Slip Narratives: An ethnography of the role of slips in films

“My mamie always said that she wanted a red taffeta petticoat, so stiff that it would stand by itself, and so rustling that the Lord would think it was made of angels’ wings.” Gone with the Wind

In 2008 I began working with the idea of slips as vestiges, as transcripts of earlier eras. The latest project is ethnographic, as I explore the roles slips have played in films, thinking of what they might say about the women who wear them, the society they lived in, and the constraints of this social theatre in which the slip appears over & over again. The images shown here come from Gone with the Wind (1939), A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), On the Waterfront (1954), The Seven Year Itch (1955), Baby Doll (1956), Psycho (1960), Hable con Ella (2002), La Vie en Rose (2007), and Precious (2008).

A Streetcar Named Desire, 1951

On the Waterfront, 1954

The Seven Year Itch, 1955

Baby Doll, 1956

Psycho, 1960

Hable con Ella, 2002

La Vie en Rose, 2007

Precious, 2008