The Movie "Blow-Up" and Baby's White Levis

In an earlier blog article about Jennifer Grey's autobiography, I reported that she herself selected several of the clothes items that she wore in the movie. One such item was her white Levis.

Nothing said sixties to me like tight, high-waisted white Levi's cropped to just above the ankle I asked the [movie's costume] designer if we could get some of those and some of the old-school white lace-up Keds we all used to wear.

Right before that passage in her autobiography, Grey had written that she had selected the red-striped sailor shirt because she had liked such a shirt in the 1960 movie Breathless, which Baby might have watched.

Grey did not write similarly that her white Levi's were inspired by some 1960s movie. However, I will speculate here that such pants "said sixties" to Grey because of the 1966 move Blow-Up. Of course, Baby could not have watched that movie before the movie's story, but the white pants do evoke the 1960s because of that movie.

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Every recent Friday evening, the TCM cable-television channel has discussed the clothing of old movies, and I happened to watch last Friday's discussion of Blow-Up. That movie's clothing was discussed by cinema expert Alicia Malone and costume designer Mark Bridges. In that movie, the main character wears white pants (and a blue shirt) all the time.

In their discussion of the movie's clothing, Bridges remarked that, for him as a costume designer, the white pants evokes the 1960s. For that reason, Bridges put characters in white pants for two movies where he himself served as costume designer.

Bridges did so for the 2001 movie Blow, which takes place in 1968.

White pants in the 1966 movie Blow,
which takes place in 1968

White pants in the 1966 movie Blow,
which takes place in 1968

The second movie that Bridges mentioned because he puts characters in white pants was the 2021 movie Licorice Pizza, which takes place in 1973 (soon after the 1969s).

White pants in the 2001 movie Licorice Pizza,
which takes place in 1973

White pants in the 2001 movie Licorice Pizza, 
which takes place in 1973

White pants in the 2001 movie Licorice Pizza,
which takes place in 1973

So, there is good reason to speculate that white pants reminded Grey -- perhaps just subconsciously -- of the 1960s because of the 1966 movie Blow-Up.