Iconic actor Sidney Poitier, aged 94, died last Friday. A champion of African-American civil rights, Poitier will be remembered for his films and also for his effortless elegance and style that made him a favorite with fashion houses. Famous designers often dressed him in their elegant tuxedos at awarding ceremonies, among the others, also Giorgio Armani.
Born in Miami from Bahamian farmers, he grew up in the Bahamas, moving at 15 with his brother to Miami and then to New York. After joining the American Negro Theatre, he pursued a career as a stage actor, debuting in a leading role in a production of Aristophanes' comedy "Lysistrata" in 1946.
In 1949 he took the difficult decision to move away from stage productions and into films starring in "No Way Out" (1950), as newly-qualified doctor confronted by a racist patient. "The Defiant Ones", in 1958, saw Poitier nominated for best actor at the Academy Awards, and he won a Bafta for the same film.
In 1964 he was awarded an Oscar for Ralph Nelson's "Lilies of the Field", becoming the first Black winner of the Academy Awards' best actor statuette and only the second black actor to win any Academy Award at all (the first was Hattie McDaniel for her role as Mammy in "Gone with the Wind").
Poitier had an annus mirabilis in 1967 thanks to three films, James Clavell's "To Sir, With Love", in which he starred as a teacher in a tough London school, Norman Jewison's "In the Heat of the Night", that saw him in the role of legendary Philadelphia detective Virgil Tibbs, and "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner".
A romantic comedy-drama produced and directed by Stanley Kramer and written by William Rose, "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" revolves around Joanna "Joey" Drayton (Katharine Houghton), the daughter of liberal newspaper editor Matt (Spencer Tracy) and gallery owner Christina (Katharine Hepburn), and John Prentice (Sidney Poitier), an African-American doctor and widower.
When we first meet Joanna and John, they've just landed in San Francisco, back from a holiday in Hawaii. The happy couple met by chance in Hawaii and they plan to see each other's parents and get married as soon as possible. Their joyous enthusiasm is highlighted by the yellow tones of Joanna's coat, a shade that perfectly matches with the colour of the taxi that takes them to her parents' and with the bizarre modern art sculpture at Joanna's mother's gallery.
Though the Draytons are liberal-minded, they are shocked to see Joanna engaged to a man of a different race, but, while Christina sees Joanna's happiness and decides to support her, Matt is skeptical. Joanna and John question Matt's liberal credentials so much that a family friend, Monsignor Mike Ryan (Cecil Kellaway), wonders if there was actually a reactionary bigot under Matt's liberal façade.
Besides, also John’s father (Roy E. Glenn Sr.), raises doubts about the engagement as he never expected to see his son marrying a white woman, a reaction that generates a parallelism with Joanna's father, Matt, who objects the marriage as he knows the couple will have to face many obstacles.
When the film was shot, interracial marriage was indeed still illegal in 17 US states (most of them Southern states), but when it was released, it became a hit even in the South (the Supreme Court declared anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional with the Loving v. Virginia case in June 1967, six months before the film was released).
The film broke some social barriers, even though Black civil-rights activists highlighted how Poitier's characters were often too good to be true.
The story of John and Joanna makes you think because, sadly, racism is still rampant, and because it could be interpreted as a metaphor for all sorts of relationships that are not approved by society, from interracial ones to same-sex marriages. The themes and structure of the film went on to inspire and inform other contemporary movies, including Jordan Peele's "Get Out," in which fears and anxieties are not lived by the white family, but by the African-American protagonist.
Fashion-wise "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" is a stylish film (but for style and Sidney Poitier check also "Paris Blues") that featured costumes by Joe King and a very special wadrobe supervisor, Jean Louis (better known for creating the strapless black gown worn by Rita Hayworth in "Gilda").
Poitier is a young doctor and his impeccable suit is the physical representation of his moral and professional credentials. John, as Matt discovers, graduated from a top school, launched medical projects in Africa, and even left on his desk payment for a long-distance phone call to his parents.
Dialogue-wise Joanna is not a very strong character, but her colourful and functional clothes in bright shades such as yellow, pink and red represent a young woman evolving in the late '60s.
Fashion-wise Hepburn steals the show with a few practical and sensible minimal outfits (usually accessorized with open-toe matching mules) and stylish coats that wouldn't look out of place in a Yeohlee Teng collection (especially the navy one with a grid printed lining and bright red scarf hanging on one shoulder stylishly anchored under one flat epaulette strap).
The wardrobes of characters transitioning towards more open-minded attitudes are more modern than those of more narrow-minded characters.
This is the case of Christina's wardrobe, while John's mother arrives in a classic outfit - navy suit, gloves and pearl string - but the zig-zagging motif on the fastening of her jacket betrays her modernity. The style of Hilary (Virginia Christine), who works in Christina's gallery and who openly reveals her racist attitude, is still very classic instead (she wears a fur stole and gloves), as if she were still stuck in the '50s. Enjoy the film and don't forget to spot more intriguing fashion details in the characters' wardrobes.
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