D & G

After last season's Highland fling, Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce returned to sea level with a spring D&G collection inspired by the French Riviera. They didn't have any old beach bum in mind, though, rather a twenty-first-century version of Cary Grant (he's still being mentioned!) in To Catch a Thief. The Grant élan could be felt in the tailoring—shawl-collared or peak-lapel suits in various combinations of navy and white—and in the polka dot neckerchiefs that were tied loosely under the jackets.



The twenty-first-century part came in via the sheen of the fabrics—silk twill, silk cotton, silk jersey, silk everything, basically. The D&G version of an espadrille, meanwhile, had a rope sole but jettisoned canvas for patent crocodile. The best looks here—say, a shawl-collar jacket worn over a shirt in a contrasting stripe and pajama-style pants with a drawstring waist—had the ease and freshness that distinguished the Dolce & Gabbana show a few days earlier.



The designers' pursuit of the navy-and-white motif turned as relentless as the Timbaland remix of Madonna's "4 Minutes" that played on the soundtrack. When they did change things up, it was with the too-literal nautical flag prints that introduced a splash of red. These read as much Nantucket as Nice, though the model in the navy Speedo and deep-V polo soon reminded the audience that, for all his newfound sophistication, the D&G man has no intention of joining Daddy's yacht club.




If this collection wasn't as jam-packed with hits as Fall's, it still bobbed along with likeable energy from beginning to end.

— Dirk Standen

"Nobody Tawks Like That"

Although he appears a bit reserved in these early films, Grant established a screen persona of debonair charm and an air of humorous intelligence. Widely regarded as one of the handsomest men in film history, Grant was an ingratiating and nonthreatening sex symbol. Adding to his appeal was his unique speaking voice: his not wholly successful efforts to rid himself of his natural Cockney accent resulted in a clipped, much-imitated speaking pattern. His screen success was helped in no small measure by the great number of classic films in which he appeared. Upon the expiration of his Paramount contract in 1935, Grant became one of the few top stars to freelance his services, allowing him control over his career and the freedom to choose his scripts carefully.

During the late 1930s and early '40s, Grant established himself in the genres of screwball comedy and action-adventure. Katharine Hepburn and Irene Dunne were his frequent and highly effective costars. With Hepburn, he appeared in the drag comedy Sylvia Scarlett (1935), the classic screwball comedies Holiday (1938) and Bringing Up Baby (1938), and the upper-class satire The Philadelphia Story (1940)



With Irene Dunne, Grant made the madcap farces The Awful Truth (1937) and My Favorite Wife (1940), as well as the comic tearjerker Penny Serenade (1941). Grant also proved himself capable of rugged action roles, with well-regarded performances in the popular Only Angels Have Wings and Gunga Din (both 1939).


Other Grant classics from this period include his turns as a whimsical poltergeist in Topper (1937) and as the charmingly conniving newspaper editor Walter Burns in His Girl Friday (1940), which is regarded as one of the greatest comedies in movie history. Howard Hawks, George Cukor, Leo McCarey, George Stevens, Garson Kanin, and Frank Capra were some of the renowned directors for whom Grant worked during this time.


Grant's association with Alfred Hitchcock resulted in some of the best work from both men. The director elicited some of the actor's best performances by casting him somewhat against type: the characters Grant portrays in the Hitchcock films have an underlying dark side that was compellingly juxtaposed with his characteristic suave demeanour.

In their first collaboration, Suspicion (1941), Grant played an unsympathetic character who may or may not be a murderer. He gave a fascinating and appropriately disturbing performance as a callous American agent who uses the woman he loves (Ingrid Bergman) to his own advantage in Notorious (1946), one of Hitchcock's most-renowned films. In the next decade, Grant appeared in Hitchcock's lighthearted and stylish caper To Catch a Thief (1955), a film noted for its ad-libbed scenes, rife with double-entendres, between Grant and costar Grace Kelly. North by Northwest (1959) was a career milestone for both Grant and Hitchcock and is regarded as a masterful blend of suspense and humour.




Grant's screen career extended into the 1960s, when he appeared in such films as the romantic farce That Touch of Mink (1962) with Doris Day and the stylish caper Charade (1963) with Audrey Hepburn.

Walk Don't Run (1966) inadvertently became his final film, as he was enmeshed in divorce (from fourth wife Dyan Cannon) and child-custody proceedings that dragged on until 1969 and consumed his attention; it is said that he lost much of his interest in filmmaking during that period. One of the few stars for whom the term “screen icon” is not mere hyperbole, Grant in 1999 ranked second (next to Humphrey Bogart) on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 greatest film stars of all time.

Mr. Style: Cary Grant

Fashion and style go hand in hand. That's perhaps why I love old movies so much. I'm talking as far back as the 1930's. And yes the talkies! The actors and actresses of yesteryear wore the latest fashions and dazzled audiences alike. Everyone wanted to be like them, dress like them, look like them. What better way to launch this site, than with a man who encompasses fashion and style. Everyone wanted to be like him...Mr. Cary Grant.



Archibald Alec Leach (18 January 1904 – 29 November 1986), better known by his stage name, Cary Grant, was a British-born American actor. With his distinctive yet not quite placeable accent, he was noted as perhaps the foremost exemplar of the debonair leading man, handsome, virile, charismatic and charming. He was named the second Greatest Male Star of All Time of American cinema.