Black Swan

Remember back in the 60s when little girls wanted to be ballerinas? Then in the 70s it was actresses, 80s pop stars, models in the 90s and now sadly they all want to be Wags. Well the movie, Black Swan might bring ballerinas into fashion judging by the response it has received at various film festivals. Nina played by Natalie Portman is a repressed ballet dancer who has spent the last good few years in the shadows of Beth played by Winona Ryder at one of New York's prestigious ballet companies. Mollycoddled by her mother played by Barbara Hershey (who is a former ballet dancer) she finds it hard to let go and express herself on and off the stage. Ballet director, Thomas played by Vincent Cassell decides her time has come and gives Nina the lead role in Swan Lake much to Nina's delight. She begins to celebrate with her mother as she feels that she has finally arrived, sadly there are two things standing in Nina's way. Lily played by Mila Kunis whose feisty personality and dazzling dance skills proves to be more than a match for Nina and the second issue is Nina herself. As talented and committed as she is Nina seems unable to cope with pressure and succumbs to self harming and bulimia when things get rocky. Matters take a turn for the worse when Nina let's her neurosis get the better of her and finds herself not just struggling to hold onto her coveted role as Swan Lake but to her sanity as well.

The last time I saw Natalie Portman in a film was in her debut role in Leon and she blew me away. Well she is just as wonderful in this film, Natalie is simply compelling to watch as the fragile Nina. Newcomer, Mila Kunis is also great as well but this is really Natalie's film. She plays the lead with just  enough gusto and really nails the vulnerability and dark side of the character. Winona is great as the fallen ballerina but the character of Beth did seem rather similar to her own life story. I saw a preview of this film at the London Film Festival and it immediately went on my 'to watch list' and I am glad to say that it did not disappoint. No surprise that it has received Golden Globe nominations for Best Picture, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress. Some of the scenes are a bit murky and if you are squeamish like I am you might want to cover your eyes during parts of it. At last we have a realistic portrayal about what it is really like to be a ballet dancer. It is not all sweetness and light and ballet dancers are under extreme pressure to maintain their stick like figure, they have to be under a certain height and they have awful feet from spending all their time walking on their toes. Now all I want to see is one about ice skaters and that will make me really happy.

Another theme that has come out of this riveting film is the fashion, I could not help but admire the cool assemble that the women wore during training such as lycra cardigans, over the knee leg warmers, sophisticated leotards along with the accustomed hair pulled back in a top knot. The costumes the dancers wore on stage were simply stunning; tutus are in right now, Carrie wore a few in Sex and the City and Nicole Richie wore a huge one for her wedding dress. The meshing of feathers and beads spells absolute glamour and Natalie and Esq looked amazing on screen in their outfits. Check out this blog post that the lovely Reena from Fashion Daydreams wrote about the inspiration of ballet on fashion. It is a corker.

Black Swan is out now in the US and is released on 21 January in the UK.

The Devil Wears Primark

I love my fashion and I like good quality garments that are reasonably priced. Shops like Mango, Zara, Oasis, H&M and the divine asos.com are my cup of tea. I will put my hands up and say honestly that I have never been a fan of Primark. What with their cheap and dubious quality products. Last year I was very bemused and shocked when thousands of so called fashionistas or bargainistas hysterically descended upon Oxford Street to get their grubby mitts on items in the new store. The launch of what is now the flagship store of 'Primarni' became a pivitol of cheap and throw away fashion with chains such as TK Maxx and Peacocks following suit. However as we all know, with every success comes a backlash and boy did it sting when the eco tree huggers came out in full force demanding to know exactly how these shops could sell clothes at such cheapo prices and still make a profit. Accusations of child labour and sweat shops in Asia were bandied about around the same time as every Tom, Dick and Harry became very concerned about the plight of the Ozone layer. Pretty soon every council in the country had a green agenda that told us to recycle, recycle and recycle. Celebrities such as Cate Blanchett, Natalie Portman and Gwyneth Paltrow attached their name to eco causes and books such as Green is the New Black by Tamsin Blanchard sold by the bucket loads. Pretty soon ethical fashion was cool and the bargain basement clothes were not. Channel 4 are hot on the heels of this amazing transition with a new show called The Devil Wears Primark, where they send the over exposed and over rated model cum presenter, Alexa Chung to investigate the goings on at Primark. They even go as far as to set up a fashion sweat shop in the West End that is staffed with volunteers to see how they cope under such conditions. I have only seen the adverts for this show but it looks like a corker.

The Devil Wears Primark airs this Sunday at 9.00pm on Channel 4.