That Girl, Those Clothes

(Warning: this post is kind of a GIF-fest)

You know what we need right now?  I would never have guessed it myself, but having stumbled on it, I now know what just might be the greatest panacea for tired nerves one can imagine.

Yes, it's the fashions of That Girl, as presented to us over on the Twitters by the very intrepid Sarah Ganske. It's a riot of ladylike tailoring and kicky accessories, laid out episode-by-episode, and even though we're currently only in the early days of Season Two, I'm in awe, both of Marlo Thomas's endless perkiness and of our hostess's extraordinary thoroughness and eye for the perfect GIF to capture each ensemble.

I think it may be the real reason for which the frequently far more trying Twitter platform was invented. I'm doing my best to ignore politics, eschew controversy, and rise above the usual squalor. Instead I'm concentrating on floral brooches, white gloves, and exceedingly appropriate hats. Ann Marie may have been a struggling actress (in a 1,000 square Manhattan one-bedroom, most of it apparently closets, but still), but she was turned out in a way that would have put Luci or Linda Johnson to shame (hell, it would have more than given Princess Anne a run for her money, and been a whole lot more Mod to boot). What's remarkable is ease and flair with which Thomas wears the clothes - and how, in the context of the show, one quickly forgot how eye-popping some of them were.

It's nice to know that Marlo's still around. You can see her talk a little about her That Girl look here, and it turns out there are multiple YouTube episodes for the watching should you be in the mood, your appetite whetted by the Twitter project, to investigate all these chic ensembles in context. One half-hour of pure pleasure I can strongly recommend includes a Very Special Guest Star indeed:

Given how studio-bound the show was, and filmed in Los Angeles to boot, it did a rather good job of evoking the New York of its setting - not just in the famous credits, but in the convincingly urban (that apartment aside) sets, the variety of types who were extras and did bits, and the occasional visitor like The Merm (The New Yawkiest celebrity going, I think). I certainly believed in Ann Marie's Manhattan, and it's some measure of how influential the series was on my generation that when My Dear Sister moved, many years ago, to a small town near Brewster, New York, the most common reaction from friends and acquaintances was "Ooh - maybe she'll run into Lou Marie!"

So all thanks to the marvelous Ms. Ganske, and more power to her as she continues through the many seasons and nearly infinite number of kicky outfits to come. If you're taken with her work here (and each outfit, by the bye, is accompanied by a pithy and highly descriptive caption), you might want to check out her blog, which I'll chide her ever so slightly for neglecting; she's a fine and incisive writer on the movies and what they can mean in our lives.

I'll leave with one last quintessential Ann Marie look - if nothing else That Girl's coat game was beyond fierce:

As for me, the highlight of this weekend is a great deal less glamorous; we're having the carpets cleaned, and the very nice man doing them is very chatty... Pray for me.