unexpected fashion inspo from the popeye movie
i'm serious
Over the past week, I’ve found myself with a bit of downtime, something that is rare, especially at the beginning of a semester. I somewhat regrettably ended up spending a lot of time on my phone, browsing through various shopping apps, eBay in particular. I may have made a tiny little purchase as well, as I stumbled across a vintage poster for one of my favorite movies, the 1980 movie adaptation of Popeye by Robert Altman starring Robin Williams and Shelley Duvall. In case you haven’t seen it, the only way I can describe this *film* is with the word camp, even though the word has seemed to lose all meaning. Yes the Popeye arm prosthetics are creepy and the whole movie drags on a bit too long but you can’t get too mad at it. It is rated offensively low on letterboxd for what it is in my opinion, and I aim to raise it a bit every time I log it.
The main thing that attracts me to certain movies and shows is not only the storyline, but the clothes. Every time i watch Twin Peaks I can’t help but drool over all of the insane Pendleton-esque items, and a scene in Crooklyn literally helped me identify a vintage dress I’d had for months. While some of the clothes in Popeye are very costume-y and exaggerated i.e. Olive Oyl’s shoes in the cover image, that’s what makes them cool. The whole film is filled with this zany sailor style that is incredibly fun to pull from.
Sweethaven, the town the movie is set in is a dilapidated town facing the sea. Because of the coastal setting, The characters’ wardrobes pull from classic nautical styles. He’s Popeye the sailor man after all. The first outfits I’d like to highlight are those of the resident goons, the gang of six who heckle Popeye at any given moment. Their sweaters and hats are a much more colorful rendition of traditional guernsey sweaters, which are the iconic sweaters worn by fisherman both at sea and on screen.
I love the colors used to dress these characters, the deep purple, red, and cobalt blue work nicely with the more dominant tan, brown, and grey. Some of the accent colors come in the form of a classic Breton stripe undershirt with the collars and sleeves rolled up like tires around their necks and arms, revealing yet another shirt underneath. This immediately made me think of the Charles Jeffery Loverboy SS19 show and how so many of the striped long sleeves, polos, and even a silky button down were styled in this way.
I wonder if the team watched Popeye beforehand…..Although probably quite warm and fairly uncomfortable if executed irl, I still found this example of extreme layering to be very interesting and cool.
There are a lot of polka dotted items in this movie, which I feel like is a generally unappreciated print. They are very much appreciated here however, and although a tad bit garish altogether, many aspects of Olive Oyl’s friends’ outfits are actually quite charming. Loving the double collar moment on the frontmost character, and the pussycat bows and scarves on all of them. Fitting for when the movie was made, these looks feel very 80’s Laura Ashley (the sailor dresses obviously), which may indeed be the vibe. There’s definitely been a bit of a resurgence of this style recently, thinking specifically of Sandy Liang’s FW23 + Resort 24 collections. You can’t tell me that from the back, this character doesn’t look like every Sandy obsessed girl walking around LES. She even has the braids and bows in her hair.
Other comparisons that jumped in my mind upon seeing the excess of polka dot were Miu Miu and that one Realisation Par dress that I’ve been unable to escape all summer long.
And finally, because I have thought about this for an embarrassing amount of time, I have a few vintage/secondhand finds that encapsulate the Popeye vibe. A few of these have either sold or are out of my price range so I’ll stop being stingy and share them with you all.
dresses:
tops:
bottoms:
shoes:
I’ll stop now, but I hope you enjoyed. Maybe in the future I’ll talk about more non fashion related media that still hit the mark for me clothing-wise. Getting dressed should be fun and if you need to watch a silly musical in order to get inspiration then do that! Until next time, thank you for reading! ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ
I agree! Movies are some of the best fashion inspo and there are some movies in which the fashion is so good that I can even ignore a subpar plot or acting! And Sandy Liang is everywhere atm but for a very good reason! I really loved the styling of her Resort 24 lookbook and the aesthetic of the photos.. :)
This is awesome! always thinking about Shelly duvall in this movie !