The Maddie Hayes Look

Remember Moonlighting?   I LOVED THAT SHOW! 
  
And I loved Maddie Hayes:  her pastel silk suits, her awesome hair, her private detective agency, and the fact that she had to solve cases with David Addison, with whom she engaged in witty repartee and who clearly was madly in love with her.

Maddie Hayes, played by Cybill Shepherd was one half (or some may say one fourth if you count Agnes DiPesto and Bert) of the Blue Moon Detective Agency.   The other half was David Addison, played by Bruce Willis, the good time guy with the razor sharp wit.  The bad boy with a heart of gold who more than did his part to keep the sexual tension alive and well with Maddie Hayes.  Oh yes, I was parked on the couch every sunday night between 1985 and 1989, grooving to Al Jarreau's theme song and ready for the latest episode!

But this post is not about that.  For a complete and awesomely exhaustive episodic history of Moonlighting and lots of other fun stuff, I refer you to davidandmaddie.com. 

This post is about The Maddie Hayes Look.  And the man behind that look, costumer designer Robert Turturice.

Costume designer, Robert Turturice

I happened upon this gem of an article, published in the Florida SunSentinel in 1986.  In it, we get the blow by blow of the hows and whys of Maddie's wardrobe.  

It starts by describing Maddie's "tailored but soft" pale pastel silk suits.  This being 1986, the jackets are "boxy" with low-cut camisoles underneath (I'm sure David appreciated that!).

Maddie had some serious shoulder pads in her suits

Maddie's desk accessories are all in very 80s mauve

After a year or so of having Maddie wear suits, Robert Turturice started to gravitate "toward more soft dresses.  There will be less jackets this year.  There will also be a move away from all the quartz jewelry of last season...you will see more gold and silver geometric shaped jewelry this season."

big gold 80s earrings

Turturice also shared that the lighter shades will deepen and the peaches will "ripen."  

Maddie in a very peachy ensemble

Turturice envisioned Maddie wearing more gray, lavender and seafoam ("a pale turquoise") in the upcoming season.

As far as fabrics were concerned, it was silk all the way for Maddie Hayes.  "I use tons of it," said Turturice.  "Silk charmeuse, silk jacquard, silk garbadine, raw silk, silk challis."  

"And I'm worth it. "
(She was in the L'Oreal Preference hair color commercials.)

Turturice said that spends about $1,000 per outfit, and he has two or three of each outfit on hand.  This is because Moonlighting was an "action" show and sometimes David and Maddie ended up "getting filthy or getting food thrown on them."   Even Maddie's jewelry was in duplicate, "just in case."

Love this white on taupe suit with the seed pearl choker!  

Turturice never dressed Maddie in blue because he didn't like how it looked onscreen.  He also avoided primary colors especially red and black because to him they were "too jarring."

He ended the interview stating that Maddie's hair was going to be shorter, curlier and "fluffier."   Then he urged viewers to keep an eye out for her strapless white ball gown in an upcoming episode (Symphony in Knot Flat).  I'm not sure if this is the same gown, but this one is gorgeous:

Shorter, Curlier and Fluffier hair

As far as I'm concerned, Maddie's silk pastels are the opposite of 80s-tacky.  I would wear her look today in a heartbeat.  But then, I happen to LOVE pastels.  And the 80s.  And Moonlighting!

Vogue 8844: Very 80s Blouson Jumpsuit with Asymmetrical Front and Gathered Sleeves

This jumpsuit has been haunting my dreams, and finally, it is a reality.  

This jumpsuit checked all the boxes for me:  Dropped yoke. Hyper-gathered, pleated sleeves sewn into that yoke to create maximum puffiness.  Asymmetrical front closure.  Shoulder pads.  Side pockets.  Wide belt required.  Plenty of blousing spilling over that belt.  Sleeves that cry out:  please roll me up.  Yes, this jumpsuit spoke to me!

It is, as some sewists say, a fabric hog.  Depending on fabric width, it could consume almost seven yards.  That could get pretty expensive.  So I used an old top sheet from our queen sized bed in khaki green.  I had used the bottom sheet as a test-run for Diahann Carroll's jumpsuit.  Who knew I was sleeping on jumpsuits all those years?

I found this pattern here while browsing online, and soon discovered it's pretty rare.  I could only find two, and so I got the size 10.  I needed a 12.  Which meant I had to adjust the pattern a bit to make sure it fit over my hips.  The top I wasn't concerned about, I mean look at all that fabric!  

There is a technique called slash and spread to make a pattern bigger, which I had heard of but never researched.  I continued my campaign of ignorance and decided to just go ahead "slash" the pattern right down the middle of the leg, beginning just above the waist.  The opening was 1/4 inch the front, and 1/2 inch in the back, to create a total of 1.5 inches around the hips and a bit of a bigger waist.   

I didn't want to cut up my rare 80s pattern,
 so I copied onto tracing paper

I also wanted to make sure I didn't get skimped on the "blouson" part of the jumpsuit, so I lengthened the waist by 1.5 inches.  

The pattern provided a lengthen/shorten line at the waist,
which I used to add more fabric at the critical blousing juncture

Cutting out this jumpsuit required I take over most of our communal living area for a time:

Sewing this up was fairly easy.  And the adjustments I made worked out.

The yoke required a lining.
This leftover bit of cotton shirting I had worked well.

The jumpsuit called for snaps along the front panel with a button at the top, and buttons at the cuffs.  I did snaps throughout (using a larger one at the top of the panel).  I thought buttons would interrupt the sea of fabric flowing around my body!

The Calvin Klein stretch belt is 2.5 inches wide and not vintage.

tons of gathers in the back too!

I particularly like the detachable collar, which is just a long rectangle sewn together with a flat-felled seam.

There is a 7 inch zipper, but it wasn't necessary as I could just pull this jumpsuit on without unzipping it. I might even take it out and just sew that seam shut.

Can you see there's a pleat in the sleeve TOO?

I rather liked it with the cuffs buttoned, but I wanted to see how rolled up sleeves looked:

Rolled up sleeves and knock off Ray Bans from Chinatown

I do love my new jumpsuit, I think it's both chic and comfy.

And there's nothing like a jumpsuit to put you on a pipeline straight back to the 1980s...!

From Puffy to Palazzo with Paloma Picasso

My puffy cuffed denim pants have been refashioned.

Behold, they are now palazzo pants:

In November I made view B from this 1981 McCalls pattern:

They fit me pretty well without alterations.  I did lop off about two inches from the bottoms before I attached the buttoned cuffs, though:

It’s a cute idea, those button cuffs.  But they were TIGHT. Getting them buttoned was difficult.  Once buttoned the cuffs were secure. But they weren’t really working for me. If they were a bit looser, would the pants have hung differently?  As it was, they were spending all their time on a hanger in my closet, unfulfilled (literally). It was time to uncuff these otherwise lovely pants and get them into circulation.

When I detached the cuffs, my pants expanded into wide legged palazzo pants.  However the unfinished bottom edges were too short to hem (because of the aforementioned lopping).

So I followed this tutorial to add a DIFFERENT kind of cuff to these pants.  Basically, you make a tube of fabric, sew it to the bottom edge right sides together, fold it in half and then sew again “in the ditch.”

attach the cuff

fold it under and "stitch in the ditch"

new cuff!

This method ensures that the cuffs are very securely attached and stand up well to frequent wear.  They give added length (1.5 inches). I wanted the new cuffs to be denim as well and luckily I had just enough fabric leftover.  If I hadn’t, I could have used a contrasting fabric (a light blue and white stripe could have been nice). But I probably would have made them into wide-legged cropped pants (a look that seems to be on trend right now).

I was  thrilled to finally have an opportunity to wear a 1980s vintage Paloma Picasso belt I had been hoarding for a few months.  

I think it really works here. I love this belt, I don’t have anything else like it. The patent leather connects lengths of gold chain and closes with her signature triple X.   It was purchased from this Etsy seller.

Born in 1949 to Pablo Picasso and french painter Francoise Gilot, Paloma initially avoided going into the arts.  Eventually she was drawn to jewelry design and fabrication. Her first pieces in 1971 were met with great success.   

In 1980 she started designing jewelry for Tiffany & Co and developed her signature Xs and Os (hugs and kisses).  In 1984 she developed her fragrance, “Paloma Picasso” and in 1987 branched out into accessories including sunglasses, handbags and belts.  She is still out there, designing all kinds of goods, from bed sheets to bone china. She also still designs for Tiffany and the Paloma Picasso collection is ever popular.

Paloma’s bold and beautiful looks made her a natural model for her own creations.  I remember her print ads from the 1980s:

The shirt I’m wearing is not made by me (I wish!) nor is it vintage.  It was a gift from my husband a few years ago and carries the Pink label.  It is gorgeous and impeccably made.

I have the feeling these pants in their new incarnation will get a lot more wear.  They can be dressed up or down. And my ankles feel so incredibly FREE!

The Patrick Nagel Woman

Few artists are as intrinsically linked to the 1980s as Patrick Nagel.  Maybe you never knew his name, but you have surely seen his women. He created the woman on Duran Duran’s second album, Rio in 1982.  It was a runaway success, with 80s hits you still hear on the radio today: Rio, Hungry Like The Wolf and Save a Prayer.   

Duran Duran was determined to be a massive success in America.  On Rio’s inner sleeve, they stand posed in boldly colored, big shouldered suits, having left their soft, foppish New Romantic clothing behind in England.  They further hardened things up with the sharp lines and saturated colors of Nagel’s artwork: Rio’s smile looks like it could cut glass, as do her earrings: 

Patrick Nagel was born in 1945 In Dayton, Ohio and raised in Los Angeles.    He served as a ranger in combat in Vietnam. Upon his return, he attended art school, earning his B.A. in Fine Arts from California State University, Fullerton in 1969.  He was married to model Jennifer Dumas at the time of his death in 1984.

His compositions are uncluttered, with dramatic, strongly defined lines (usually in black).  His palettes appear almost lacquered, often consisting of pinks, creams, blues and purples, with occasional hits of yellows, reds and greens.   

The “Patrick Nagel Woman” became a ubiquitous presence in the 1980s, adorning calendars and posters in rooms all over the world.  The Nagel woman was sexy, whether she was wearing shades, looking off in the distance or directly in your eyes. She was cool, beautiful, visually arresting.   The unassuming fellow who created these idealized women was by all accounts a friendly guy who was generous and down to earth.

His first major job, and the one that brought him to national attention, was for Playboy in 1976.  He created many illustrations for the magazine over several years. Hugh Hefner wrote a glowing essay about him for a book published by Alfred van der Marck Editions in 1985 called Nagel: The Art of Patrick Nagel. This retrospective of his work contains many loving tributes to the man.   

Nagel’s Playboy artwork drew the attention of readers, who all wanted to know: who was this guy?

(The following images are from Nagel: The Artwork of Patrick Nagel and were originally published in Playboy magazine)

From there his career took off like a freight train, and Nagel churned out hundreds of images.  His style became one of the most defining of the decade and he was widely copied.

This interesting article by the thenailscape.com ponders why counterfeit images of the Patrick Nagel woman became ubiquitous in nail salon windows (and I might add, dry cleaners).  Could it be that the colors he uses remind people of nail polish? Or that the image of a knock-off “Nagel Woman” is meant to lure customers into believing they will be cooly chic and gorgeous after their mani/pedi?     As for the dry cleaners, I’m not sure what the link is.  

My brother in law was a huge Patrick Nagel fan in the 1980s.  (He also was a huge Prince fan and always made me a cassette tape of Prince’s latest album.  Thanks, Sean!) He and my sister decorated their first apartments together in the late 1980s/early 1990s with what else:  lots of Patrick Nagel posters and calendars. Lucky for me, they saved a lot of that artwork. They also own the Nagel book I mentioned above, which was a wonderful resource.  All of the following images are from the Nagel book and from Jenn and Sean’s personal collection of posters and calendars.

Eventually, Nagel branched out and started drawing men, which was well received by the public.

But before he could really establish the Patrick Nagel Man in the pantheon of American Art, Nagel died at age 38. He had a penchant for chocolate shakes, cigarettes, martinis and fast food.  By 1984 the world had connected the images with the man and Nagel was invited to a celebrity “Aerobathon” event to raise money for the American Heart Association. His friends were concerned because as an artist, he was pretty sedentary and never exercised.  He waved them off and participated. After the event, he went back to his car where he had a heart attack and died.

Patrick Nagel's art continued to be commercially popular well into the 1990s.  His style was so pervasive it permeated the public consciousness, and remains influential to this day.  I happened upon this mural on Bleecker Street just yesterday and it seems reminiscent of Nagel. It features Debbie Harry (who rose to icon status in the 80s), her pale skin offset by bold colors and washes of jet black.

I wonder where Nagel's art might have gone had he not passed away so young. Would it have changed with the times? I think so. As it is, Patrick Nagel and his iconic artwork is frozen in time, to be forever associated with the 1980s. 

Mural at Bleecker Street and Bowery, NYC
Near the location of the birthplace of punk, CBGBs (now closed)