A girl who turned into a swan

Unless you've been hiding in some kind of underground bunker for the past couple of months, you've probably, by now, heard some talk of the film Black Swan. Every blog post, Tweet and Facebook update that I've seen lately, seems to mention something along the lines of "went to see Black Swan yesterday, it was amazing!" which is fair, because it is seriously bloody good; I thoroughly recommend it.

[Images from imdb.com]

Ballet is one of those things I really wish I'd done when I was younger - it's so amazing to watch and I'm very jealous of people who are able to dance like that. And the costumes are so beautiful! I've always had a bit of a thing for tutus; anyone who's read some of my older posts may remember this one about my favourite photograph of all time, Les Pointes, by Isabel Munoz. There's just something about the movement of all those layers of tulle that is so magical and lovely.

I was particularly excited to discover that Kate and Laura Mulleavy, aka the designers behind the label Rodarte, designed and made all of the ballet costumes in the film. You can't really tell from the two images above, but the costumes are insanely detailed and covered in hundreds of feathers. I think it was a brilliant idea to have the Mulleavy sisters design the ballet costumes, as they're renowned for producing intricately detailed clothing which is often beautiful with a dark or gothic edge; perfect for Black Swan. I've had these images from their Fall 2008 collection saved on my laptop for about a year but never actually used them for anything - now seems to be the perfect time as there's definitely something ballet-like in the full skirts and tight, pulled back hairstyles;

I WANT those tights.

[images from style.com]

*SIGH* It's all so beautiful!

Back to the film - I'm not going to go into the plot or anything like that - there's plenty of reviews out there on t'Interwebs (especially here!) and like I've already said, it seems most people have seen it by now or are planning on going. All I'm going to say is, it's absolutely stunning and the performances are incredible (Natalie Portman is surely a shoe-in for the Oscar). However, if you haven't seen it yet, and you're as wimpy as me, be prepared to be a bit freaked out in parts because there are some seriously dark, gruesome moments!*

*To be fair, I really am a MASSIVE wimp - I'm too scared to watch 127 Hours, even though I love James Franco, because I don't want to sit through the arm cutting off scene - so maybe the stuff in Black Swan isn't actually that bad. Have you seen it? What did you think?