My Week With Marilyn continues to make headlines. People magazine reports the rumour that Queen Elizabeth may screen the movie privately at Buckingham Palace. Marilyn met the Queen at a premiere in 1956, and stayed at Parkside House, near to Windsor Castle and Eton. (Colin Clark claimed that he took Marilyn sight-seeing, though like the story in People, this may be stretching the truth.)
Among several newly-released clips from the movie is Michelle Williams’ performance of Heat Wave, which Marilyn immortalised in 1954′s There’s No Business Like Show Business.
Finally, costume designer Jill Taylor has been interviewed on the Vintage Seekers website about dressing Michelle as Marilyn:
“What I’ve always said about Marilyn is that she was way ahead of her time in terms of how she dressed in her everyday life. She really picked up on the American sportswear thing that was coming about with designers like Claire McCardell and Norman Morrill, who were making clothes that were less structured. In Britain we’d just come out of the New Look and were still wearing a lot of very tailored suits, but Marilyn’s wardrobe was much looser – how we ended up in the 60s is how she was in the 50s.
People pick up on the iconic Marilyn, the ‘tits ‘n’ ass’ sex symbol thing, but her sense of style is great. She wore simple lines and neutrals – a lot of white, beige, camel and black.
Someone like Audrey Hepburn had this wonderful style, thanks to Hubert de Givenchy, which she carried through from her private life to her film life, whereas Marilyn didn’t really do that; the Marilyn you see in her movies is a very different portrayal of the girl who went off to studios.”
