Rubenstein - The looks of love: 50 moments in fashion that inspired romance

For David.

His is my favorite look of love, ever.

Lucky me.

CONTENTS

Y ears ago, my parents and I were together at a family wedding. I hadnt seen my father in a few weeks and though we talked every day, he wanted to hear about everything I was doing, face-to-face. It didnt matter that my sideburns had already turned partially silver. To him, I would always be that kid on the tricycle, and to be honest, I kind of liked it that way. Plus, his ever-fervent interest never failed to make me happy and feel loved. As we were speaking, my mother walked by, wearing an organza gown with an impressive neckline for a woman in her early sixties, and a bell skirt that attracted attention in a lush, vintage gold, blue, and brown floral print. She looked lovely, and I wasnt the only one who thought so. My father gazed at her the way he continuously had for more than fifty years, as if he couldnt believe how he had wound up the luckiest guy on earth. He remained staring, straining his neck for one last glimpse, as if she were leaving on an extended trip, until finally she disappeared into a gathering of guests. When he turned back toward me, his smile was shy and his eyes were both glittering and searching, because in looking at her hed completely lost his train of thought. What the hell were we talking about? he asked as he blushed in embarrassment. I was delighted, and I was used to it. Because it happened all the time.

I am my fathers son, and that makes me a fool for love in all its forms and guiseswhether directed toward a person, a city, a movement, or even an idealbecause of the unmatchable power romance possesses to engage us, to make us go to extremes, and to alter our reality.

The Looks of Love: 50 Moments in Fashion That Inspired Romance is a cavalcade of grand passions that opened our eyes; jump-started our senses; threw us way off the rails; shocked, teased, titillated, amused, horrified, or dazzled us enough to generate shifts in our social interactions; irrevocably modified our dating habits, even influenced how and whom we chose to marry. The book delves into films that offer embraces and entrances we wont ever forget, highlights others that remind us how ardor can be one heartbreak away from insanity, and celebrates those that surprised us with bold approaches toward sex, the power of women, the vulnerability of men, and other fresh stances for each gender to try on for size. Of course, some movies are here simply because theyre meant to be swooned over, since at some point, everyone has dreamed of falling in love the way they do in the movies.

Courtesy Hal Rubenstein.

Television may now have an even greater influence on affecting morals and behavior in everyday life, so in this book there are some of the shows and series that became appointment television, either because the relationships portrayed operated at a level of such heightened reality and mercurial lust that we could relish them as primers of inappropriate conduct, or because they were as enlightening as they were entertaining in revealing an acute awareness of the challenges and expectations we now encounter in facing marriage, friendship, separation, or loss.

Naturally, how can you thrill to a first date, a first kiss, a wedding, a midnight tryst, or a hot seduction on a dance floor if you dont dress the part? The clothes actors wore to cast their spells on and off the screen, the garments advertisers chose to outfit models in so wed crave their products, the dresses veiled brides donned to walk down the aisle, and best of all, the looks brilliantly inspired designers sent down runways to offer us new visions of beauty are literally the uncommon threads that are woven through The Looks of Love. Here are the women who were courted wearing smart berets paired with maxi skirts or the soign swirl of a bias-cut dress. Others unleashed tempestuous emotions accented by piles of teased tresses atop buttress-padded shoulders or to the syncopated rhythm of beaded, blond cornrows. There are men we adored who were oh-so-preppy, and some of the sharpest were natty, thanks to Savile Row. One man only selected suits from a Milanese designer who changed menswear forever, and then theres a singular star who wore a leather jacket men and women just keep right on buying because no one has ever looked cooler than he did.

Courtesy Hal Rubenstein.

I know how ridiculously blessed I am to have had the parents I did, to witness and learn firsthand how much richer life becomes when feelings arent suppressed, when humor and intelligence are sources of sexual attraction, if constant agreement isnt a requirement for happiness, and when you know looking your best for someone else isnt superficial at allits a total rush. But my folks were just one couple. Recognizing the rarity of their relationship is whats always stoked my curiosity to seek other sources and discover whom, what, and where people have turned to become activated, elevated, or decimated by their emotions and urges. Evidently Im not alone, because its remarkable how intimately so many of us have been affected by the moments chronicled and remembered in this book.

My hope is that The Looks of Love educates and excites you, makes you smile as you recall the past, and allows you to go forward just a wee bit more aware of why we love, how we love, and whom we love. Id be proud if you find something in these pages that will nudge you, whether its today or sometime in the near future, into gazing upon the person with whom youve chosen to share a life with a look something akin to the way my father used to look at my mother. Life offers many choices, but when in doubt, Ill take romance every time. H.R.

Love Story, 1970

C heaply produced, poorly shot, and badly edited, Love Storys plot stumbles along so devoid of pace or grace you cant help suspecting that Yale classics professor-turned-screenwriter Erich Segal pitched his novel of doomed young love to Paramount Pictures executives using flash cards written in Magic Marker. Compared to the sparkling banter between the magnetic screen couplings of Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy or Doris Day and Rock Hudson, the initial flirtations between trust-fund hockey jock Oliver Barrett IV and poor but headstrong Jenny Cavilleri are so hampered by chips on every shoulder and defensive sarcasm masquerading as wit you cant imagine these two kids taking a stroll across campus, let alone giving up everything to be together.

Then why and how did Love Story leave millions of moviegoers eagerly sobbing hysterically into a puddle of soaked tissues? Made for a mere two million dollars, the film earned fifty times that to become the highest-grossing film of 1971, its tear-stained success due to the rare alignment of brilliant marketing, fortuitous timing, savvy casting, a reassuring return to overlooked attire, a single rhapsodic production element, and one rapturous plug from a famous fan.

Courtesy Everett Collection.