Monroe River Rendezvous

More often than not, anyone at any given time can generally find me tucked away somewhere with my eyes feasting on a film. Last night I made my way to the local art gallery for a special screening of Otto Preminger's River of No Return. Despite having a copy of this film tucked away in my collection of Marilyn Monroe films, I couldn't resist the opportunity to see it "big". It's been a few years since I've seen my favourite gal (Monroe) the way she was meant to be seen, ie. larger than life. The last two were my favourites of hers, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Some Like it Hot, back in University during my film school days.
River of No Return, however, was the first I've seen where its been her juxtaposed with the great landscape, shot many years ago (1953) in Jasper and Banff, Alberta.Last night was the first time (after many previous viewings) that I truly noticed Monroe's wardrobe in the picture. I've always admired this role on her mostly because I feel that it shows her at her most beautiful representation. Putting aside the portions of the film where she is dressed like the saloon girl, singing and dancing for the men, when she is stripped down to natural/country clothing, with her long hair, she looks most natural and at ease. A girl like Marilyn was always dolled up and dressed to the nines; her hair short and styled to perfection; wearing a dress that hugs every curve in her body; flawless and impacting makeup; and her skin draped in jewels and diamonds; so to have her dressed in this contrast is truly something to take note of.

I wanted to see how I could get this style today. So I went searching for stylish matches on my favourite discount designer website, the very tempting and delicious Bluefly . From there I was quickly able to find the essential elements to Monroe's character, Kay Weston's look.

The bare essentials of this look are composed of:

1. The bluejeans: Above I found a straight leg dark denim at MiH Jeans in a navy stretch for $126.90.
2. The white linen/cotton blouse: The one above is from Juicy at $97.00.
3. The belt: This chocolate brown classic is from Prada for a mere $306.00.
4. The boots: Tall 'Chiara' boots in black by Cole Haan for $311.99.

There are so many different options you could go with to achieve this look. A few of my favourites are below: White swiss dot cotton top by Charlotte Ronson
Easy flowing pale pink with black polka-dot top by Free People
Short sleeved Marc Jacobs top in baby blue floating dots

This green gingham by Juicy is my favourite top of all on this post. I think Marilyn would look stunning in this. I love this chocolate floral detail belt by Motif 56.
In the film she wears black boots, but I think that a nice brown such as these two pairs would be more fitting for the look. The above pair is from Modern Vintage, very equestrian, and well suited for a ride down the river on a raft.
If you want to go for a more extravagant pair, try these by Dolce and Gabbana.

Finally, Kay carries around a pair of her finest shoes (and last remaining possession of her life at the salon and as a singer) with her throughout their journey. If there were shoes to rival hers back then, these above by Christian Louboutin would be the shoes! Now today instead of tossing the shoes at the end, she would keep them. I mean, who would throw away a pair of shoes like these ruby red gems?