TFG were pleased to learn last night that they’d predicted correctly and that La Vie En Rose did indeed take the award for best costume and best hair and make up at yesterday’s BAFTAS.

Jan Archibald and Didier Lavergne cleverly used hair &make up to move Marion Cotillard through the different stages of Edith Piaf’s adult life to her death at 47, when illness and addiction had made her look closer to 70. Marit Allen had used costume to transport the audience to the time between the wars in France and to present Marion Cotillard (who is almost a foot taller than Piaf was) as a small, frail Edith Piaf.

Sadly Marit Allen, the film’s costume designer, died last year and her two daughters collected her BAFTA at the ceremony last night. Marit Allen was a Vogue Fashion Editor, a fashion trail blazer and a costume designer on 40 films including Brokeback Mountain, Eyes Wide Shut, Little Shop of Horrors and Mrs Doubtfire.

The story goes that Marit Allen was discovered in 1964 when she worked as a lift girl at Jaeger in London, and was offered a job, working at Vogue for£25 per week. During her time there she revolutionised fashion magazine content, worked closely with David Bailey and Jean Shrimpton and was responsible for setting up some of the iconic images of Twiggy, Jean Shrimpton, Marianne Faithfull and Penelope Tree that are so well known today.

Ang Lee said about Marit Allen “She wasn’t simply the best at what she did, she was the best a human being could be.”

Read more about Marit Allen’s wonderful life story at this link.

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3. J Lo – Elle October – Designers Past & Present Tribute…
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5. Amber Rose “Shredded Dress” & Kanye at Paris Fashion Week