Blonde Beauty Icon Olivia Newton-John
A Fantasy! A musical! A place where dreams come true.....Olivia Newton-John in Xanadu is quite literally magical!! I have always been obsessed with Greek mythology and anything from 1979/1980 (the years of my conception/birth). Luckily this film involves BOTH! The premise of this 1980 musical flop is as follows: A mural in Venice Beach, CA of the nine Olympian Muses (Greek deities who inspire the creation of literature and the arts) springs to life in full neon splendor, and the Muse of Dance (Olivia Newton-John) is sent to inspire a down on his luck, starving artist to fulfill his dream of opening a roller disco/art house! Yes, that is actually the plot. Throw in some retro 1940's glaMOUR, unacceptable spandex and lame` garments, an inappropriate and out of place animated musical number and lot's of feathered hair and you have one of the BEST worst films ever made! The film was a box office disaster but the soundtrack, featuring Olivia and Electric Light Orchestra was a Top 5 smash hit and included the #1 hit single Magic!
The billowing, breezy looks the 9 muses wear in the film, which were created by costume designer Bobbie Mannix, were so popular that an entire Xanadu fashion line was created, and sold in boutiques around the country. Above are some of the designs.
Olivia really is a Muse, as she inspires me to wear billowing, sheer polyester sun dresses, spandex jumpsuits, dolman sleeved blouses and metallic strappy stilettos. Too bad I never learned how to roller skate. I should also mention that my Xanadu looks in the summer of 2007 ended up getting me free tickets to see Xanadu on Broadway! Kinda sad it closed. It was hysterical!
Olivia really is a Muse, as she inspires me to wear billowing, sheer polyester sun dresses, spandex jumpsuits, dolman sleeved blouses and metallic strappy stilettos. Too bad I never learned how to roller skate. I should also mention that my Xanadu looks in the summer of 2007 ended up getting me free tickets to see Xanadu on Broadway! Kinda sad it closed. It was hysterical!
bugle beads and a blow out!
Would it be really inappropriate to wear this as a bath robe? Yes? GOOD!
PEACH!
Have to beWEAVE we are magic.......
Lame' tiger print. 'nuff said!
Original design sketch by Bobbie Mannix
Billowing Beauty
ROLLER SET!
The film version of this song is unacceptably long and includes 6 costume changes!
Disco Pants!
I do believe a vent brush was involved!
What was with the late 70's trend of romantic dresses with slouchy boots?
White leather fringe ANYTHING is good.
Original design sketch by Bobbie Mannix
Great song! Great scene in the film! 40's glaMOUR meets 80's glitz. This is a great live version and features some wonderfully dodgy video effects...yes, that IS ON-J as a blonde, brunette AND redhead!
I do believe the costume designer from Victor/Victoria ripped this off a few years later.
Her cheek is so peach, I want to take a bite!
Original design sketch by Bobbie Mannix
aMUSE me!
Neon Nights
This scene inspired the decor of my living room....Hell my whole fucking life!!!
This scene inspired the decor of my living room....Hell my whole fucking life!!!
what made xanadu SO glamorous, besides the looks and michael beck's hair and leather vested moments, was how completely OVER IT onj was the entire time. nothing's better than a woman in a gorgeous look singing at the top of her range on rollerskates with dead eyes.
ReplyDeleteman i almost forgot about xanadu! everything was so soft and magical looking. ONJ is such a off the shoulder tops kinda girl
ReplyDeleteshe really knew about peach. that makes me happy.
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