FASHION : Flights of Fashion
The TV Movie: “Amelia Earhart: The Final Flight”; airs at 8 tonight on TNT, with repeat showings throughout the month.
The Setup: A biography of aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart (Diane Keaton, pictured), whose plane disappeared over the South Pacific in 1937.
The Costume Designer: Jill Ohanneson, whose credits include the feature film “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure” and the television movies “Citizen Cohn” and “Last of His Tribe.” She is working on “Unstrung Heroes,” a feature film directed by Keaton.
The Look: This part was positively tailor-made for Keaton, the quirky style queen of cinema. With newly cropped hair, she effortlessly slips into the Earhart uniform of very loose trousers and jodhpurs, rayon shirts, silk or cotton scarves tied in a multitude of jaunty ways (as ascot, necktie, kerchief or just looped around the neck), men’s oxford lace-up shoes and, of course, a leather bomber jacket. Picture this look against a ‘30s backdrop, when most women wore dresses, hats and gloves.
Hit: Notice that toward the end of her life, Earhart favored snappy Western clothing such as ranch pants and Western shirts.
Miss: When the movie begins in 1935, Earhart has abandoned her famous flying cap, because the advent of closed cockpits made it unnecessary. Still, it’s a pity not to see it.
Quoted: “Much earlier than anyone else, Earhart knew the value of dressing for comfort and freedom. She dressed for herself. She would totally fit in today and would be very comfortable in this time,” Ohanneson says.
Noted: “Amelia actually had kind of bad taste when it came to wearing dressy, feminine clothes. She looked a little awkward in them. She was so tall--I think 5-foot-10--and very, very thin, and with that short hair, frilly clothes just didn’t work,” Ohanneson adds.
Trivia: Earhart always wore an elephant hair bracelet (it was in the box of goods she shipped home before her last flight), but Keaton favored a ‘30s silver link bracelet from her own collection.
Research: The Ninety-Nines Inc., a resource center sponsored by female pilots around the world, in Oklahoma City, Okla.; Earhart biographies, film footage.
Sources: All the clothing is vintage. It was culled from many stores and collectors including Private Collection, Palace Costumes, Costume Rentals Corp., Mark Fox, American Costumes and Costume Collection in Los Angeles, Ardis Taylor in Oakland.
