz, this was the first movie I saw her in that she started to actually look like herself. MGM tried to reshape everything on Judy in TWOZ down to her nostrils, teeth, and eye brows. She finally got a say in how she wanted to look onscreen, and although I would never wear those bangs, and they do seem a bit odd compared to current fashion, this is Judy, for better or worse.
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Maybe I'm in the minority here, but although she looked like the Judy Garland we all know and love in The Wizard of Oz, this was the first movie I saw her in that she started to actually look like herself.
by - ekneadle on Sun Dec 20 2009 08:28:40
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Judy Garland was so grateful to Vibncent Minelli for making her look adult & comely in this, that she married him, and wanted to work with him.
Yikes!! Those bangs are even worse, not flattering. She could look so cute, sheesh. That's always been my one teensy issue with this movie, OP. Fortunately the movie more than makes up for the bangs, but they are distracting.
by - vermontfudge
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The bangs are a concession to reinventing the stars looks every now and then. The bangs don't bug me at al but that wretched title song played four or five times grates on my nerves, and the three hundred tassle blue dress Judy comes downstairs in is pretty bizarre.
I rather like Judy's hairstyle - it seems to suit the prim and proper atmosphere of the era. However, as a non-American I wonder why what we call a "fringe" is called "bangs"?
shareFor kathleencurley1:
"The term fringe refers to the resemblance of the short row of hair to ornamental fringe trim, such as that often found on shawls.
The term bangs is widely used in North America but is not widely recognized elsewhere. It originally referred to hair cut bang-off (straight across at the front), although the term is now applied to diverse forms of fringe. It is probably related to bang-tail, a term still used for the practice of cutting horses' tails straight across."
Just for fun! :)
"...term still used for the practice of cutting horses' tails straight across."
Funny, because Europeans still insist on doing that to their Thoroughbred racehorses to this day. Americans haven't done that squared-off horse tail in 100 years.
Unfortunately,those bangs were a strictly 1944 style known as "Bumper Bangs". Even my mother had them.
ABSOLUTELY HIDEOUS!!
JS
American English = bangs
British English = fringe
Like so many other dual terms in American vs. British (Commonwealth) English, just get used to it (or stay in your own little corner of the world =)
as a non-American I wonder why what we call a "fringe" is called "bangs"?
disapointing topic considering the thread title
Sorry to disagree with virtually everyone, but I LOVE Judy's look in this movie - including the bangs. Many women cannot pull them off, but she looked beautiful!
shareI'm right there with you... the bangs are cute, and Judy was simply stunning in this movie!
... the hardest thing in this world is to live in it...
Actually I think she looks quite gorgeous with the many hairstyles in the movie. The bangs were lovely.
shareThe bangs looked fine--and Judy was strikingly beautiful in this movie.
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The bangs were actually a WWII style popular with women in war industries. The remaining hair on the sides was pinned up so it wouldn't get in the way when a woman worked on a factory industrial lathe or other war job.
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I HATE this hairstyle and color!!! It is completely unflattering for her, and turns me off from watching the movie. I remember all of us kids had to suffer bangs like this when our mothers cut our hair. It always looked like window shades pulled halfway down.
shareThe bangs were authentic. They were actually made by curling long sections of the hair and shaped into bangs. You see it in a lot of period movies from that time. And I thought the bangs were cute. (:
http://moviecostumelovers.tumblr.com/