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Pamela has published several essays on film and fashion, history and heritage, and the relationship between fan culture and cinematic text. These have appeared in various anthologies and journals. Pamela has also co-edited three collections of essays, including "Fashion Cultures" ( Routledge 2001, with Stella Bruzzi ) and "The Oxford Guide to Film Studies" (Oxford University Press, 1998). Pamela is currently writing a book on women, cinema and consumption in the postwar era.
Jane Gaines, writing in 'Fabrications: Costume and the Female Body', defined a "vestural idiolect" wherein the dress of the heroine dominates the screen to such an extent that scripted sentiments are immaterial. Gaines was, of course, writing about classical Hollywood; however,with certain contemporary cinematic heroines, such as Julia Roberts and Meg Ryan, this tendency is virtually reversed. These stars - who are usually cast as the "girls men marry" - are casually dressed for the most part, and fashionable garments are often the provenance of their rivals. What is interesting about this cinematic development is that it, perversely, becomes intertwined with the anti-fashion strand within second wave feminism.
This paper seeks to examine links between cinematic costume and 'celebrity' dressing, both on and off screen. Through the use of extracts from commercially successful films such as "Sleepless in Seattle", "When Harry Met Sally", "You've got Mail", "Runaway Bride", "Stepmom" and "The Mexican", which showcase these two enormously popular stars - who are seemingly possessed of particular appeal for women - it will scrutinize their anti-fashion look. In these films, elegant dressing is often linked with artificial behaviour. The very recent film version of Bridget Jones' Diary, another commercial triumph, continued to utilise these particular images to great effect. The vast popularity of the "natural" look, symbolised by these women, reflects, ironically, the continuing search amongst hard-line second-wave feminists for "authenticity" in appearance. It is this particular aspect of hostility to fashion with which those feminists who have sought to champion it, from Elizabeth Wilson onwards, have had to contend.
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