this is sandy and this is Danny you know
them from Greece
you know this outfit and this one and of
course this one but are they accurate we
got this fashion historian
hi I'm Raisa Britannia and I'm a fashion
historian to walk us through what the
movie got right and which I got wrong
about these looks first let's establish
the setting the movie is set in Southern
California during the 1957-1958 school
year we know this because the opening
beach scene takes place at Leo Carrillo
State Park in Malibu and why exactly
nineteen fifty-eight we can see another
clue in the diner scene where Ritchie
Valens rendition of La Bamba is playing
and that was released in 1958 Rydell
High is a fictional high school meant to
represent the all-american ideal not
unlike those featured on American
Bandstand anything else you'd like to
add Greece is based on a Broadway
musical which premiered in 1972 and the
film was released in 1978 this film is a
postmodern interpretation of the 1950's
likely made by filmmakers who were
teenagers at the time this film
prioritizes nostalgia over historical
accuracy and that's because they really
rely on these archetypes that were
established in the 1950s Greece is
inspired by the teen films of the late
1950s like High School Confidential
untamed youth and teenage Thunder Greece
is the quintessential teen film and
that's because it was in the 1950s that
teenagers first truly became recognized
as their own subsets the concept of the
teenager was a post-war invention and in
1945 the New York Times published the
teenage Bill of Rights which was a
manifesto that outlined how to live the
teenage life the year 1945 coincides
with the end of World War two and
teenagers were really allowed to revel
in their youth amazing let's get into
the looks first up is Sandy's summer
nights look
this look sandy embodies of the 1950s
good girl archetype others were Doris
Day and Debbie Reynolds the characters
full name is sandy Olsen but a lot of
people think that her name is Sandra Dee
based on the song but actually Sandra
Dee was a real American actress who was
very famous in the 1950s this costume
represents the ideals established by
mainstream fashion and that was of the
new-look silhouette introduced by
christian dior in 1947 okay let's draw
Sandy's look from the undergarments up
first up the underwear we do see a peak
of accurate 1950s underwear in this
sleepover scene the undergarments would
have consisted of a brassiere and high
waist panties the brassiere of the
1950's was commonly known as the bullet
bra notable for its pointed cups
stockings could be worn by more mature
teenagers but we're often usually just
worn by adult women let's move on to the
next layer a half slip could be worn
over the panties and underneath the
petticoat and that pretty much just
looked like a skirt the petticoat of the
1950's sometimes called a crinoline
could get very very full and multiple
layers could be worn to create that
voluminous silhouette sandy is wearing
at least one petticoat and we see the
hem of it peeking out right here so this
is actually accurate okay up next the
shirt
sandy wears a white collared button-down
shirt which was a schoolgirl staple
rooted in the tradition of the school
uniform this also seems accurate Sandy's
casting in the good girl archetype is
further reinforced by the peter pan
collar on her shirt and that is rounded
right at the neck this is in direct
contrast to the pointed popped collar
which was more closely associated with
the bad girl moving on to the skirt
sandy skirt is entirely accurate because
it's cut in a very full circle and
nipped at the waist further emphasized
wide belt we see these wide waist
cinching belts on several characters
throughout the film perhaps more
commonly associated with teenagers in
the 1950s is the poodle skirt while
poodle skirts were certainly popular
with teenagers during the 1950's they
really became more emblematic of the
1950s in the decades following the
poodle skirt was invented by Julie Lynch
Charlotte who wanted a festive skirt to
wear to a holiday party so she cut a
circle out of felt a smaller circle on
the inside and then made a little
festive poodle to stitch on top
important to note that it wasn't just
poodles all types of novelty appliques
were applied to these skirts such as
other dogs or flowers or umbrellas or
raindrops a sneaker in popularity
poodle skirts would eventually be
manufactured commercially however they
were still more commonly regarded as a
home sewing project we do see patty
Simcox wearing a poodle skirt and this
scene and she's pretty much a caricature
of the 1950s teen next up the cardigan
we see Sandi wearing a cardigan draped
over her shoulders which was a very
fashionable way to wear this she does
remove it later on in the song but she
could wear a sweater clip to help secure
it if she wanted to keep it on the
sweater clip was a functional piece of
jewelry that basically consisted of two
individual Clips connected by a
decorative chain and that was used to
hold the sweater on your shoulders and
for that reason it was also called a
sweater guard another fashionable way to
wear your cardigan sweater in the 1950s
was actually backwards with the buttons
going up the back and that brings us to
the shoes
here we have Sandi wearing a sensible
pair of shoes with a low heel perfect
for a day at school the style of shoe
more commonly associated with the 1950s
school girl however was the two-tone
saddle shoe often worn with white bobby
socks
on to the hair Sandy's hair isn't
glaringly inaccurate but it does seem to
more closely resemble 1970s hairstyles
it's really the short bangs that add
that definitive 1950s touch these bangs
were especially popular for younger
women and teens in the 1950s women often
set their hair in curls overnight as we
can see in the sleepover scene these
Styles can be seen on the characters
Frenchie and Marty and this is probably
a bit more accurate the decorative clips
that she wears are pretty accurate and
were often used to tuck the hair behind
the ears
and finally the jewelry we can see that
sandy doesn't wear any earrings in the
scene and that's because Frenchie hasn't
pierced her ears yet actually having
pierced ears was far less common in the
1950s than it is today because of this
most earrings were actually clip ons or
screw backs especially fashionable were
larger styles that featured pearls and
lightweight plastic overall this look is
pretty accurate so here's what Sandy's
summer nights outfit would have looked
like compared to the one in the film
because they go together let's talk
about Danny's look the character of
Danny Zuko takes inspiration from 1950s
rebel heart throbs like Marlon Brando
and James Dean greasers were part of a
1950s youth subculture that was born out
of the working-class with the rise of
the teenager in the 1950s counterculture
actually became widely acknowledged in
popular mainstream culture and this is
where we start to see the difference
between fashion and anti fashion anti
fashion actively subverts
the standards set up by the fashion
system the character of Danny Zuko
romanticizes counterculture and anti
fashion as we can see in this look the
individual layers that Danny wears are
easy enough to replicate but really this
look is based not on the clothes
themselves but the attitude with which
their warrant
that's cool baby I mean you know how it
is and Rodan what now Danny
let's break down Danny's look first up
the underwear as is the case today there
was variation in men's underwear boxer
briefs during this time were shorter and
more fitted a sleeveless cotton singlet
could also be worn as an undershirt this
is another style of undershirt except
worn as an outer garment let's look at
the next layer here Danny is wearing a
white t-shirt but later he's often shown
wearing a plain black t-shirt this was
likely a choice by the costume designer
to help distinguish him as the romantic
male lead amongst a group of actors
essentially wearing the same thing next
up pants blue jeans would have been the
norm in both the mainstream youth
culture and the greaser subculture as we
can see in many scenes throughout the
film he may have been wearing Levi's 501
jeans which were a long-standing classic
they featured a button fly and a
straight leg and in the 1950's these
jeans would have typically been worn
cuffed at the ankle men typically wore
their trousers closer to the natural
waistline rather than the lower hip line
next steps
the iconic t-bird leather jacket the
black leather motorcycle jacket is the
Paramount feature of the greaser look
this iconic style was introduced by
Harley Davidson it is recognizable by
its off-center zipper closure metal
fastenings diagonal pockets and a belt
at the bottom of course what makes this
jacket unique to Greece is the t-birds
logo on the back this could be a nod to
the racing club jackets worn by
teenagers in the 1950s which is the
perfect foil to the Pink Ladies jacket
moving down to the shoes Danny wears
black Oxford's with white socks which is
an obvious reference to the shoes worn
by 1950s rock-and-roll sex symbol Elvis
Presley the obvious desire to equate
Danny with a teen heartthrob is a
conscious choice made by the
Elvises cultural influence was
unparalleled and we can see Danny's
style of singing and dancing closely
resembles that made popular by Elvis
Danny more likely would have been
wearing converse high tops or very
durable motorcycle boots like those we
see on Kenickie these sturdy boots
harken back to the greasers
working-class roots and last but
certainly not least the hair the greaser
look would not be complete without that
hairstyle the pompadour style also made
famous by Elvis featured slicked sides
and a lot of volume at the top achieving
this hairstyle required a lot of hair
product like pomade or wax or grape
there were variations in rockabilly
hairstyles worn by musicians at the time
and we can see that in Danny's hairstyle
with that signature little curl in the
front
Danny's hair is super accurate super
OnPoint
Danny's look in Greece helped to
solidify the rebel without a cause
archetype that was established by Marlon
Brando and James Dean in the 1950s so
here's what Danny's outfit would have
looked like compared to the one he wore
in the film because we know this is the
one that you want let's move on to
Sandy's finale transformation Mary this
is undoubtedly the most iconic looking
at them but it's actually the least
accurate and most problematic
tell me about it instead let's move past
the fact that she has to change herself
to keep her man and focus on the bad
girl archetype that dominated 1950s film
here she embodies the female teenage
rebel further emphasized by her entrance
with a cigarette that she quickly puts
out this look is actually heavily
influenced by the 1970s and the line
between 70s fashion and 50s costume is
blurred when Olivia newton-john wears a
very similar look to the Premier of
Greece some actresses that embody this
1950s bad girl archetype were Mamie Van
Doren Joan Collins Ava Gardner and
Elizabeth Taylor let's see what this
look would have looked like first step
the undergarments the undergarments
would be similar to that worn in her
first look except this time probably
black instead of white additionally her
bra may have been strapless to
accommodate the open neckline again the
bullet bra style featured severely
pointed cups and these things called
falsies were these little triangular
foam pieces that were placed inside the
bra to fill in the point this leads us
to the shirt
sandy wears a black off the shoulder top
and that was a style worn by the
bombshells and bad girls of the 1950's
another iconic variation of the same
type was the sweater girl the sweater
girl trope was established in 1937 with
Lana Turner but she would remain a
cultural fixture throughout the 1940s
and 50s especially in film the sweater
girl became synonymous with a bad girl
because the body-hugging knits that she
wore showed off her dangerous curves
especially over that bullet bra next up
those pants while pants still weren't
widely accepted as work wear for adults
they were a staple in sportswear for
teenagers
at this time sportswear was distinctly
American in style which is perfect for
this film because it celebrates both
Americana and youth culture pants at
this time were usually cropped and
fitted but not nearly as tight as they
are in this scene
sandy wears shiny black spandex pants
that were reportedly so tight that she
had to be sewn into them on set pants
this tight would have required spandex
to achieve that level of stretch
however spandex wasn't invented until
1959 by DuPont an American Chemical
Company women in the 1950s were eager to
wear pants and one of the biggest
supporters at this movement was famed
actress Kay Thompson and also author of
the Eloise book she wanted to wear pants
so bad that she actually started her own
line called fancy pants and now of
course the jacket this leather jacket is
first and foremost a visual storytelling
device used to align her with Danny's
greaser style the idea of a lady in a
leather jacket was not as firmly
established however harley-davidson did
release a style in their 1954 catalog
called the ladies companion jacket this
could be another nod to the racing club
jackets worn by both male and female
teenagers at the time let's look at
those shoes sandy wares saucy red mules
with a high heel and somehow
impressively navigates both the grass
and a moving funhouse all while doing
choreography how there may be some movie
magic keeping that shoe on her foot but
there's actually a unique feature built
in to help keep it on this was called
the spring Oh later invented by American
shoe designer beth levine the spring
later was a special insult that featured
an elastic panel that hugged the arch of
the foot and kept the shoe in place
moving on to the hair
this is 1970s hair switches Olivia
newton-john's hair in the 1950s hair was
usually worn shorter above the shoulders
we can see that Sandy's hair is pretty
long here additionally we see that her
curls are pretty teased out and in the
1950s those would be a lot more
contained a popular bad girl hairstyle
was short and cropped with face framing
curls not unlike the one we see on Rizzo
this was called the Italian cut and
became especially popular in 1953 and
finally the jewelry now that sandy has
her ears pierced
she wears a pair of gold hoops although
clip-on gold hoops did exist these are
totally accurate to the bad girl
archetype it makes sense that the
best-known costume in this film is one
that would appeal to audiences in 1978
this look is so iconic that it's become
closely tied to Olivia newton-john's own
star persona
so here is what Sandy's finale
transformation outfit would have looked
like compared to the one in the film
throughout film history supporting
characters are often more accurate than
the romantic leads and this movie is no
exception
Kenickie and Rizzo are actually a lot
more accurately depicted than sandy and
Danny over all the individual pieces of
clothing are simple enough that it's
kind of hard to get them wrong jeans
t-shirt however if you are looking at
historical accuracy you kind of have to
look beyond that at really subtle nuance
in styling any inaccuracies are subtle
enough that they don't necessarily
stretch from the story but are there to
help cater to the 1970s audiences Greece
is a movie that cashes in on nostalgia
and continues to perpetuate the idea of
the 1950s American teen ideal even for
those who weren't teenagers in the 1950s
this film perpetuates elements of youth
culture which have roots in the 1950s
and continue to speak even to teenagers
today so here's a more accurate idea of
what
Andy and Daniel would have looked I'd
had they lived in history
[Music]