Friends, real fast -- this year's MPB Day is scheduled for Saturday, August 11. Don't forget to put it on your calendars; I'll be sharing all the details very soon!
And now today's theme: it's been hot here in the USA. So hot, in fact, that it sometimes feels like we're living on a desert isle...perhaps even an uncharted desert isle.
Who better to provide style tips for these sultry days than the seven stranded castaways from Gilligan's Island? As a child, I loved Gilligan's Island. It's one of those old Sixties TV shows that, frankly, don't hold up very well, but the fashions were fabulous and the characters so well-defined that, whether you were a square (but studly) professor, a millionaire, or a movie star, there was somebody you identified with.
When I discovered this morning that you can actually purchase ready-made Gilligan's Island costumes, I realized that something was very wrong with our world. I mean, how lame is this?
Or this?
Wouldn't it be easier -- and more fun -- to sew your own? The patterns are so easy to find. Let's start with the guys. For Gilligan, you can't beat this. It's perfect!
For the Professor and the Skipper, straight leg pants and traditional button down shirts...
Be sure to toss in a few tropical separates -- that blue one is so Skipper!
Now onto the gals. The women on the island looked great -- absurdly so, in fact -- and were so iconic that the Ginger vs. Mary Ann meme has survived nearly fifty years. Who wouldn't want to look like Ginger? Well, friends, it's not hard. We want a narrow fitted gown, preferably done up in a leopard print or something glittery.
Mary Ann is all about polka dots and cute midriff tops. Don't forget the pigtails!
Of course the girls need bathing suits, and the bikinis must be cut exactly like underwear for true period accuracy.
The Howells are easy: he gets cardigans, ascots, and a smoking jacket; she gets muu-muus and big hats. And pearls!
Readers, have I forgotten anything? Oh, yes!
In closing, three questions:
1) If you had to dress like one of the Gilligan's Island castaways, who would it be?
2) Who was the hunkiest male on the island?
3) If not Gilligan's Island, which TV show has had the most influence on your personal style?
Don't forget to throw your hat in ring for the Vogue Patterns giveaway and remember to save the date for MPB Day on August 11th!
Have a great weekend, everybody, stay cool, and beware those three-hour tours!
In real life, Mrs. Howell by day, Ginger by night...but I always loved how Ginger pranced around in formal wear most of the time.
ReplyDeleteActually I dress more like Skipper, especially for work. Mary Ann has too much frou-frou, Ginger is way out of my realm, and even though I am sewgranny and wear hats in the sun, Mrs Howell is just a little too far past me a white glove, Jackie O sort of way.
ReplyDeleteWe used to sing that theme song every time my Dad took us out sailing - as if this was going to be our very last trip ;-) Actually, my Dad is a very good sailor - my brother on the other hand . . . At Universal Studios (where the show was filmed) they used to have the lagoon. Yikes! That water looked murky. It was a great show - we loved it as kids and watched it again and again in reruns, too.
ReplyDeleteOh this cracks me up!! Gilligan is clearly the most appropriately dressed for the wear and tear of island living. The professor was the hunkiest but very asexual.
ReplyDeleteFavorite episodes: silent movie, musical version of Hamlet and radioactive vegetable seeds!
...neither a borrower nor a lender be,
DeleteDo not forget,
Stay out of debt...
I loved mary ann! After all i was a kansas girl felt akin to her. I also loved petticoat junction, i loved billie joe on there tomboy winning the hot steve
ReplyDelete"I ask to be or not to be, this is the question that I ask of thee" Gosh, I loved that musical Hamlet!
ReplyDeleteThe males on the island were weirdly asexual, so no one counts as a hunk.
Star Trek has a lot more influence on my personal style.
I LOVED Gilligan's Island!! My sister and I used to watch the reruns when we got home from school in the '80s. I always thought Ginger was so glamorous, but now, looking at that first cast photo you posted, I think she looks a little saggy. Why didn't they build some support into that slinky dress?
ReplyDeleteThe Professor was the only hunk on the island. And he was SUCH a hunk.
ReplyDeleteI've never see Gilligan's Island - I wonder if it was ever broadcast in the UK, but I'm getting a good picture of it here!
ReplyDeleteBy far and away my favourite show style-wise is House of Eliot. It followed the story of two well-to-do sisters in the 1920's whose father passed away leaving them penniless and they had to make their own way in the world - and the only skills they had were sewing. Fabulous clothes and a great storyline that you just wanted to copy!
Here is a link to some pictures from the series . . . .
https://www.google.ca/search?q=house+of+eliot&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=y134T83EAcmjrQHvxJyLCQ&biw=1525&bih=638&sei=0F34T8T_NaHU2AXFnZzSBg
Phew - rather a long link, I hope it works!
I remember that show, and loving the fashions.
DeleteGreat post! I would say I would dress up as Mary ann...she was more care free and her outfits look playful and fun. Hunkiest would have to be the professor!
ReplyDeleteLastly, I can't really think of a show that has influenced my life as of late, but I remember wanting to have Mary Tyler Moore's clothes when I grew up. Can you imagine wearing that now :)
HaHaHa...I was going to say 'don't forget Gilligan's bucket hat!!'
ReplyDeleteLoved the professor.
The Charley Girl was my fashion icon.
Love it. My friends did a group costume of the Gilligan gang last Halloween. It was awesome!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/walkerw/7521733688/in/photostream
That was awesome! great job...and the SS Minnow prop was a nice touch, too!
DeleteWell done -- you even have the transistor radio!
DeleteI once saw The Skipper (Alan Hale) in person, 1987. In a hotel restaurant with a couple of other TV folks - I can't remember who they were, but I recognized The Skipper :) Apparently there was a fan convention in town that weekend and they were staying at the hotel. And yes, he was dressed as The Skipper, captain hat and all!
ReplyDeleteMicky
Although gilligan's Island wasn't shown in the UK I did see reruns when I lived in the States,I thought it was bonkers, the same genre as Lost in Space, but I thought Ginger was gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteOne of the departments in my office dressed up as the Gilligan's Island characters for Halloween a couple of years ago. They did a great job! Not a storebought costume among them, just lots of thrift shops and ingenuity.
ReplyDelete1) If you had to dress like one of the Gilligan's Island castaways, who would it be?
Ginger. She was so glamorous!
2) Who was the hunkiest male on the island?
The island wasn't exactly overflowing with hunks, but I guess I'll say the Professor. Smart is sexy.
3) If not Gilligan's Island, which TV show has had the most influence on your personal style?
The Dick Van Dyke Show. Laura Petrie had a beautiful and stylish wardrobe of early '60s classics.
Thank you so much for this blast from the past! Love love loved that show, silly though it was.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised anyone wouldn't want to dress like Ginger.
I loved Ginger's glam because it was so far to the other side of my life. Professor was the hunk of all the guys. I would have preferred to dress like Marlo Thomas in That Girl (loved everything she wore) , however I was the age and just as gawky as Jan of the Brady Bunch.
ReplyDeleteThe Good Life. A UK TV programme from the '70's about a middle class couple, Tom and Barbara, going through a midlife crisis who decide to become self-sufficient. Felicity Kendall was such a perfect 1970's woman - petite, pert bottomed, a little tomboyish...and the original UK show that Three's Company was based upon - Man About The House. Hilarious! And its spin off, Robin's Nest. I loved those 70's shows with all their flared trousered gorgeousness!!
ReplyDeleteMum used 2312 to make a Dressing Gown for Dad - sadly he never completed his ensemble with either a pipe or a cravat....
ReplyDeleteOoh I remember Gilligan's Island. Actually, I’m so old that I also remember Gilligan as Maynard G Krebs in 'The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis' but I forget the name of the actor who played Gilligan. (I do, however, remember that Steven Franken who played Chatsworth Osborne junior in 'Dobie Gillis' had a memorable turn as the drunken butler in Blake Edwards' 1968 cult comedy 'The Party', in which an elephant also featured. And that one episode of 'Dobie Gilllis' included a song that told us not to "send an elephant to the store bring home peanuts and out them on the shelf, ...'cos he'd eat them all himself”. Does anyone know if there were any elephants on the island? If so, I’d go for an elephant costume. Failing that, I wannabe Ginger. Or too young to remember any of this.)
ReplyDeleteSo was it my previous semi-snarky remark about bucket hats making one look like "Gilligan" that inspired the theme of this post? ;-)
ReplyDeleteIt's possible you planted the seed!
DeleteI want to make a ginger dress for an up coming wedding. The professor was a bit of a spunk. The brady bunch was my fav as was The Monkees, of course.
ReplyDeleteI'm not built for it but you can't go past Diana Rigg as Mrs Emma Peel in The Avengers. She was fabulous - from frocks to catsuits she always looked stunning. Her companion John Steed was also impeccably dressed (by Pierre Cardin if I remember correctly).
ReplyDeleteHooray for MPB Day!
ReplyDeleteThanks for bringing back happy memories. My mother and I would watch Gilligan’s Island together and laugh and laugh about the fact that it was “a three hour tour,” yet they had steamer trunks full of clothes!
1. I guess I’m in the minority on Ginger. I never liked her character. I’m probably more of a Mary Ann.
2. I can’t really say I ever thought of any males on that island as “hunky,” but I would have to choose the Professor.
3. I was too much of a goofy tom boy to be influenced by TV show style. However, if it was today, as mentioned by others, I do covet the clothes worn by Mary Tyler Moore, Marlo Thomas in That Girl, and Dianna Rigg in The Avengers.
I was never much of a fan of TV, but I do recall "The Avengers" as being one of my stylistic influences, even though I was still too young to understand many of the plots and some of them I found genuinely terrifying. But Diana Rigg was always smashingly turned out and cool as a cucumber!
ReplyDeleteI always wondered how did they packed so much wardrobe for a 3 hour tour? except for Gilligan and the Skipper, they always wore the same clothes. Perhaps they had a stowaway like Peter who created new wardrobe from whatever materials he could find (that island must had more fabric than NYC). i.e. Ginger who always modeled new gowns every week and Mrs. Howell always wore her Sunday best every week.
ReplyDeleteFWIW, my prom dress was the McCall's 7057! In turquoise brocade! With the long white gloves! (that was 1964!). But now (sigh) I'm into Mrs. Howell's muu muus.
ReplyDelete