Tuesday, 28 April 2009

从小住在体育训练基地里面,爸爸也是干体育这一行的,因此我跟体育也有一定的接触,有一定的了解。这次我希望做一个娱乐性的介绍马术的节目,对于大多数人来说,马术是项耗时花钱的贵族运动,日常生活中难以有所接触。并且用于比赛的马匹远不同于旅游景点那些仅供拍照的马,训练基地马房里的都是些两百万的欧洲纯种马。所以我想这样一个题材,对于多数观众来说是有一定神秘性很吸引力的。

若果节目播出后收效良好,还可继续以曲棍球、游泳、棒球、田径、击剑、射击、垒球等项目为主题,制作更多期节目。

节目的具体形式还没有确定,但想它尽量娱乐化,而非传统的知识性节目。初步预想是以一某个运动员或教练员拍摄中心,通过这个个体一天的生活,向观众展现马术的方方面面,比如说运动员教练员是如何工作生活的,马匹的驯养是如何进行的,国内国际赛事是怎样举办的等等。

大概的流程是这样安排的。首先参与者要有一定量马术方面的理论、常识性知识的积累,比如历史发展、著名赛事及运动员、马匹的种类、比赛项目、如何欣赏马术比赛等。对马术有初步概念后,节目制作人员跟随运动员或教练员共同工作训练几天,通过亲身体验加深对马术的了解。接着在这些基础上,全体制作人员共同商讨节目形式,写出节目的流程、板块、拍摄周期等具体事项。还要计划好具体该怎么拍,每一期节目要通过怎样的镜头才能明确的传达我们的想法,表明事情的前因后果,甚至画出每一个镜头草图,包括灯光该怎么打、机位该怎么摆等等细节方面的问题。最后才是开始拍摄。当然,拍摄期间会不断根据实际情况进行调整。

人员安排如下:

摄像师:1人,

灯光师:2人

解说员:1人

场记:1人(主要任务是将现场拍摄的每个镜头的详细情况:镜头号码、拍摄方法、镜头长度)

总人数:5人

Tuesday, 21 April 2009

pulp fiction

Pulp Fiction


Promotional artwork

Directed by Quentin Tarantino
Produced by Lawrence Bender
Written by Quentin Tarantino

Roger Avary


Starring John Travolta

Samuel L. Jackson

Uma Thurman

Bruce Willis

Harvey Keitel

Tim Roth

Amanda Plummer

Maria de Medeiros

Ving Rhames

Eric Stoltz

Rosanna Arquette

Christopher Walken

Cinematography Andrzej Sekula
Editing by Sally Menke
Distributed by Miramax Films

(U.S. theatrical)

Release date(s) May 1994

(world premiere—Cannes Film Festival)

September 23, 1994

(U.S. premiere—New York Film Festival)[1]

October 14, 1994

(U.S. general release)[2]


Running time 154 min.
Country United States
Language English
Budget US$8.5 million
Gross revenue US$107.9 million (domestic)

US$212.9 million (worldwide)



Pulp Fiction (1994) is an American crime film by director Quentin Tarantino, who cowrote its screenplay with Roger Avary. The film is known for its rich, eclectic dialogue, ironic mix of humor and violence, nonlinear storyline, and host of cinematic and pop culture references. The film was nominated for seven Oscars, including Best Picture; Tarantino and Avary won for Best Original Screenplay. It was also awarded the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. A major commercial success, it revitalized the career of its leading man, John Travolta, who received an Academy Award nomination, as did costars Samuel L. Jackson and Uma Thurman.

The film's title refers to the pulp magazines and hardboiled crime novels popular during the mid-20th century, known for their graphic violence and punchy dialogue. Pulp Fiction is self-referential from its opening moments, beginning with a title card that gives two dictionary definitions of "pulp". The plot, in keeping with most of Tarantino's other works, is presented out of chronological sequence. The picture's self-reflexivity, unconventional structure, and extensive use of homage and pastiche have led critics to describe it as a prime example of postmodern film. Pulp Fiction is viewed as the inspiration for many later movies that adopted various elements of its style. The nature of its development, marketing, and distribution and its consequent profitability had a sweeping effect on the field of independent cinema. A cultural watershed, Pulp Fiction's influence has been felt in several other popular media.
Contents

[show]


1 Overview
2 Plot
2.1 Vincent Vega and Marsellus Wallace's Wife
2.2 The Gold Watch
2.3 The Bonnie Situation
3 Development and production
3.1 Cast
3.2 Soundtrack
4 Release and reception
5 Influence and reputation
6 Critical analysis
6.1 Homage as essence
6.1.1 Cinema
6.1.2 Television
6.2 Notable motifs
6.2.1 The mysterious briefcase
6.2.2 Jules's Bible passage
6.2.3 The bathroom
7 Awards
8 Notes
9 Sources
10 External links



edit] Overview

Directed in a highly stylized manner, employing many cinematic allusions, Pulp Fiction joins the intersecting storylines of Los Angeles mobsters, fringe players, small-time criminals, and a mysterious briefcase. Considerable screen time is devoted to conversations and monologues that reveal the characters' senses of humor and perspectives on life. Considered by some critics a black comedy,[3] the film is also frequently labeled a "neo-noir".[4] Critic Geoffrey O'Brein argues otherwise:


The old-time noir passions, the brooding melancholy and operatic death scenes, would be altogether out of place in the crisp and brightly lit wonderland that Tarantino conjures up. Neither neo-noir nor a parody of noir, Pulp Fiction is more a guided tour of an infernal theme park decorated with cultural detritus, Buddy Holly and Mamie Van Doren, fragments of blaxploitation and Roger Corman and Shogun Assassin, music out of a twenty-four-hour oldies station for which all the decades since the fifties exist simultaneously.[5]


Nicholas Christopher similarly calls it "more gangland camp than neo-noir".[6] Foster Hirsch also suggests that its "trippy fantasy landscape" characterizes it more definitively than any genre label: Set "in a world that could exist only in the movies", Pulp Fiction is "a succulent guilty pleasure, beautifully made junk food for cinéastes".[7]

In keeping with writer-director Quentin Tarantino's trademark of nonlinear storytelling, the narrative is presented out of sequence. Pulp Fiction is structured around three distinct but interrelated storylines—in Tarantino's conception, mob hitman Vincent Vega is the lead of the first story, prizefighter Butch Coolidge is the lead of the second, and Vincent's fellow contract killer, Jules Winnfield, is the lead of the third.[8] Although each storyline focuses on a different series of incidents, they connect and intersect in various ways. The film starts out with a diner hold-up staged by "Pumpkin" and "Honey Bunny", then picks up the stories of Vincent, Jules, Butch, and several other important characters, including mob kingpin Marsellus Wallace, his wife, Mia, and underworld problem-solver Winston Wolf. It finally returns to where it began, in the diner: Vincent and Jules, who have stopped in for a bite, find themselves embroiled in the hold-up. There are a total of seven narrative sequences—the three primary storylines are preceded by identifying intertitles on a black screen:

Prologue—The Diner (i)
Prelude to "Vincent Vega and Marsellus Wallace's Wife"
"Vincent Vega and Marsellus Wallace's Wife"
Prelude to "The Gold Watch" (a—flashback, b—present)
"The Gold Watch"
"The Bonnie Situation"
Epilogue—The Diner (ii)

If the seven sequences were ordered chronologically, they would run: 4a, 2, 6, 1, 7, 3, 4b, 5. Sequences 1 and 7 partially overlap and are presented from different points of view; the same is true of sequences 2 and 6. The narrative course, with all its detours, is virtually circular, as the final scene overlaps and resolves the interrupted first scene. Reflecting on the film, Tarantino says, "One thing that's cool is that by breaking up the linear structure, when I watch the film with an audience, it does break [the audience's] alpha state. It's like, all of a sudden, 'I gotta watch this...I gotta pay attention.' You can almost feel everybody moving in their seats. It's actually fun to watch an audience in some ways chase after a movie."[9]

edit] Plot

"Pumpkin" (Tim Roth) and "Honey Bunny" (Amanda Plummer) are having breakfast in a diner. They decide to rob it after realizing they could make money off not just the business but the customers as well, as occurred during their previous heist. Moments after they initiate the hold-up, the scene breaks off and the title credits roll.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


As Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) drives, Vincent Vega (John Travolta) talks about his experiences in Europe, from where he has just returned—the hash bars in Amsterdam; the French McDonald's and its "Royale with Cheese." The dress-suited pair are on their way to retrieve a briefcase from Brett (Frank Whaley), who has transgressed against their boss, gangster Marsellus Wallace. Jules tells Vincent how Marsellus had someone thrown off a fourth-floor balcony for giving his wife a foot massage. Vincent says that Marsellus has asked him to escort his wife while Marsellus is out of town. They conclude their banter and "get into character," which involves executing Brett in dramatic fashion after Jules recites a baleful "biblical" pronouncement.

edit] Vincent Vega and Marsellus Wallace's Wife





The "famous dance scene":[10] Vincent Vega (John Travolta) and Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman) do the twist at Jack Rabbit Slim's.


In a virtually empty cocktail lounge, aging prizefighter Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis) accepts a large sum of money from Marsellus (Ving Rhames), agreeing to take a dive in his upcoming match. Butch and Vincent briefly cross paths as Vincent and Jules—now inexplicably dressed in T-shirts and shorts—arrive to deliver the briefcase. The next day, Vincent drops by the house of Lance (Eric Stoltz) and Jody (Rosanna Arquette) to score some high-grade heroin. He shoots up before driving over to meet Mrs. Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman) and take her out. They head to Jack Rabbit Slim's, a 1950s-themed restaurant staffed by lookalikes of the decade's pop icons. Mia recounts her experience acting in a failed television pilot, "Fox Force Five."

After participating in a twist contest, they return to the Wallace house with the trophy. While Vincent is in the bathroom, Mia finds his stash of heroin in his coat pocket. Mistaking it for cocaine, she snorts it and overdoses. Vincent rushes her to Lance's house for help. Together, they administer an adrenaline shot to Mia's heart, reviving her. Before parting ways, Mia and Vincent agree not to tell Marsellus of the incident.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Television time for young Butch (Chandler Lindauer) is interrupted by the arrival of Vietnam veteran Captain Koons (Christopher Walken). Koons explains that he has brought a gold watch, passed down through generations of Coolidge men since World War I. Butch's father died of dysentery while in a POW camp, and at his dying request Koons hid the watch in his rectum for two years in order to deliver it to Butch. A bell rings, startling the adult Butch out of this reverie. He is in his boxing colors—it is time for the fight he has been paid to throw.

edit] The Gold Watch

Butch flees the arena, having won the bout. Making his getaway by taxi, he learns from the death-obsessed driver, Esmarelda VillaLobos (Angela Jones), that he killed the opposing fighter. Butch has double-crossed Marsellus, betting his payoff on himself at very favorable odds. The next morning, at the motel where he and his girlfriend, Fabienne (Maria de Medeiros), are lying low, Butch discovers that she has forgotten to pack the irreplaceable watch. He returns to his apartment to retrieve it, although Marsellus's men are almost certainly looking for him. Butch finds the watch quickly, but thinking he is alone, pauses for a snack. Only then does he notice a submachine gun on the kitchen counter. Hearing the toilet flush, Butch readies the gun in time to kill a startled Vincent Vega exiting the bathroom.

Butch drives away but while waiting at a traffic light, Marsellus walks by and recognizes him. Butch rams Marsellus with the car, then another automobile collides with his. After a foot chase the two men land in a pawnshop. The shopowner, Maynard (Duane Whitaker), captures them at gunpoint and ties them up in a half-basement area. Maynard is joined by Zed (Peter Greene); they take Marsellus to another room to rape him, leaving a silent masked figure referred to as "the gimp" to watch a tied-up Butch. Butch breaks loose and knocks out the gimp. He is about to flee when he decides to save Marsellus. As Zed is raping Marsellus on a pommel horse, Butch kills Maynard with a katana. Marsellus retrieves Maynard's shotgun, shooting Zed in the groin. Marsellus informs Butch that they are even with respect to the botched fight fix, so long as he never tells anyone about the rape and departs Los Angeles forever. Butch agrees and returns to pick up Fabienne on Zed's chopper.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


edit] The Bonnie Situation

The story returns to Vincent and Jules at Brett's. After they execute him, another man (Alexis Arquette) bursts out of the bathroom and shoots wildly at them, missing every time before an astonished Jules and Vincent can return fire. Jules decides this is a miracle and a sign from God for him to retire as a hit man. They drive off with one of Brett's associates, Marvin (Phil LaMarr), their informant. Vincent asks Marvin for his opinion about the "miracle," and accidentally shoots him in the face.

Forced to remove their bloodied car from the road, Jules calls upon the house of his friend Jimmy (Quentin Tarantino). Jimmy's wife, Bonnie, is due back from work soon and he is very anxious that she not encounter the scene. At Jules's request, Marsellus arranges for the help of Winston Wolf (Harvey Keitel). Wolf takes charge of the situation, ordering Jules and Vincent to clean the car, hide the body in the trunk, dispose of their own bloody clothes, and change into T-shirts and shorts provided by Jimmy. They drive the car to a junkyard, from where Wolf and the owner's daughter, Raquel (Julia Sweeney), head off to breakfast and Jules and Vincent decide to do the same.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


As Jules and Vincent eat breakfast in a coffee shop the discussion returns to Jules's decision to retire. In a brief cutaway, we see "Pumpkin" and "Honey Bunny" shortly before they initiate the hold-up from the movie's first scene. While Vincent is in the bathroom, the hold-up commences. "Pumpkin" demands all of the patrons' valuables, including Jules's mysterious case. Jules surprises "Pumpkin" (whom he calls "Ringo"), holding him at gunpoint. "Honey Bunny," hysterical, trains her gun on Jules. Vincent emerges from the restroom with his gun trained on her, creating a Mexican standoff. Reprising his pseudo-biblical passage, Jules expresses his ambivalence about his life of crime. As his first act of redemption, he allows the two robbers to take the cash they have stolen and leave, pondering how they were spared and leaving the briefcase to be returned to Marsellus, finishing the hitman's final job for his boss.

edit] Development and production

The first element of what would become the Pulp Fiction screenplay was written by Roger Avary in the fall of 1990:


Tarantino and Avary decided to write a short, on the theory that it would be easier to get made than a feature. But they quickly realized that nobody produces shorts, so the film became a trilogy, with one section by Tarantino, one by Avary, and one by a third director who never materialized. Each eventually expanded his section into a feature-length script....[11]


The initial inspiration was the three-part horror anthology film Black Sabbath (1963), by Italian filmmaker Mario Bava. The Tarantino–Avary project was provisionally titled "Black Mask", after the seminal hardboiled crime fiction magazine.[12] Tarantino's script was produced as Reservoir Dogs, his directorial debut; Avary's, titled "Pandemonium Reigns", would form the basis for the "Gold Watch" storyline of Pulp Fiction.[13]

With work on Reservoir Dogs completed, Tarantino returned to the notion of a trilogy film: "I got the idea of doing something that novelists get a chance to do but filmmakers don't: telling three separate stories, having characters float in and out with different weights depending on the story."[14] Tarantino explains that the idea "was basically to take like the oldest chestnuts that you've ever seen when it comes to crime stories—the oldest stories in the book.... You know, 'Vincent Vega and Marsellus Wallace's Wife'—the oldest story about...the guy's gotta go out with the big man's wife and don't touch her. You know, you've seen the story a zillion times."[8] "I'm using old forms of storytelling and then purposely having them run awry", he says. "Part of the trick is to take these movie characters, these genre characters and these genre situations and actually apply them to some of real life's rules and see how they unravel."[15]

Tarantino went to work on the script for Pulp Fiction in Amsterdam in March 1992.[16] He was joined there by Avary, who contributed "Pandemonium Reigns" to the project and participated in its rewriting as well as the development of the new storylines that would link up with it.[13] Two scenes originally written by Avary for the True Romance screenplay, exclusively credited to Tarantino, were incorporated into the opening of "The Bonnie Situation".[17] The notion of the crimeworld "cleaner" that became the heart of the episode was inspired by a short, Curdled, that Tarantino saw at a film festival. He cast the lead actress, Angela Jones, in Pulp Fiction and later backed the filmmakers' production of a feature-length version of Curdled.[18] The script included a couple of made-up commercial brands that would feature often in later Tarantino films: Big Kahuna burgers (a Big Kahuna soda cup appears in Reservoir Dogs) and Red Apple cigarettes.[19] As he worked on the script, Tarantino also accompanied Reservoir Dogs around the European film festivals. Released in the U.S. in October 1992, the picture was a critical and commercial success. In January 1993, the Pulp Fiction script was complete.[20]

Tarantino and his producer, Lawrence Bender, brought the script to Jersey Films, the production company run by Danny DeVito, Michael Shamberg, and Stacey Sher. Before even seeing Reservoir Dogs, Jersey had attempted to sign Tarantino for his next project.[21] Ultimately a development deal worth around $1 million had been struck—the deal gave A Band Apart, Bender and Tarantino's newly formed production company, initial financing and office facilities; Jersey got a share of the project and the right to shop the script to a studio.[22] Jersey had a distribution and "first look" deal with Columbia TriStar, which paid Tarantino for the right to consider exercising its option.[23] In February, Pulp Fiction appeared on a Variety list of films in preproduction at TriStar.[24] In June, however, the studio put the script into turnaround.[23] According to a studio executive, TriStar chief Mike Medavoy found it "too demented".[25] There were suggestions that TriStar was resistant to backing a film featuring a heroin user; there were also indications that the studio simply saw the project as too low-budget for its desired star-driven image.[26] Bender brought the script to Miramax, the formerly independent studio that had recently been acquired by Disney. Harvey Weinstein—co-chairman of Miramax, along with his brother, Bob—was instantly enthralled by the script and the company picked it up.[27] Pulp Fiction, the first Miramax project to get a green light after the Disney acquisition, was budgeted at $8.5 million.[28] It became the first movie that Miramax completely financed.[29] Helping hold costs down was the plan Bender executed to pay all the main actors the same amount per week, regardless of their industry status.[30] The biggest star to sign on to the project was Bruce Willis. Though he had recently appeared in several big-budget flops, he was still a major overseas draw. On the strength of his name, Miramax garnered $11 million for the film's worldwide rights, virtually ensuring its profitability.[31]

The Pulp Fiction shoot commenced on September 20, 1993.[32] The lead offscreen talent had all worked with Tarantino on Reservoir Dogs—cinematographer Andrzej Sekula, film editor Sally Menke, and production designer David Wasco. According to Tarantino, "[W]e had $8 million [sic]. I wanted it to look like a $20–25 million movie. I wanted it to look like an epic. It's an epic in everything—in invention, in ambition, in length, in scope, in everything except the price tag."[33] The film, he says, was shot "on 50 ASA film stock, which is the slowest stock they make. The reason we use it is that it creates an almost no-grain image, it's lustrous. It's the closest thing we have to 50s Technicolor."[34] The largest chunk of the budget—$150,000—went to creating the Jack Rabbit Slim's set.[35] It was built in a Culver City warehouse, where it was joined by several other sets as well as the film's production offices.[36] The diner sequence was shot on location in Inglewood at Pann's, known for its Googie architecture.[37] For the costumes, Tarantino took his inspiration from French director Jean-Pierre Melville, who believed that the clothes his characters wore were their symbolic suits of armor.[34] Tarantino cast himself in a modest-sized role as he had in Reservoir Dogs. One of his pop totems, Fruit Brute, a long-discontinued General Mills cereal, also returned from the earlier film.[38] The shoot wrapped on November 30.[39] Before Pulp Fiction's premiere, Tarantino convinced Avary to forfeit his agreed-on cowriting credit and accept a "story by" credit, so the line "Written and directed by Quentin Tarantino" could be used in advertising and onscreen.[40]

edit] Cast

Main article: List of Pulp Fiction characters


John Travolta as Vincent Vega: Tarantino cast Travolta in Pulp Fiction only because Michael Madsen, who had a major role—Vic Vega—in Reservoir Dogs, chose to appear in Kevin Costner's Wyatt Earp instead. Madsen was still rueing his choice over a decade later.[41] Harvey Weinstein pushed for Daniel Day-Lewis in the part.[42] Travolta accepted a bargain rate for his services—sources claim either $100,000 or $140,000—but the film's success and his Oscar nomination as Best Actor revitalized his career.[43] Travolta was subsequently cast in several hits including Get Shorty, in which he played a similar character, and the John Woo blockbuster Face/Off. In 2004, Tarantino discussed an idea for a movie starring Travolta and Madsen as the Vega brothers; the concept remains unrealized.[44]
Samuel L. Jackson as Jules Winnfield: Tarantino had written the part with Jackson in mind, but the actor nearly lost it after his first audition—Jackson assumed it was merely a reading—was overshadowed by Paul Calderon's. Harvey Weinstein convinced Jackson to audition a second time, and his performance of the final diner scene won over Tarantino.[45] Jules was originally scripted with a giant afro, but Tarantino and Jackson agreed on the Jheri-curled wig seen in the film.[46] (One reviewer took it as a "tacit comic statement about the ghettoization of blacks in movies".[47]) Jackson received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Calderon appears in the movie as Paul, Marsellus's right-hand man.
Uma Thurman as Mia Wallace: Miramax favored Holly Hunter or Meg Ryan for the role. Alfre Woodard and Meg Tilly were also considered, but Tarantino wanted Thurman after their first meeting.[40][48] She dominated most of the film's promotional material, appearing on a bed with cigarette in hand. She was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar and was launched into the celebrity A-list. She took little advantage of her newfound fame, choosing to not do any big-budget films for the next three years.[49] Thurman would later star in Tarantino's two Kill Bill movies.





Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis), before the fight of his life. Tarantino said, "Bruce has the look of a 50s actor. I can't think of any other star that has that look."[50]


Bruce Willis as Butch Coolidge: Willis was a major star, but most of his recent films had been box-office disappointments. As described by Peter Bart, taking a role in the modestly budgeted film "meant lowering his salary and risking his star status, but the strategy...paid off royally: Pulp Fiction not only brought Willis new respect as an actor, but also earned him several million dollars as a result of his gross participation."[51] In conceiving the character, Tarantino said, "I basically wanted him to be like Ralph Meeker as Mike Hammer in Kiss Me Deadly [1955]. I wanted him to be a bully and a jerk...."[52]
Harvey Keitel as Winston Wolf or simply "The Wolf": The part was written specifically for Keitel, who had starred in Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs and was instrumental in getting it produced. In the filmmaker's words, "Harvey had been my favorite actor since I was 16 years old."[53] Keitel had played a character similarly employed as a "cleaner" in Point of No Return, released a year earlier, but the two parts are otherwise very different.
Tim Roth as "Pumpkin" or "Ringo": Roth had starred in Reservoir Dogs alongside Keitel and was brought on board again. He had used an American accent in the earlier film, but uses his natural, London one in Pulp Fiction. Though Tarantino had written the part specifically with Roth in mind, TriStar head Mike Medavoy preferred Johnny Depp or Christian Slater.[54]
Amanda Plummer as Yolonda or "Honey Bunny": Tarantino wrote the role for Plummer, specifically to partner Roth onscreen. Roth had introduced the actress and director, telling Tarantino, "I want to work with Amanda in one of your films, but she has to have a really big gun."[55] Plummer followed up with director Michael Winterbottom's Butterfly Kiss, in which she plays a serial killer.
Maria de Medeiros as Fabienne: Butch's girlfriend. Tarantino met the Portuguese actress while traveling with Reservoir Dogs around the European film festival circuit.[12] She had previously costarred with Thurman in Henry & June (1990), playing Anaïs Nin.
Ving Rhames as Marsellus Wallace: Before Rhames was cast, the part was offered to Sid Haig, who had appeared in many classic exploitation movies of the 1970s. Haig passed on the role.[56] According to Bender, Rhames gave "one of the best auditions I've ever seen."[48] His acclaimed performance led to his being cast in big-budget features such as Mission Impossible, Con Air, and Out of Sight.[57]
Eric Stoltz as Lance: Vincent's drug dealer. Courtney Love later reported that Kurt Cobain was originally offered the role of Lance; if he had taken it, Love would have played the role of his wife.[58]
Rosanna Arquette as Jody: Lance's wife. Pam Grier read for the role, but Tarantino didn't believe audiences would find it plausible for Lance to yell at her.[59] Grier was later cast as the lead of Tarantino's Jackie Brown. Ellen DeGeneres also read for Jody.[60]
Christopher Walken as Captain Koons: Walken appears in a single scene, devoted to the Vietnam veteran's monologue about the gold watch. In 1993, Walken had appeared in another small but pivotal role in the "Sicilian scene" in the Tarantino-written True Romance.

edit] Soundtrack

Main article: Pulp Fiction (soundtrack)

No film score was composed for Pulp Fiction, with Quentin Tarantino instead using an eclectic assortment of surf music, rock and roll, soul, and pop songs. Dick Dale's rendition of "Misirlou" plays during the opening credits. Tarantino chose surf music as the basic musical style for the film, but not, he insists, because of its association with surfing culture: "To me it just sounds like rock and roll, even Morricone music. It sounds like rock and roll spaghetti Western music."[61] Some of the songs were suggested to Tarantino by his friends Chuck Kelley and Laura Lovelace, who were credited as music consultants. Lovelace also appeared in the film as Laura, a waitress; she reprises the role in Jackie Brown.[62] The soundtrack album, Music from the Motion Picture Pulp Fiction, was released along with the film in 1994. The album peaked on the Billboard 200 chart at number 21.[63] The single, Urge Overkill's cover of the Neil Diamond song "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon", reached number 59.[64]

Estella Tincknell describes how the particular combination of well-known and obscure recordings helps establish the film as a "self-consciously 'cool' text. [The] use of the mono-tracked, beat-heavy style of early 1960s U.S. 'underground' pop mixed with 'classic' ballads such as Dusty Springfield's 'Son of a Preacher Man' is crucial to the film's postmodern knowingness." She contrasts the soundtrack with that of Forrest Gump, the highest-grossing film of 1994, which also relies on period pop recordings: "[T]he version of 'the sixties' offered by Pulp Fiction...is certainly not that of the publicly recognized counter-culture featured in Forrest Gump, but is, rather, a more genuinely marginal form of sub-culture based around a lifestyle—surfing, 'hanging'—that is resolutely apolitical." The soundtrack is central, she says, to the film's engagement with the "younger, cinematically knowledgeable spectator" it solicits.[65]

edit] Release and reception

Pulp Fiction premiered in May 1994 at the Cannes Film Festival. The Weinsteins "hit the beach like commandos", bringing the picture's entire cast over.[66] The film was unveiled at a midnight hour screening and caused a sensation.[67][68] It won the Palme d'Or, the festival's top prize, generating a further wave of publicity.[69] The first U.S. review of the film was published on May 23 in industry trade magazine Variety. Todd McCarthy called Pulp Fiction a "spectacularly entertaining piece of pop culture...a startling, massive success."[70] From Cannes forward, Tarantino was on the road continuously, promoting the film.[71] Over the next few months it played in smaller festivals around Europe, building buzz: Nottingham, Munich, Taormina, Locarno, Norway, and San Sebastian.[72] In late September, it opened the New York Film Festival. The New York Times published its review the day of the opening. Janet Maslin called the film a "triumphant, cleverly disorienting journey through a demimonde that springs entirely from Mr. Tarantino's ripe imagination, a landscape of danger, shock, hilarity and vibrant local color.... [He] has come up with a work of such depth, wit and blazing originality that it places him in the front ranks of American film makers."[68]

On October 14, 1994, Pulp Fiction went into general release in the United States. As Peter Biskind describes, "It was not platformed, that is, it did not open in a handful of theaters and roll out slowly as word of mouth built, the traditional way of releasing an indie film; it went wide immediately, into 1,100 theaters."[2] In the eyes of some cultural critics, Reservoir Dogs had given Tarantino a reputation for glamorizing violence. Miramax played with the issue in its marketing campaign: "You won't know the facts till you've seen the fiction", went one slogan.[73] Pulp Fiction was the top-grossing film at the box office its first weekend, edging out a Sylvester Stallone vehicle, The Specialist, which was in its second week and playing at more than twice as many theaters. Against its budget of $8.5 million and about $10 million in marketing costs, Pulp Fiction wound up grossing $107.93 million at the U.S. box office, making it the first "indie" film to surpass $100 million. Worldwide, it took in nearly $213 million.[74] In terms of domestic grosses, it was the tenth biggest film of 1994, even though it played on substantially fewer screens than any other film in the top 20.[75] Popular engagement with the film, such as speculation about the contents of the precious briefcase, "indicates the kind of cult status that Pulp Fiction achieved almost immediately."[76] As MovieMaker puts it, "The movie was nothing less than a national cultural phenomenon."[77] Abroad, as well: In Britain, where it opened a week after its U.S. release, not only was the film a big hit, but in book form its screenplay became the most successful in UK publishing history, a top-ten bestseller.[78]

The response of major American movie reviewers was widely favorable. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times describing it as "so well-written in a scruffy, fanzine way that you want to rub noses in it—the noses of those zombie writers who take 'screenwriting' classes that teach them the formulas for 'hit films.'"[79] Richard Corliss of Time wrote, "It towers over the year's other movies as majestically and menacingly as a gang lord at a preschool. It dares Hollywood films to be this smart about going this far. If good directors accept Tarantino's implicit challenge, the movie theater could again be a great place to live in."[80] In Newsweek, David Ansen wrote, "The miracle of Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction is how, being composed of secondhand, debased parts, it succeeds in gleaming like something new."[81] "You get intoxicated by it," wrote Entertainment Weekly's Owen Gleiberman, "high on the rediscovery of how pleasurable a movie can be. I'm not sure I've ever encountered a filmmaker who combined discipline and control with sheer wild-ass joy the way that Tarantino does."[47] "There's a special kick that comes from watching something this thrillingly alive", wrote Peter Travers of Rolling Stone. "Pulp Fiction is indisputably great."[82] Overall, the film attained exceptionally high ratings among U.S. reviewers: a 96% score at Rotten Tomatoes[83] and a Metascore of 94 on Metacritic.[84]

The Los Angeles Times was one of the few major news outlets to publish a negative review on the film's opening weekend. Kenneth Turan wrote, "The writer-director appears to be straining for his effects. Some sequences, especially one involving bondage harnesses and homosexual rape, have the uncomfortable feeling of creative desperation, of someone who's afraid of losing his reputation scrambling for any way to offend sensibilities."[85] Some who reviewed it in the following weeks took more exception to the predominant critical reaction than to Pulp Fiction itself. While not panning the film, Stanley Kauffman of The New Republic felt that "the way that [it] has been so widely ravened up and drooled over verges on the disgusting. Pulp Fiction nourishes, abets, cultural slumming."[86] Responding to comparisons between Tarantino's film and the work of French New Wave director Jean-Luc Godard, especially his first, most famous feature, Jonathan Rosenbaum of the Chicago Reader wrote, "The fact that Pulp Fiction is garnering more extravagant raves than Breathless ever did tells you plenty about which kind of cultural references are regarded as more fruitful—namely, the ones we already have and don't wish to expand."[87] Observing in the National Review that "[n]o film arrives with more advance hype", John Simon was unswayed: "titillation cures neither hollowness nor shallowness".[88]

Debate about the film spread beyond the review pages. Violence was often the theme. In the Washington Post, Donna Britt described how she was happy to not see Pulp Fiction on a recent weekend and thus avoid "discussing the rousing scene in which a gunshot sprays somebody's brains around a car interior".[89] Some commentators took exception to the movie's frequent use of the word "nigger". In the Chicago Tribune, Todd Boyd argued that the word's recurrence "has the ability to signify the ultimate level of hipness for white males who have historically used their perception of black masculinity as the embodiment of cool".[90] In Britain, James Wood, writing in The Guardian, set the tone for much subsequent criticism: "Tarantino represents the final triumph of postmodernism, which is to empty the artwork of all content, thus avoiding its capacity to do anything except helplessly represent our agonies.... Only in this age could a writer as talented as Tarantino produce artworks so vacuous, so entirely stripped of any politics, metaphysics, or moral interest."[91]

Around the turn of the year, Pulp Fiction was named Best Picture by the National Society of Film Critics, National Board of Review, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, Boston Society of Film Critics, Southeastern Film Critics Association, and Kansas City Film Critics Circle. Tarantino was named Best Director by all six of those organizations as well as by the New York Film Critics Circle and Chicago Film Critics Association. The screenplay won several prizes, with various awarding bodies ascribing credit differently. At the Golden Globe Awards, Tarantino, named as sole recipient of the Best Screenplay honor, failed to mention Avary in his acceptance speech.[92] In February 1995, the film received seven Oscar nominations—Best Picture, Director, Actor (Travolta), Supporting Actor (Jackson), Supporting Actress (Thurman), Original Screenplay, and Film Editing. At the ceremony the following month, Tarantino and Avary were announced as joint winners of the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.[93] The furor around the film was still going strong: much of the March issue of Artforum was devoted to its critical dissection.[94] At the British Academy Film Awards, Tarantino and Avary shared the BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay, with Jackson winning for Best Supporting Actor.[95]

edit] Influence and reputation

Pulp Fiction quickly came to be regarded as one of the most significant films of its era. In 1995, in a special edition of Siskel & Ebert devoted to Tarantino, Gene Siskel argued that Pulp Fiction posed a major challenge to the "ossification of American movies with their brutal formulas". In Siskel's view,


the violent intensity of Pulp Fiction calls to mind other violent watershed films that were considered classics in their time and still are. Hitchcock's Psycho [1960], Arthur Penn's Bonnie and Clyde [1967], and Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange [1971]. Each film shook up a tired, bloated movie industry and used a world of lively lowlifes to reflect how dull other movies had become. And that, I predict, will be the ultimate honor for Pulp Fiction. Like all great films, it criticizes other movies.[96]


Ken Dancyger writes that its "imitative and innovative style"—like that of its predecessor, Reservoir Dogs—represents


a new phenomenon, the movie whose style is created from the context of movie life rather than real life. The consequence is twofold—the presumption of deep knowledge on the part of the audience of those forms such as the gangster films or Westerns, horror films or adventure films. And that the parody or alteration of that film creates a new form, a different experience for the audience.[97]


In a widely covered speech on May 31, 1995, Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole attacked the American entertainment industry for peddling "nightmares of depravity". Pulp Fiction was soon associated with his charges concerning gratuitous violence. Dole had not, in fact, mentioned the film; he cited two less celebrated movies based on Tarantino screenplays, Natural Born Killers and True Romance.[98] In September 1996, Dole did accuse Pulp Fiction—which he had not seen—of promoting "the romance of heroin".[99]

Paula Rabinowitz expresses the general film industry opinion that Pulp Fiction "simultaneously resurrected John Travolta and film noir".[100] In Peter Biskind's description, it created a "guys-with-guns frenzy".[101] The stylistic influence of Pulp Fiction soon became apparent. Less than a year after the picture's release, British critic Jon Ronson attended the National Film School's end-of-semester screenings and assessed the impact: "Out of the five student movies I watched, four incorporated violent shoot-outs over a soundtrack of iconoclastic 70s pop hits, two climaxed with all the main characters shooting each other at once, and one had two hitmen discussing the idiosyncrasies of The Brady Bunch before offing their victim. Not since Citizen Kane has one man appeared from relative obscurity to redefine the art of moviemaking."[102] Among the first Hollywood films cited as its imitators were Destiny Turns on the Radio (1995), in which Tarantino acted,[96] Things To Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995),[103] and 2 Days in the Valley (1996).[104] It "triggered a myriad of clones", writes Fiona Villella.[105] Pulp Fiction's effect on film form was still reverberating in 2007, when David Denby of The New Yorker credited it with initiating the ongoing cycle of disordered cinematic narratives.[106]

Its impact on Hollywood was deeper still. According to Variety, the trajectory of Pulp Fiction from Cannes launch to commercial smash "forever altered the game" of so-called independent cinema.[107] It "cemented Miramax's place as the reigning indie superpower",[108] writes Biskind. "Pulp became the Star Wars of independents, exploding expectations for what an indie film could do at the box office."[109] The film's large financial return on its small budget


transform[ed] the industry's attitude toward the lowly indies...spawning a flock of me-too classics divisions.... [S]mart studio executives suddenly woke up to the fact that grosses and market share, which got all the press, were not the same as profits.... Once the studios realized that they could exploit the economies of (small) scale, they more or less gave up buying or remaking the films themselves, and either bought the distributors, as Disney had Miramax, or started their own...copy[ing] Miramax's marketing and distribution strategies.[110]


In 2001, Variety, noting the increasing number of actors switching back and forth between expensive studio films and low-budget independent or indie-style projects, suggested that the "watershed moment for movie stars" came with the decision by Willis—one of Hollywood's highest-paid performers—to appear in Pulp Fiction.[111]

And its impact was even broader than that. It has been described as a "major cultural event", an "international phenomenon" that influenced television, music, literature, and advertising.[105][112] Not long after its release, it was identified as a significant focus of attention within the growing community of Internet users.[113] Adding Pulp Fiction to his roster of "Great Movies" in 2001, Roger Ebert called it "the most influential film of the decade".[114] Four years later, Time's Corliss wrote much the same: "(unquestionably) the most influential American movie of the 90s".[115]





Vincent and Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) in their classic pose. This image represents Pulp Fiction on Time's "All-Time 100 Movies" list.


Several scenes and images from the film achieved iconic status; in 2008, Entertainment Weekly declared, "You'd be hard-pressed, by now, to name a moment from Quentin Tarantino's film that isn't iconic."[116] Jules and Vincent's "Royale with Cheese" dialogue became famous.[117] The adrenalin shot to Mia Wallace's heart is on Premiere's list of "100 Greatest Movie Moments".[118] The scene of Travolta and Thurman's characters dancing has been frequently homaged, most unambiguously in the 2005 film Be Cool, starring the same two actors.[119] The image of Travolta and Jackson's characters standing side by side in suit and tie, pointing their guns, has also become widely familiar. In 2007, BBC News reported that "London transport workers have painted over an iconic mural by 'guerrilla artist' Banksy.... The image depicted a scene from Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, with Samuel L Jackson and John Travolta clutching bananas instead of guns."[120] Certain lines were adopted popularly as catchphrases, in particular Marsellus's threat, "I'm 'a get medieval on your ass."[121] Jules's "Ezekiel" soliloquy was voted the fourth greatest movie speech of all time in a 2004 poll.[122]





Banksy's "famous mural" was painted in 2002 and painted over by municipal workers five years later.[123]


Pulp Fiction now appears in several critical assessments of all-time great films. In 2008, Entertainment Weekly named it the best film of the past quarter-century.[116] That same year, the American Film Institute's "Ten Top Ten" poll ranked it number 7 all-time in the gangster film genre.[124] In 2007, it was voted 94th overall on the AFI's "100 Years...100 Movies" list.[125] In 2005, it was named one of Time's "All-Time 100 Movies".[115] As of June 2008, it is number 9 on Metacritic's list of all-time highest scores.[126] The film ranks very highly in popular surveys. A 2008 Empire poll combining the opinions of readers, movie industry professionals, and critics named Pulp Fiction the ninth best film of all time.[127] In a 2007 poll of the online film community, it placed eleventh.[128] In a 2006 readers' poll by the British magazine Total Film, it ranked as the number 3 film in history.[129] It was voted as the fourth greatest film of all time in a nationwide poll for Britain's Channel 4 in 2001.[130]

edit] Critical analysis

Tarantino has stated that he originally planned "to do a Black Mask movie", referring to the magazine largely responsible for popularizing hardboiled detective fiction. "[I]t kind of went somewhere else".[131] Geoffrey O'Brien sees the result as connected "rather powerfully to a parallel pulp tradition: the tales of terror and the uncanny practiced by such writers as Cornell Woolrich [and] Fredric Brown.... Both dealt heavily in the realm of improbable coincidences and cruel cosmic jokes, a realm that Pulp Fiction makes its own."[132] In particular, O'Brien finds a strong affinity between the intricate plot mechanics and twists of Brown's novels and the recursive, interweaving structure of Pulp Fiction.[133] Philip French describes the film's narrative as a "circular movement or Möbius strip of a kind Resnais and Robbe-Grillet would admire."[134]

Robert Kolker sees the "flourishes, the apparent witty banality of the dialogue, the goofy fracturing of temporality [as] a patina over a pastiche. The pastiche...is essentially of two films that Tarantino can't seem to get out of his mind: Mean Streets [1973; directed by Martin Scorsese] and The Killing [1956; directed by Stanley Kubrick]."[135] He contrasts Pulp Fiction with postmodern Hollywood predecessors Hudson Hawk (1991; starring Willis) and Last Action Hero (1993; starring Arnold Schwarzenegger) that "took the joke too far...simply mocked or suggested that they were smarter than the audience" and flopped.[136] Todd McCarthy writes that the film's "striking widescreen compositions often contain objects in extreme close-up as well as vivid contrasts, sometimes bringing to mind the visual strategies of Sergio Leone", an acknowledged hero of Tarantino's.[70] To Martin Rubin, the "expansive, brightly colored widescreen visuals" evoke comedy directors such as Frank Tashlin and Blake Edwards.[137]

The movie's host of pop culture allusions, ranging from the famous image of Marilyn Monroe's skirt flying up over a subway grating to Jules addressing "Pumpkin" as "Ringo" because of his English accent, have led many critics to discuss it within the framework of postmodernism. Describing the film in 2005 as Tarantino's "postmodern masterpiece...to date", David Walker writes that it "is marked by its playful reverence for the 1950s...and its constantly teasing and often deferential references to other films". He characterizes its convoluted narrative technique as "postmodern tricksiness".[138] Calling the film a "terminally hip postmodern collage", Foster Hirsch finds Pulp Fiction far from a masterpiece: "authoritative, influential, and meaningless".[139] Catherine Constable takes the moment in which a needle filled with adrenaline is plunged into the comatose Mia's heart as exemplary. She proposes that it "can be seen as effecting her resurrection from the dead, simultaneously recalling and undermining the Gothic convention of the vampire's stake. On this model, the referencing of previous aesthetic forms and styles moves beyond...empty pastiche, sustaining an 'inventive and affirmative' mode of postmodernism."[140]

Mark T. Conard asks, "[W]hat is the film about?" and answers, "American nihilism."[141] Hirsch suggests, "If the film is actually about anything other than its own cleverness, it seems dedicated to the dubious thesis that hit men are part of the human family."[104] Richard Alleva argues that "Pulp Fiction has about as much to do with actual criminality or violence as Cyrano de Bergerac with the realities of seventeenth-century France or The Prisoner of Zenda with Balkan politics." He reads the movie as a form of romance whose allure is centered in the characters' nonnaturalistic discourse, "wise-guy literate, media-smart, obscenely epigrammatic".[142] In Alan Stone's view, the "absurd dialogue", like that between Vincent and Jules in the scene where the former accidentally kills Marvin, "unexpectedly transforms the meaning of the violence cliché.... Pulp Fiction unmasks the macho myth by making it laughable and deheroicizes the power trip glorified by standard Hollywood violence."[143] Stone reads the film as "politically correct. There is no nudity and no violence directed against women.... [It] celebrates interracial friendship and cultural diversity; there are strong women and strong black men, and the director swims against the current of class stereotype."[143]

Where Stone sees a celebration, Kolker finds a vacuum: "The postmodern insouciance, violence, homophobia, and racism of Pulp Fiction were perfectly acceptable because the film didn't pretend seriousness and therefore didn't mock it."[136] Calling it the "acme of postmodern nineties filmmaking", he explains, "the postmodern is about surfaces; it is flattened spatiality in which event and character are in a steady state of reminding us that they are pop-cultural figures."[144] According to Kolker,


That's why Pulp Fiction was so popular. Not because all audiences got all or any of its references to Scorsese and Kubrick, but because the narrative and spatial structure of the film never threatened to go beyond themselves into signification. The film's cycle of racist and homophobic jokes might threaten to break out into a quite nasty view of the world, but this nastiness keeps being laughed off—by the mock intensity of the action, the prowling, confronting, perverse, confined, and airless nastiness of the world Tarantino creates.[145]


Henry A. Giroux argues that Tarantino "empties violence of any critical social consequences, offering viewers only the immediacy of shock, humor, and irony-without-insight as elements of mediation. None of these elements gets beyond the seduction of voyeuristic gazing...[t]he facile consumption of shocking images and hallucinatory delight."[146]

edit] Homage as essence

edit] Cinema

Pulp Fiction is full of homages to other movies. "Tarantino's characters", writes Gary Groth, "inhabit a world where the entire landscape is composed of Hollywood product. Tarantino is a cinematic kleptomaniac—he literally can't help himself."[147] Two scenes in particular have prompted discussion of the film's highly intertextual style. Many have assumed that the dance sequence at Jack Rabbit Slim's was intended as a reference to Travolta's star-making performance as Tony Manero in the epochal Saturday Night Fever (1977); Tarantino, however, credits a scene in the Jean-Luc Godard film Bande à part (1964) with the inspiration. According to the filmmaker,


Everybody thinks that I wrote this scene just to have John Travolta dancing. But the scene existed before John Travolta was cast. But once he was cast, it was like, "Great. We get to see John dance. All the better."... My favorite musical sequences have always been in Godard, because they just come out of nowhere. It's so infectious, so friendly. And the fact that it's not a musical, but he's stopping the movie to have a musical sequence, makes it all the more sweet.[148]


Jerome Charyn argues that, beyond "all the better", Travolta's presence is essential to the power of the scene, and of the film:


Travolta's entire career becomes "backstory", the myth of a movie star who has fallen out of favor, but still resides in our memory as the king of disco. We keep waiting for him to shed his paunch, put on a white polyester suit, and enter the 2001 Odyssey club in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, where he will dance for us and never, never stop. Daniel Day-Lewis couldn't have woken such a powerful longing in us. He isn't part of America's own mad cosmology.... Tony Manero [is] an angel sitting on Vince's shoulder.... [Vince and Mia's] actual dance may be closer to the choreography of Anna Karina's shuffle with her two bumbling gangster boyfriends in Bande à part, but even that reference is lost to us, and we're with Tony again....[149]


Estella Tincknell notes that while the "diner setting seems to be a simulacrum of a 'fifties' restaurant...the twist contest is a musical sequence which evokes 'the sixties,' while Travolta's dance performance inevitably references 'the seventies' and his appearance in Saturday Night Fever.... The 'past' thus becomes a more general 'pastness' in which the stylistic signifiers of various decades are loaded in to a single moment."[150] She also argues that in this passage the film "briefly shifts from its habitually ironic discourse to one that references the conventions of the classic film musical and in doing so makes it possible for the film to inhabit an affective space that goes beyond stylistic allusion."[150]

The pivotal moment in which Marsellus crosses the street in front of Butch's car and notices him evokes the scene in which Marion Crane's boss sees her under similar circumstances in Psycho.[151] Marsellus and Butch are soon held captive by Maynard and Zed, "two sadistic honkies straight out of Deliverance" (1972), directed by John Boorman.[143] Zed shares a name with Sean Connery's character in Boorman's follow-up, the science-fiction film Zardoz (1974). "Zed's dead" is one of the last lines spoken in that movie; in terms of the narrative chronology, it is the final utterance in Pulp Fiction. When Butch decides to rescue Marsellus, in Glyn White's words, "he finds a trove of items with film-hero resonances".[152] Critics have identified these weapons with a range of possible allusions:





Butch watches as Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames) tells Zed he's going to get worked on with a "pair of pliers and a blowtorch", a line lifted from Charley Varrick.


hammer—The Toolbox Murders (1978)[153]
baseball bat—Walking Tall (1973);[152] The Untouchables (1987)[153]
chainsaw—The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974);[152][153] The Evil Dead II (1987)[152]
katana (samurai sword)—many, including Seven Samurai (1954);[152][153] The Yakuza (1975);[152] Shogun Assassin (1980)[153]

At the conclusion of the scene, a portentous line of Marsellus's echoes one from the 1973 crime drama Charley Varrick, directed by another of Tarantino's heroes, Don Siegel; the name of the character who speaks it there is Maynard.[154]

David Bell argues that far from going against the "current of class stereotype", this scene, like Deliverance, "mobilize[s] a certain construction of poor white country folk—and particularly their sexualization...'rustic sexual expression often takes the form of homosexual rape' in American movies."[155] Stephen Paul Miller believes the Pulp Fiction scene goes down much easier than the one it echoes: "The buggery perpetrated is not at all as shocking as it was in Deliverance.... The nineties film reduces seventies competition, horror, and taboo into an entertainingly subtle adrenaline play—a fiction, a pulp fiction."[156] Giroux reads the rape scene homage similarly: "in the end Tarantino's use of parody is about repetition, transgression, and softening the face of violence by reducing it to the property of film history."[157] In Groth's view, the crucial difference is that "in Deliverance the rape created the film's central moral dilemma whereas in Pulp Fiction it was merely 'the single weirdest day of [Butch's] life.'"[158]

Neil Fulwood focuses on Butch's weapon selection, writing, "Here, Tarantino's love of movies is at its most open and nonjudgemental, tipping a nod to the noble and the notorious, as well as sending up his own reputation as an enfant terrible of movie violence. Moreover, the scene makes a sly comment about the readiness of cinema to seize upon whatever is to hand for its moments of mayhem and murder."[153] White asserts that "the katana he finally, and significantly, selects identifies him with...honourable heroes."[152] Conard argues that the first three items symbolize a nihilism that Butch is rejecting. The traditional Japanese sword, in contrasts, represents a culture with a well-defined moral code and thus connects Butch with a more meaningful approach to life.[159]

edit] Television

Robert Miklitsch argues that "Tarantino's telephilia" may be more central to the guiding sensibility of Pulp Fiction than the filmmaker's love for rock 'n' roll and even cinema:


Talking about his generation, one that came of age in the '70s, Tarantino has commented that the "number one thing we all shared wasn't music, that was a Sixties thing. Our culture was television." A random list of the TV programs referenced in Pulp Fiction confirms his observation: Speed Racer, Clutch Cargo, The Brady Bunch, The Partridge Family, The Avengers, The Three Stooges, The Flintstones, I Spy, Green Acres, Kung Fu, Happy Days, and last but not least, Mia's fictional pilot, Fox Force Five.[160]


"The above list, with the possible exception of The Avengers," writes Miklitsch, "suggests that Pulp Fiction has less of an elective affinity with the cinematic avant-gardism of Godard than with mainstream network programming."[161] Jonathan Rosenbaum had brought TV into his analysis of the Tarantino/Godard comparison, acknowledging that the directors were similar in wanting to cram everything they like onscreen: "But the differences between what Godard likes and what Tarantino likes and why are astronomical; it's like comparing a combined museum, library, film archive, record shop, and department store with a jukebox, a video-rental outlet, and an issue of TV Guide."[87]

Sharon Willis focuses on the way a television show (Clutch Cargo) marks the beginning of, and plays on through, the scene between young Butch and his father's comrade-in-arms. The Vietnam War veteran is played by Christopher Walken, whose presence in the role evokes his performance as a traumatized G.I. in the 1978 Vietnam War movie The Deer Hunter. Willis writes that "when Captain Koons enters the living room, we see Walken in his function as an image retrieved from a repertoire of 1970s television and movie versions of ruined masculinity in search of rehabilitation.... [T]he gray light of the television presiding over the scene seems to inscribe the ghostly paternal gaze."[162] Miklitsch asserts that, for some critics, the film is a "prime example of the pernicious ooze-like influence of mass culture exemplified by their bête noire: TV."[161] Kolker might not disagree, arguing that "Pulp Fiction is a simulacrum of our daily exposure to television; its homophobes, thugs and perverts, sentimental boxers and pimp promoters move through a series of long-take tableaux: we watch, laugh, and remain with nothing to comprehend."[145]

edit] Notable motifs

edit] The mysterious briefcase





Vincent gazes into the glowing case.


The combination of the mysterious suitcase is 666, the "number of the beast". Tarantino has said that there is no explanation for its contents—it is simply a MacGuffin, a pure plot device. Originally, the case was to contain diamonds, but this was seen as too mundane. For filming purposes, it contained a hidden orange light bulb that produced an otherworldly glow.[163] In a 2007 video interview with fellow director and friend Robert Rodriguez, Tarantino "reveals" the secret contents of the briefcase, but the film cuts out and skips the scene in the style employed in Tarantino and Rodriguez's Grindhouse (2007), with an intertitle that reads "Missing Reel". The interview resumes with Rodriguez discussing how radically the "knowledge" of the briefcase's contents alters one's understanding of the movie.[164]





Lily Carver, aka Gabrielle (Gaby Rodgers), gazes into the glowing case in Kiss Me Deadly.


Despite Tarantino's statements, many solutions to this "unexplained postmodern puzzle" have been proposed.[76] A strong similarity has often been observed with the 1955 film noir Kiss Me Deadly. That movie, whose protagonist Tarantino has cited as a source for Butch, features a glowing briefcase housing an atomic explosive.[165] In scholar Paul Gormley's view, this connection with Kiss Me Deadly, and a similar one with Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), makes it possible to read the eerie glow as symbolic of violence itself.[166] To Susan Fraiman, the unseen contents represent "defended, mystified, male interiority. Much valued, much vaunted, and never finally shown, this radiant, indefinable softness is locked within a hard, exterior shell. Even Jules, who wants to lose the baggage of a barricaded self, walks out of the movie clutching it still."[167]

edit] Jules's Bible passage

Jules ritually recites what he describes as a biblical passage, Ezekiel 25:17, before he executes someone. We hear the passage three times—in the introductory sequence in which Jules and Vincent reclaim Marsellus's briefcase from the doomed Brett; that same recitation a second time, at the beginning of "The Bonnie Situation", which overlaps the end of the earlier sequence; and in the epilogue at the diner. The first version of the passage is as follows: “ The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who in the name of charity and goodwill shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee. ”


The second version, from the diner scene, is identical except for the final line: "And you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you."





Jules delivers the famous pronouncement before killing Brett.




"And I will strike down..."




Conclusion of the "Ezekiel 25:17" monologue and Brett's murder

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Problems listening to this file? See media help.


While the final two sentences of Jules's speech are similar to the actual cited passage, the first two are fabricated from various biblical phrases.[168] The text of Ezekiel 25 preceding verse 17 indicates that God's wrath is retribution for the hostility of the Philistines. In the King James version from which Jules's speech is adapted, Ezekiel 25:17 reads in its entirety, "And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them."[169] Tarantino's primary inspiration for the speech was the work of Japanese martial arts star Sonny Chiba. Its text derives from an almost identical creed used in either or both the Chiba movies Bodigaado Kiba (Bodyguard Kiba or The Bodyguard; 1973) and Karate Kiba (The Bodyguard; 1976).[170] In the 1980s television series Kage no Gundan (Shadow Warriors), Chiba's character would lecture the villain-of-the-week about how the world must be rid of evil before killing him.[171] A killer delivers a similar biblical rant in Modesty Blaise, the hardback but pulp-style novel Vincent is shown with in two scenes.[172]

Two critics who have analyzed the role of the speech find different ties between Jules's transformation and the issue of postmodernity. Gormley argues that unlike the film's other major characters—Marsellus aside—Jules is


linked to a "thing" beyond postmodern simulation.... [T]his is perhaps most marked when he moves on from being a simulation of a Baptist preacher, spouting Ezekiel because it was "just a cool thing to say...." In his conversion, Jules is shown to be cognizant of a place beyond this simulation, which, in this case, the film constructs as God.[173]


Adele Reinhartz writes that the "depth of Jules's transformation" is indicated by the difference in his two deliveries of the passage: "In the first, he is a majestic and awe-inspiring figure, proclaiming the prophecy with fury and self-righteousness.... In the second...he appears to be a different sort of man altogether.... [I]n true postmodern fashion, [he] reflects on the meaning of his speech and provides several different ways that it might pertain to his current situation."[174] Similar to Gormley, Conard argues that as Jules reflects on the passage, it dawns on him "that it refers to an objective framework of value and meaning that is absent from his life"; to Conard, this contrasts with the film's prevalent representation of a nihilistic culture.[175] Rosenbaum finds much less in Jules's revelation: "[T]he spiritual awakening at the end of Pulp Fiction, which Jackson performs beautifully, is a piece of jive avowedly inspired by kung-fu movies. It may make you feel good, but it certainly doesn't leave you any wiser."[176]

edit] The bathroom

Much of Pulp Fiction's action revolves around characters who are in the bathroom or need to use the toilet; Tarantino's other films also feature this trope, though to a lesser extent.[177] At Jack Rabbit Slim's, Mia goes to "powder her nose"—literally; she snorts coke in the restroom, surrounded by a bevy of women vainly primping. Butch and Fabienne play an extended scene in their motel bathroom, he in the shower, she brushing her teeth; the next morning, but just a few seconds later in screen time, there she is again, brushing her teeth. As Jules and Vincent confront Brett and two of his pals, a fourth man is hiding by the toilet—his actions will lead to Jules's transformative "moment of clarity". After Marvin's absurd death, Vincent and Jules wash up in Jimmie's bathroom, where they get into a contretemps over a bloody hand towel.[106] When the diner hold-up turns into a Mexican standoff, "Honey Bunny" whines, "I gotta go pee!"[178]

As described by Peter and Will Brooker, "In three significant moments Vincent retires to the bathroom [and] returns to an utterly changed world where death is threatened."[179] The threat increases in magnitude as the narrative progresses chronologically, and is realized in the third instance:





Vincent reads Modesty Blaise in the final scene (but number 1 in the chronology to the left).


Vincent and Jules’s diner breakfast and philosophical conversation is aborted by an armed robbery while Vincent is reading on the toilet.
While Vincent is in the bathroom worrying about the possibility of going too far with Marsellus's wife, Mia mistakes his heroin for cocaine, snorts it, and overdoses.
During a stakeout at Butch’s apartment, Vincent emerges from the toilet with his book and is killed by Butch.

In the Brookers' analysis, "Through Vince...we see the contemporary world as utterly contingent, transformed, disastrously, in the instant you are not looking."[179] Fraiman finds it particularly significant that Vincent is reading Modesty Blaise in two of these instances. She links this fact with the traditional derisive view of women as "the archetypal consumers of pulp":


Locating popular fiction in the bathroom, Tarantino reinforces its association with shit, already suggested by the dictionary meanings of "pulp" that preface the movie: moist, shapeless matter; also, lurid stories on cheap paper. What we have then is a series of damaging associations—pulp, women, shit—that taint not only male producers of mass-market fiction but also male consumers. Perched on the toilet with his book, Vincent is feminized by sitting instead of standing as well as by his trashy tastes; preoccupied by the anal, he is implicitly infantilized and homosexualized; and the seemingly inevitable result is being pulverized by Butch with a Czech M61 submachine gun. That this fate has to do with Vincent's reading habits is strongly suggested by a slow tilt from the book on the floor directly up to the corpse spilled into the tub.[180]


Willis reads Pulp Fiction in almost precisely the opposite direction, finding "its overarching project as a drive to turn shit into gold. This is one way of describing the project of redeeming and recycling popular culture, especially the popular culture of one's childhood, as is Tarantino's wont as well as his stated aim."[162] Despite that, argues Fraiman, "Pulp Fiction demonstrates...that even an open pulpophile like Tarantino may continue to feel anxious and emasculated by his preferences."[178]

edit] Awards

Pulp Fiction won the following major honors:[93][95][69][181][182] Category — Recipient(s)


Academy Awards
Best Original Screenplay — Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary

BAFTA Awards
Best Supporting Actor — Samuel L. Jackson

Best Original Screenplay — Quentin Tarantino/Roger Avary

Cannes Film Festival
Palme d'Or — Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, director)

Golden Globe Awards
Best Screenplay (Motion Picture) — Quentin Tarantino

National Society of Film Critics
Best Film — Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, director)

Best Director — Quentin Tarantino

Best Screenplay — Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary



It also received the following nominations:[93][95][181] Category — Nominee(s)


Academy Awards
Best Picture (Lawrence Bender, producer) | Best Director (Quentin Tarantino)

Best Actor (John Travolta)

Best Supporting Actress (Uma Thurman)| Best Supporting Actor (Samuel L. Jackson)| Best Film Editing (Sally Menke)

BAFTA Awards
Best Film (Lawrence Bender/Quentin Tarantino) | Achievement in Direction (Quentin Tarantino)

Best Actress in a Leading Role (Uma Thurman) | Best Actor in a Leading Role (John Travolta)

Best Cinematography (Andrzej Sekula) | Best Editing (Sally Menke) | Best Sound (Stephen Hunter Flick/Ken King/Rick Ash/David Zupancic)

Golden Globe Awards
Best Motion Picture (Drama) (Lawrence Bender) | Best Director (Motion Picture) (Quentin Tarantino)

Best Actor (Motion Picture—Drama) (John Travolta)

Best Supporting Actor (Motion Picture) (Samuel L. Jackson) | Best Supporting Actress (Motion Picture) (Uma Thurman)



In the balloting by the National Society of Film Critics, Samuel L. Jackson was the runner-up in both the Best Actor and the Best Supporting Actor categories.

Wednesday, 8 April 2009

留学考试准备第一步

转一篇文章,很有道理,和切合我这个普通人的心理

Posted: March 20th, 2009 | Author: 李笑来
Filed under: 1800小时 - 高中两年慢跑冲进美国名校 |

第一步是“尽早考一次。”无论是托福还是雅思、抑或SAT、GRE、GMAT、LSAT等等。这些考试很少有人第一次就获得满意的成绩,无论之前怎么准备——别不信。所有这些留学考试本身设计的机理中就有一条:“允许考生参加任意次”。所以,不必担心多次考试中某一次差的成绩影响申请结果。

为什么要尽早考一次呢?因为学习动力最根本的来源是“清楚地知道自己有多差。”第一次甚至都可以无准备(即,所谓的“裸考”),权当作是一次“付费模考”。成绩出来之后,满意的话就省事儿了——这种情况对大多数人来说微乎其微;不满意的话,那成绩有多差,你就有多大的动力去学习。注意,市面上的模考题与真是考试差距还是相当大的。

很多人都是给自己半年的时间准备,可最终以失败告终。为什么呢?因为半年的时间无论如何都会飞速流逝的,但这半年时间里真的在“准备”么?之所以失败了,就是因为其实没有真正“准备”——期间大多数时间都被浪费掉了。为什么呢?因为没有真正的动力。

很多的时候,我们作为普通人,必然受到经历的局限。不是所有的事情都可以做到“仅凭心智就可以真正理解”。拿我自己做例子。有一句话说“人应该像明 天就要死了一样在好好活在今天”。我曾经认为自己是信奉这句话的。可是最近的经历告诉我,过去我只是“认为”我理解这句话而已,离真正做到还差好大一段距 离。

我是怎么知道这个的呢?是因为最近我被确诊出糖尿病。 糖尿病现在并不是特别可怕的疾病,但也是很严重的疾病。目前它不能根治,只能与其抗争终生。一般来说,十年到二十年之间,就可能出现大量的并发症——心 脏、眼睛、腿都可能会出现各种各样的问题。简单地说,患上这个疾病,就等于说“被判死刑,缓期若干年执行”——至于“若干年”是多少年,看你表现。我被确 诊的那一瞬间,等于拿到了个“死刑缓期执行判决书”,马上感觉到自己看待周遭事物的看法变了——“像明天就要死了一样在好好活在今天”这句话与我来说竟然 是需要重新理解的。

所以说,“尽早考一次”非常重要。因为这第一次考试成绩给你的是真正的学习动力,而不仅仅是你现在想想而已的“决心”。不要怕成绩差,第一次考试的 成绩越差,只能说明“你的提高余地越大”而已。(当然,如果差到一定程度,比如托福三四十分——那么直接放弃也不失是一种正确的选择。)实际上,正是由于 你尽早考了第一次,即意味着说你有更多的时间“真正玩命准备”。这些考试没什么了不起,只要真正努力了,我就没见过没有提高的。

Wednesday, 25 March 2009

Fashion design

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Fashion design is the applied art dedicated to clothing and lifestyle accessories created within the cultural and social influences of a specific time. ' Fashion design differs from costume design due to its core product having a built in obsolescence usually of one to two seasons. A season is defined as either autumn/winter or spring/summer. Fashion design is generally considered to have started in the 19th century with Charles Frederick Worth who was the first designer to have his label sewn into the garments that he created. While all articles of clothing from any time period are studied by academics as costume design, only clothing created after 1858 could be considered as fashion design.

Some fashion designers are self-employed and design for individual clients. Other high-fashion designers cater to specialty stores or high-fashion department stores. These designers create original garments, as well as those that follow established fashion trends. Most fashion designers, however, work for apparel manufacturers, creating designs of men’s, women’s, and children’s fashions for the mass market. Large designer brands which have a 'name' as their brand such as Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, or Chanel are likely to be designed by a team of individual designers under the direction of a designer director.


Two seamstresses, Rue du Claire by Paul SignacContents [show]
1 History of fashion design
1.1 Culture beginnings
1.2 Late twentieth century
2 Types of fashion
3 Designing a collection
4 Areas of work
5 US Income
6 Fashion education
7 Areas of fashion design
8 Fashion design around the world
8.1 American fashion design
8.2 British fashion design
8.3 French fashion design
8.4 Italian fashion design
8.5 Japanese fashion design
9 Fashion design terms
10 Footnotes



[edit] History of fashion design
Main article: History of fashion design

[edit] Culture beginnings
The first fashion designer who was not simply a dressmaker was Charles Frederick Worth. Before the former draper set up his maison couture (fashion house) in Paris, clothing design and creation was handled by largely anonymous seamstresses, and high fashion descended from that worn at royal courts. Worth's success was such that he was able to dictate to his customers what they should wear, instead of following their lead as earlier dressmakers had done. The term couturier was in fact first created in order to describe him.

It was during this period that many design houses began to hire artists to sketch or paint designs for garments. The images were shown to clients, which was much cheaper than producing an actual sample garment in the workroom. If the client liked their design, they ordered it and the resulting garment made money for the house. Thus, the tradition of designers sketching out garment designs instead of presenting completed garments on models to customers began as an economy.

At this time in fashion history the division between haute couture and ready-to-wear was not sharply defined. The two separate modes of production were still far from being competitors, and, indeed, they often co-existed in houses where the seamstresses moved freely between made-to-measure and ready-made.

Around the start of the twentieth-century fashion magazines began to include photographs and became even more influential than in the past. In cities throughout the world these magazines were greatly sought-after and had a profound effect on public taste. Talented illustrators—among them Paul Iribe, George Lepape and George Barbier—drew exquisite fashion plates for these publications, which covered the most recent developments in fashion and beauty. Perhaps the most famous of these magazines was La Gazette du Bon Ton, which was founded in 1912 by Lucien Vogel and regularly published until 1925 (with the exception of the war years).

World War II created many radical changes in the fashion industry. After the war, Paris's reputation as the global center of fashion began to crumble and off-the-peg and mass-manufactured fashions became increasingly popular. A new youth style emerged in the Fifties, changing the focus of fashion forever. As the installation of central heating became more widespread the age of minimum-care garments began and lighter textiles and, eventually, synthetics, were introduced.

Faced with the threat of a factory-made fashion-based product, Parisian haute couture mounted its defenses, but to little effect, as it could not stop fashion leaking out onto the streets. Before long, whole categories of women hitherto restricted to inferior substitutes to haute couture would enjoy a greatly enlarged freedom of choice. Dealing in far larger quantities, production cycles were longer than those of couture workshops, which meant that stylists planning their lines for the twice-yearly collections had to try to guess more than a year in advance what their customers would want. A new power was afoot, that of the street, constituting a further threat to the dictatorship of the masters of coutures.


[edit] Late twentieth century
During the late twentieth century fashions began to criss-cross international boundaries with rapidity. Popular Western styles were adopted all over the world, and many designers from outside of the West had a profound impact on fashion. Synthetic materials such as Lycra, Spandex, and viscose became widely-used, and fashion, after two decades of looking to the future, once again turned to the past for integration. Currently, modern fashion has seen a reference to technology such as designers Hussein and Miuccia Prada who have introduced industrial textiles and modern technology into their fall collections.


[edit] Types of fashion
There are three main categories of fashion design, although these may be split up into additional, more specific categories:

Haute couture The type of fashion design which predominated until the 1950s was "made-to-measure" or haute couture, (French for high-fashion). The term made-to-measure may be used for any garment that is created for a specific client. Haute couture, however, is a protected term which can only be officially used by companies that meet certain well-defined standards set by the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture. Nonetheless, many ready-to-wear, and even mass market labels, claim to produce haute couture, when in fact, according to established standards, they do not. A couture garment is made to order for an individual customer, and is usually made from high-quality, expensive fabric, sewn with extreme attention to detail and finish, often using time-consuming, hand-executed techniques. Look and fit take priority over the cost of materials and the time it takes to make.

Ready-to-wear Ready-to-wear clothes are a cross between haute couture and mass market. They are not made for individual customers, but great care is taken in the choice and cut of the fabric. Clothes are made in small quantities to guarantee exclusivity, so they are rather expensive. Ready-to-wear collections are usually presented by fashion houses each season during a period known as Fashion Week. This takes place on a city-wide basis and occurs twice per year.

Mass market Currently the fashion industry relies more on mass market sales. The mass market caters for a wide range of customers, producing ready-to-wear clothes in large quantities and standard sizes. Cheap materials, creatively used, produce affordable fashion. Mass market designers generally adapt the trends set by the famous names in fashion. They often wait around a season to make sure a style is going to catch on before producing their own versions of the original look. In order to save money and time, they use cheaper fabrics and simpler production techniques which can easily be done by machine. The end product can therefore be sold much more cheaply.


[edit] Designing a collection
This article's tone or style may not be appropriate for Wikipedia. Specific concerns may be found on the talk page. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for suggestions. (July 2008)

Many designers carefully research and plan a collection so that all the items in it complement each other, and have the particular fashion look which the company is known for or is going for. Oftentimes, a designer will look at what the fashion directions have been in previous seasons, keep an eye on what others in the fashion business are doing, and read fashion forecasting magazines. They also rely on knowledge of their own customers to see which styles succeeded and which were less popular in past seasons. Such research is combined with creative ideas to develop a theme for a collection. Other considerations must be taken into account as well, such as which season the collection is designed for (e.g. choosing thinner, lighter fabrics for summer; thicker, warmer fabrics for winter).

Designing a garment

The design: Different designers work in different ways. Some sketch their ideas on paper, others drape fabric on a dress stand.
Making a card pattern: When the designer is completely satisfied with the fit of the toile (or muslin), they show it to a professional pattern maker who then makes the finished, working version of the pattern out of card. The pattern maker's job is very precise and painstaking. The fit of the finished garment depends on their accuracy.
The finished dress: Finally, a sample garment is made up in the proper fabric and tested on a fitting model.

[edit] Areas of work
There are three main ways in which designers can work:

Working freelance: Freelance designers works for themselves. They sell their work to fashion houses, direct to shops, or to clothing manufacturers. The garments bear the buyer's label.

Working In-house: In-house designers are employed full-time by one fashion company. Their designs are the property of that company, and cannot be sold to anyone else.

Own Label: Fashion designers often set up their own companies. A lot of designers find this more satisfying than working for someone else, as their designs are sold under their own label.


[edit] US Income
Most fashion designers earn between $13,440 and $93,000. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports an average annual income of $67,370 for fashion designers in 2005. Median annual earnings for fashion designers were $48,530 (£26,019) in 2000. The middle 50 percent earned between $34,800 (£18,658) and $73,780 (£39,557). The lowest 10 percent earned less than $24,710 (£13,248), and the highest 10 percent earned more than $103,970 (£55,743). Median annual earnings were $52,860 (£28,340) in apparel, piece goods, and notions - the industry employing the largest numbers of fashion designers.[1]


[edit] Fashion education

A classroom filled with sewing machines and mannequins.
A student fashion show, 2007Most fashion designers today have attended some kind of art school. There are a number of well known fashion design schools worldwide. Possibly the most famous is Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London. Alumni of St Martins include John Galliano, Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen, Arkadius and Hussein Chalayan. Other notable London Fashion Schools include the London College of Fashion,The Royal College of Arts in London and the University of Westminster, whose alumni include Vivienne Westwood, Christopher Bailey, and Stuart Vevers.

Notable American fashion design schools include Parsons The New School for Design and Fashion Institute of Technology (F.I.T.) in New York City, Lasell College in Newton, Massachusetts, Drexel University and Moore College in Philadelphia, Woodbury University, The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (F.I.D.M) and A.I.U. in Los Angeles alumns include Uriel Saenz and Ashley Paige, and more specialized in French Haute Couture techniques,Academy of Couture Art in West Hollywood. According to the annual survey from US News, Parsons has recently lost its position as the top school in the U.S. for graduate art programs; now the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (S.A.I.C) has shifted up in the list and taken its place. This is being attributed to Parsons' loss of Tim Gunn as a faculty member of their fashion program, who resigned to become the Creative Director for Liz Claiborne. SAIC: Founded as the Chicago Academy of Design in 1866 by a collective of studio artists, the institution went through many changes before the turn of the century, some necessitated by the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The collecting arm of the School was founded in 1872, and The Art Institute of Chicago was born in 1882 to accommodate a distinct museum and school. The Art Institute moved to its current iconic location on Michigan Avenue after the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, and it remains the largest museum-school partnership in the country. Notable fashion alumni include Halston, Gemma Kahng, and Cynthia Rowley.


[edit] Areas of fashion design
Many professional fashion designers start off by specializing in a particular area of fashion. The smaller and the more specific the market, the more likely a company is to get the right look and feel to their clothes. It is also easier to establish oneself in the fashion industry if a company is known for one type of product, rather than several products. Once a fashion company becomes established (that is, has regular buyers and is well-known by both the trade and the public), it may decide to expand into a new area. If the firm has made a name for the clothes it already produces, this helps to sell the new line. It is usually safest for a company to expand into an area similar to the one it already knows. For example, a designer of women's sportswear might expand into men's sportswear. The chart below shows the areas in which many designers choose to specialize.

Area Brief Market
Women's Day wear Practical, comfortable, fashionable Haute couture, ready-to-wear, mass market
Women's Evening wear Glamorous, sophisticated, apt for the occasion Haute couture, ready-to-wear, mass market
Women's Lingerie Glamorous, comfortable, washable Haute Couture, ready-to-wear, mass market
Men's Day wear Casual, practical, comfortable Tailoring, ready-to-wear, mass market
Men's Evening wear Smart, elegant, formal, apt for the occasion Tailoring, ready-to-wear, mass market
Girls' Wear Pretty, colorful, practical, washable, inexpensive Ready-to-wear, mass market
Teenage Wear Highly fashion-conscious, comfortable, inexpensive Ready-to-wear, mass market
Sportswear Comfortable, practical, well-ventilated, washable Ready-to-wear, mass market
Knitwear Right weight and color for the season Ready-to-wear, mass market
Outerwear Stylish, warm, right weight and color for the season Ready-to-wear, mass market
Bridal wear Sumptuous, glamorous, classic Haute couture, ready-to-wear, mass market
Accessories Striking, fashionable Haute couture, ready-to-wear, mass market


[edit] Fashion design around the world
Most major countries have their own fashion industry, including Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Brazil, India, The Netherlands, Germany, Poland, and Australia. However, only five nations have established truly international reputations in fashion design. These countries are France, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Italy, and Japan.


[edit] American fashion design
The majority of American fashion houses are based in New York, although there are also a significant number in Los Angeles, where a substantial percentage of clothing manufactured in the US is actually made, Miami, and Chicago, which was once a center of American fashion. American fashion design is dominated by a clean-cut, casual style, reflecting the athletic, health-conscious lifestyles of many American city-dwellers. A designer who helped to set the trend in the United States for sport-influenced day wear throughout the 1940s and 50's was Claire McCardell. Many of her designs have been revived in recent decades. More modern influences on the American look have been Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Anna Sui, Donna Karan, Kenneth Cole, Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors, and Tommy Hilfiger.


[edit] British fashion design
As in France, the majority of British fashion houses are based in the capital, London. British fashion houses are associated with a very traditional, British style: elegant, yet conservative cuts, fine yet not overly extravagant materials and a sort of noble, even 'imperial' elegance, such as that of traditional 'Fifties debutantes' gowns, compared to the French 'chic'. The first fashion designer, Charles Worth, was a native of Britain, although he made his name in Paris in the 19th century. British Designers include Vivienne Westwood, Paul Smith, John Galliano, Alexander McQueen, Burberry, Stella McCartney, Matthew Williamson, and Christopher Kane.


[edit] French fashion design
Most French fashion houses are in Paris, which is the capital of French fashion. Traditionally, French fashion is chic and stylish, defined by its sophistication, cut, and smart accessories. Among the many Parisian couture houses are Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Christian Dior, Givenchy, and Yves Saint Laurent, who display their work at the designer collections that are held twice a year.


[edit] Italian fashion design
Most of the older Italian couturiers are in Rome. However, Milan is the Italian fashion capital, and it is the exhibition venue for their collections. Italian fashion features casual elegance and luxurious fabrics. The first Italian luxury brand was Salvatore Ferragamo (who has exported exquisite hand-made shoes to the U.S. since the 1920s); among the best-known, exclusive fashion names, Gucci is the greatest-selling Italian fashion brand, with worldwide sales of $7.158 billion dollars. [1] Other well-known Italian fashion houses include: Valentino Garavani, Dolce & Gabbana, Emilio Pucci, Roberto Cavalli, Versace, Giorgio Armani and Prada.


[edit] Japanese fashion design
Most Japanese fashion houses are in Tokyo. The Japanese look is loose and unstructured (often resulting from complicated cutting), colours tend to the sombre and subtle, and richly textured fabrics. Famous Japanese designers are Yohji Yamamoto, Kenzo, Issey Miyake (masterful drape and cut), and Comme des Garçons 's Rei Kawakubo, who developed a new way of cutting (comparable to Madeleine Vionnet's innovation in the 1930s).


[edit] Fashion design terms
A fashion designer conceives garment combinations of line, proportion, color, and texture. While sewing and pattern-making skills are beneficial, they are not a pre-requisite of successful fashion design. Most fashion designers are formally trained or apprenticed.
A pattern maker (or pattern cutter) drafts the shapes and sizes of a garment's pieces. This may be done manually with paper and measuring tools or by using an AutoCAD computer software program. Another method is to drape fabric directly onto a dress form. The resulting pattern pieces can be constructed to produce the intended design of the garment and required size. Formal training is usually required for working as a pattern marker.
A tailor makes custom designed garments made to the client's measure; especially suits (coat and trousers, jacket and skirt, et cetera). Tailors usually undergo an apprenticeship or other formal training.
A textile designer designs fabric weaves and prints for clothes and furnishings. Most textile designers are formally trained as apprentices and in school.
A stylist co-ordinates the clothes, jewelry, and accessories used in fashion photography and catwalk presentations. A stylist may also work with an individual client to design a coordinated wardrobe of garments. Many stylists are trained in fashion design. However, many are not and simply have a knack for pulling great looks together. They are also referred to as personal shoppers.
A buyer selects and buys the mix of clothing available in retail shops, department stores and chain stores. Most fashion buyers are trained in business and/or fashion studies.
A seamstress sews ready to wear or mass produced clothing by hand or with a sewing machine, either in a garment shop or as a sewing machine operator in a factory. She (or he) may not have the skills to make (design and cut) the garments, or to fit them on a model.
A teacher of fashion design teaches the art and craft of fashion design in art or fashion school.
A custom clothier makes custom-made garments to order, for a given customer.
A dressmaker specializes in custom-made women's clothes: day, cocktail, and evening dresses, business clothes and suits, trousseaus, sports clothes, and lingerie.
An illustrator draws and paints clothing designs for commercial use.
A model wears and displays clothes at fashion shows and in photographs.
A fit model aids the fashion designer by wearing and commenting on the fit of clothes during their design and pre-manufacture. Fit models need to be a particular size for this purpose.
A fashion journalist writes fashion articles describing the garments presented or fashion trends, for magazines or newspapers.
An alterations specialist (alterationist) adjusts the fit of completed garments, usually ready-to-wear, and sometimes re-styles them. NOTE: despite tailors altering garments to fit the client, not all alterationists are tailors.
A wardrobe consultant or fashion advisor recommends styles and colors that are flattering to the client.
A photographer photographs the clothes on fashion models for use in magazines, newspapers, or adverts.
A fashion show producer is a person or firm that organizes runway/catwalk shows.

[edit] Footnotes
^ "Best Global Brands: The 100 Most Valuable Brands", Vera Bradley BusinessWeek

f alphabet

城市


London


Paris


NewYork


Milan


类型


RTW
Ready-to-Wear Today
Ready-to-wear has rather different connotations in the spheres of fashion and classic clothing. In the fashion industry, designers produce ready-to-wear clothing intended to be worn without significant alteration, because it is by far the most economical, efficient, and profitable way to produce garments. They use standard patterns, factory equipment, and faster construction techniques to keep costs low, compared to a custom-sewn version of the same item. Some fashion houses or fashion designers create ready-to-wear lines that are mass-produced and industrially manufactured, while others offer lines that are very exclusive and produced only in limited numbers for a limited time. Whatever the quantity produced, these garments are never one-of-a-kind.


[edit] Haute Couture and Bespoke
The antithesis of ready-to-wear is different depending on whether it concerns women's or men's fashion. In women's fashion high end clothing made partly incorporating features requested by the client and to her exact measurements is called haute couture. In menswear, it is usually called bespoke. In menswear, one further distinguishes between made-to-measure (or 'semi-bespoke'), in which a standard pattern is adapted to the customer's measurements, and (full) bespoke, in which a new design is created from scratch for each customer. Savile Row is a famous district in London legendary for its bespoke tailoring. Charvet in Paris is an example[1] of a famous men's bespoke shirtmaker which offers both a high-end ready-to-wear as well as a bespoke service.

The top tailors of traditional clothing, such as traditional Savile Row establishments, do not generally diversify, although a few have; in this case, the ready-to-wear clothing is not actually made 'in house', but is a re-branded garment. An example of a firm that has done this is Gieves and Hawkes. Many of the larger establishments, such as Anderson & Sheppard, Henry Poole, or Huntsman will not produce ready-to-wear clothing, and, at much cheaper rates than the female haute couture houses, are able to attract enough buyers to remain profitable on bespoke clothing alone. A large factor in this decision is a fear of alienating traditional customers, who might see ready-to-wear as tarnishing the reputation of the establishment. Such perceptions are based on issues caused by the lower price, and include problems such as a worse fit, lower quality construction (for example fused canvasing which shortens the garment's life), and using lower quality fabric. In actual fact, keen to avoid such criticisms, houses like Gieves and Hawkes have been careful to sell clothes with traditional cloth and construction wherever possible. In the shoe industry, most bespoke manufacturers do sell ready-to-wear items, but again they are usually not produced by the actual firm, being bought in from the exclusively ready-to-wear manufacturers and rebranded.

Fashion houses that produce a women's haute couture line, such as Chanel, Dior, and Lacroix or Torrente by Julien Fournié, also produce a ready-to-wear line, which returns a greater profit due to the higher volume turnover of garments and greater availability of the clothing. Relative to couture, ready-to-wear clothing is often more practical and informal, though this may not always be the case. The construction of ready-to-wear clothing is also held to different standard than that of haute couture due to its industrial nature. High-end ready-to-wear lines are sometimes based upon a famous gown or pattern that is then duplicated and advertised to raise the visibility of the designer.


[edit] Collections
Ready-to-wear collections are usually presented by fashionable couture houses each season during a period known as Fashion Week. This takes place on a city-wide basis (London, New York, Paris, Milan, Los Angeles) and occurs twice a year. Collections for autumn/winter are shown early in the year, usually around February, and spring/summer collections are shown around September. Ready-to-wear fashion weeks occur separately and earlier than those of haute couture. Ready-to-wear shows do not always feature the actual garments to be sold later in the year. The key word wearability is used in the press and industry to describe how different the designs featured in a show will be from the garments sold in stores.


[edit] Notes and references
^ Art of Textile Designing. Global Media. ISBN 8189940031


CTR
Haute couture (French for "high sewing" or "high dressmaking"; pronounced [oːt kutyʁ]) refers to the creation of exclusive custom-fitted clothing. Haute couture is made to order for a specific customer, and it is usually made from high-quality, expensive fabric and sewn with extreme attention to detail and finish, often using time-consuming, hand-executed techniques.

It originally referred to Englishman Charles Frederick Worth's work, produced in Paris in the mid-nineteenth century. In modern France, haute couture is a "protected name" that can be used only by firms that meet certain well-defined standards. However, the term is also used loosely to describe all high-fashion custom-fitted clothing, whether it is produced in Paris or in other fashion capitals such as Milan, London, Rome, New York and Tokyo.

The term can refer to:

the fashion houses or fashion designers that create exclusive and often trend-setting fashions
the fashions created
Contents [show]
1 Legal status
1.1 Members of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture
2 History
3 See also
4 References
5 External links



[edit] Legal status
In France, the term haute couture is protected by law and is defined by the Chambre de commerce et d'industrie de Paris based in Paris, France. Their rules state that only "those companies mentioned on the list drawn up each year by a commission domiciled at the Ministry for Industry are entitled to avail themselves" of the label haute couture. The criteria for haute couture were established in 1945 and updated in 1992.

To earn the right to call itself a couture house and to use the term haute couture in its advertising and any other way, members of the Chambre syndicale de la haute couture must follow these rules:

Design made-to-order for private clients, with one or more fittings.
Have a workshop (atelier) in Paris that employs at least fifteen people full-time.
Each season (i.e., twice a year), present a collection to the Paris press, comprising at least thirty-five runs/exits with outfits for both daytime wear and evening wear.
However, the term haute couture may have been misused by ready-to-wear brands since the late 1980s, so that its true meaning may have become blurred with that of prêt-à-porter (the French term for ready-to-wear fashion) in the public perception. Every haute couture house also markets prêt-à-porter collections, which typically deliver a higher return on investment than their custom clothing[citation needed]. In fact, much of the haute couture displayed at fashion shows today is rarely sold; it is created to enhance the prestige of the house[citation needed]. Falling revenues have forced a few couture houses to abandon their less profitable couture division and concentrate solely on the less prestigious prêt-à-porter. These houses, such as Italian designer Roberto Capucci, all of whom have their workshops in Italy, are no longer considered haute couture.

Many top designer fashion houses, such as Chanel, use the word for some of their special collections. These collections are often not for sale or they are very difficult to purchase. Sometimes, "haute couture" doesn't mean just creation of new models of cloth wear, but it's also a type of fine art, like any other ones, as sculpture, painting, music and more. Moreover, "haute couture" can even include all of the mentioned components. [1]


[edit] Members of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture
The fashion houses listed on the definitive schedule for Haute-Couture Spring/Summer 2009 are:[2]

Official members
Adeline André
Anne Valérie Hash
Chanel
Christian Dior
Christian Lacroix
Dominique Sirop
Franck Sorbier
Givenchy
Jean Paul Gaultier
Maurizio Galante
Stephane Rolland

Correspondent members (foreign)
Elie Saab
Giorgio Armani
Maison Martin Margiela
Valentino

Guest members
Adam Jones
Alexis Mabille
Boudicca
Cathy Pill
Christophe Josse
Felipe Oliveira Baptista
Gustavo Lins
Jean-Paul Knott
Josep Font
Lefranc.Ferrant
Marc Le Bihan
Richard René
Udo Edling

Accessories
On Aura Tout Vu



In the 2008 Spring/Summer Haute Couture week, Guest members included Eymeric François, Gérald Watelet, Nicolas Le Cauchois and On aura tout vu.[3] In the 2008/2009 Fall/Winter Haute Couture week, Emanuel Ungaro showed as an Official Member and WU YONG [1] as a Guest member.[4]

Former members

Atelier Versace
Elsa Schiaparelli
Emilio Pucci
Chado Ralph Rucci
Erica Spitulski
Erik Tenorio
Fred Sethal
Guy Laroche
Hanae Mori

Jean Patou
Jean-Louis Scherrer
Lanvin
Loris Azzaro
Louis Feraud
Mainbocher
Marcel Rochas

Nina Ricci
Paco Rabanne
Pierre Balmain
Pierre Cardin
Ralph Rucci
Torrente
Yves Saint Laurent
Gai Mattiolo
Anna May




[edit] History
This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (August 2008)

French leadership in European fashion may perhaps be dated from the 18th century, when the art, architecture, music, and fashions of the French court at Versailles were imitated across Europe[citation needed]. Visitors to Paris brought back clothing that was then copied by local dressmakers. Stylish women also ordered fashion dolls dressed in the latest Parisian fashion to serve as models.

As railroads and steamships made European travel easier, it was increasingly common for wealthy women to travel to Paris to shop for clothing and accessories. French fitters and dressmakers were commonly thought to be the best in Europe, and real Parisian garments were considered better than local imitations.

The couturier Charles Frederick Worth (October 13, 1826–March 10, 1895), is widely considered the father of haute couture as it is known today. Although born in Bourne, Lincolnshire, England, Worth made his mark in the French fashion industry. Revolutionizing how dressmaking had been previously perceived, Worth made it so the dressmaker became the artist of garnishment: a fashion designer. While he created one-of-a-kind designs to please some of his titled or wealthy customers, he is best known for preparing a portfolio of designs that were shown on live models at the House of Worth. Clients selected one model, specified colors and fabrics, and had a duplicate garment tailor-made in Worth's workshop. Worth combined individual tailoring with a standardization more characteristic of the ready-to-wear clothing industry, which was also developing during this period.

Following in Worth's footsteps were Callot Soeurs, Patou, Poiret, Vionnet, Fortuny, Lanvin, Chanel, Mainbocher, Schiaparelli, Balenciaga, and Dior. Some of these fashion houses still exist today, under the leadership of modern designers.

In the 1960s a group of young designers who had trained under men like Dior and Balenciaga left these established couture houses and opened their own establishments. The most successful of these young designers were Yves Saint Laurent, Pierre Cardin, André Courrèges, and Emanuel Ungaro. Japanese native and Paris-based Hanae Mori was also successful in establishing her own line.

Lacroix is perhaps the most successful of the fashion houses to have been started in the late 20th century. Other new houses have included Jean-Paul Gaultier and Thierry Mugler.

For all these fashion houses, custom clothing is no longer the main source of income, often costing much more than it earns through direct sales; it only adds the aura of fashion to their ventures in ready-to-wear clothing and related luxury products such as shoes and perfumes, and licensing ventures that earn greater returns for the company. Excessive commercialization and profit-making can be damaging, however. Cardin, for example, licensed with abandon in the 1980s and his name lost most of its fashionable cachet when anyone could buy Cardin luggage at a discount store.

The 1960s also featured a revolt against established fashion standards by mods, rockers, and hippies, as well as an increasing internationalization of the fashion scene. Jet travel had spawned a jet set that partied—and shopped—just as happily in New York as in Paris. Rich women no longer felt that a Paris dress was necessarily better than one sewn elsewhere. While Paris is still pre-eminent in the fashion world, it is no longer the sole arbiter of fashion.


[edit] See also
Fédération française de la couture
Fashion designer
Fashion Week
Designer label
Luxury brand
List of grands couturiers
Business cluster

[edit] References
^ Wuyong - Dancing In A Haute Couture Debut
^ "Haute-Couture Spring Summer 2009 Definitive schedule". http://www.modeaparis.com/va/collections/2009ephc/index.html. Retrieved on 2009-02-14.
^ "Haute-Couture Spring Summer 2008 Definitive schedule". http://www.modeaparis.com/va/collections/2008ephc/index.html. Retrieved on 2008-06-27.
^ "Haute-Couture Fall Winter 2008/2009 Definitive schedule". http://www.modeaparis.com/va/collections/2008hahc/index.html. Retrieved on 2008-06-27.

[edit] External links
Look up couturier in
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
The Secret World of Haute Couture: A BBC Documentary Presentation
Introduction in Haute Couture
"Haute Couture" from Label France, a magazine of the French Ministry for Foreign Affairs
Haute Couture at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Timeline of Art History
"The Golden Age of Couture". Victoria and Albert Museum. http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/1486_couture/exhibition.php. Retrieved on 2007-09-13.
"Interactive timeline of couture houses and couturier biographies". Victoria and Albert Museum. http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/1486_couture/explore.php.
Fédération française de la couture


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Kate Spade (born Katherine Noel Brosnahan in Kansas City, Missouri; December 24, 1962) is the co-founder and namesake of the designer brand, Kate Spade New York.

Contents [show]
1 Education
2 Mademoiselle Magazine
3 Andy Spade
4 Shops
5 Awards
6 Criticism
7 Popular culture
8 References
9 External links



[edit] Education
Spade graduated from St. Teresa's Academy, an all-girl Catholic high school in Kansas City, Missouri. She majored in journalism at Arizona State University, during which time she also worked in a motorcycle bar[1], and is a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority.


[edit] Mademoiselle Magazine
In 1986, Spade worked in the accessories department of Mademoiselle in Manhattan, where she was credited in the magazine's masthead as Katy Brosnahan. While at Mademoiselle she met Bradley Carvette who worked in the art department and would become a longtime boyfriend. Together, they were featured in the magazine as part of a photo story on couples and love.

She left Mademoiselle in 1991, with the title of senior fashion editor/head of accessories. While working for Mademoiselle she noticed that the market lacked stylish and sensible handbags, so decided to create her own. With this in mind, Kate browsed local flea markets, began researching different styles, fabrics, production costs, and created a line of handbags with classic shapes, colors, and fabrics.


[edit] Andy Spade
Spade met her future husband, Andy Spade (brother of actor and comic, David Spade), a native of Scottsdale, Arizona, while at ASU, working side-by-side as salespersons in a men's clothing store, Carter's Men Shop in Phoenix.[2] They were married in 1994. They had a daughter, Frances Beatrix Spade in February, 2005. They launched their New York-based design company "kate spade handbags" in January 1993, selling mainly handbags. Today Kate Spade sells a variety of items including, stationery, personal organizers, address books, shoes, beauty products, perfume, raincoats, pajamas, eyewear, and in 2004, launched "kate spade at home." The home collection includes bedding, bath items, china, various items for the home and wallpaper.

Jack Spade, a fictional name, is the men's complement to the Kate Spade brand. Its founder and principal designer was Andy Spade. In recent years, Kate Spade has been featuring designs and special editions by guest designers and is no longer the sole artistic vision of the husband and wife team.


[edit] Shops

In 1996, Kate Spade opened its first shop in New York City's SoHo. In 1998, Kate Spade opened its doors in Boston, in 2000, Chicago, San Francisco, Greenwich, Connecticut, and Manhasset, Long Island. In the spring of 2003, one more store opened in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. From there, a wave of boutiques opened in 2004, in Atlanta, Houston, Charlotte, Scottsdale, Dallas, and Boca Raton. The last boutiques that were opened were in Las Vegas, Nevada, Palo Alto, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania and Huntsville, Alabama. New stores were planned for Fall 2008 at The Mall at Chestnut Hill in Chestnut Hill, MA, Ross Park Mall in Pittsburgh, Westfield Galleria at Roseville in Roseville, CA and also in Arden Fair Mall in Sacramento, CA. The kate spade store at The Westchester in White Plains recently opened. In 2004, the Kate Spade brand went international, opening a store in Aoyama, Tokyo, Japan.

The brand currently has many Kate Spade boutiques around the world: 46 in the United States, 32 in Japan, 6 in Hong Kong, and 4 in the Philippines as well as 2 in Jakarta.In 2004, Women's Wear Daily reported that Kate Spade had sales of $125 million. It was predicted that in fiscal 2005, sales could reach and surpass $200 million. The Neiman Marcus Group Inc., which formerly owned Kate Spade, sold it to Liz Claiborne for $124 million in November 2006.[3]


[edit] Awards
Kate Spade has won numerous awards throughout her career. In 1996 the Council of Fashion Designers of America awarded Kate "America's New Fashion Talent in Accessories" for her classic designs. In 1998, CFDA once again honored her for "Best Accessory Designer of the Year". Kate Spade's home collection won her three design awards in 2004, including, House Beautiful's "Giants of Design Award for Tastemaker", Bon Appetit's "American Food and Entertaining Award for Designer of the Year", and Elle Decor's "Elle Decor International Design Award for Bedding".


[edit] Criticism
Kate Spade handbags have become very fashionable and are highly-desired items. In an article on fake handbag sales on Canal Street in New York City's Chinatown, the New York Times famously criticized the very simple construction and boxy shape of the original Kate Spade bags as easy targets for counterfeiters.


[edit] Popular culture
Kate Spade handbags have been featured frequently in the sitcom Just Shoot Me (whose cast included Ms. Spade's brother-in-law, David Spade) as the favored purse of the former fashion model character Nina Van Horn, played by Wendie Malick.





[edit] References
^ Elisabeth Buhmiller, PUBLIC LIVES; A Cautious Rise to a Top Name in Fashion, New York Times, March 12 1999
^ Ellyn Spragins, How We Bagged Our Careers, Fortune Small Business, 1 September 2003
^ Angela Moore, Marketwatch, 8 November 2006

[edit] External links
A Business Card for Your Wild Side - Wall Street Journal
Spades Stepping Aside July 26, 2007
Bio and photo of Kate Spade — Crain's New York Business 40 under 40 — 1992
Kate Spade Official Website
Jack Spade Official Website
Real or Fake? kate spade labels
Kate Spade's biography
Good Bone Structure (article)
Kate Spade Handbags And Fragrance (article)
EOnline - David Spade Profile
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Spade"


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Marcelle Bittar


Maria Dvirnik


Mariacarla Boscono


Marie Fuema


Marie Kashleva


Marie Meyer


Marina Dreu


Marina Peres


Mariya Markina


Marla Boehr


Marta Berzkalna


Martina Pavlowska


Maryna Linchuk


Masha Tyelna


Maurine Thiry


Melodie Dagault


Melody Woodin


Michaela Kocianova


Michelle Alves


Michelle Buswell


Michelli Provensi


Milagros Schmoll


Milana Keller


Mina Cvetkovic


Miriam Susanna


Missy Rayder


Miyuki Koizumi


Mo Wandan


Mona Johannesson


Morgane Dubled


Morwenna Cobbold


Nadejda Savcova


Nadine Strittmatter


Nadja Auermann


Naomi Campbell


Natalia Belova


Natalia Zavilova


Nicole Trunfio


Nika N


Nina Joukova


Noreen Carmody


Olga Akhunova


Olga H


Olga Sherer


Olya Ivanisevic


Patricia Schmid


Polina Gureeva


Polina Kouklina


Portia Freeman


Rachel Alexander


Rachel Clark


Rachel Kirby


Raquel Zimmermann


Regina Feoktistova


Renata Kaczoruk


Renee Meijer


Rianne Ten Haken


Rita Mouldaglieva


Robyn Connor


Romina Lanaro


Sabrina Ben Amor


Sara Emilia


Sara Ziff


Sarah Seewar


Sasha


Sasha Gachulincova


Sasha Pivovarova


Serafima Vakulenko


Sessilee Lopez


Shalom Harlow


Shannan Click


Sheila Marquez


Shelly Zander


Shosheba Griffiths


Simone Doreleijers


Snejana Onopka


Sofi Berelidze


Sofie Roelens


Solange Wilvert


Sonny Zhou


Sophie Vlaming


Stella Tennant


Stephanie G


Suvi Koponen


Suzanna Snow


Suzanne Diaz


Sveta Egorova


Svieta Nemkova


Talytha Pugliesi


Tanya Dziahileva


Tanya Ruban


Tao


Tatiana Lyadockrina


Tatyana Usova


Tetyana Piskun


Thais Dos Santos


Uliana Tikhova


Viviane Orth


Yana Karpova


Yasmin Warsame


Yevgeniya Kedrova