Bette Davis

FASHIONS OF 1934

First National Pictures, 1934.  Directed by William Dieterle.  Camera:  William Rees.  With Bette Davis, William Powell, Frank McHugh, Hugh Herbert, Verree Teasdale, Reginald Owen, Henry O'Neill, Phillip Reed, Dorothy Burgess, Hobart Cavanaugh.

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Just as Sherwood Nash's New York investment business goes broke, he meets dress designer Lynn Mason.  Her drawings give him the idea for a new racket, and soon he, Lynn and his partner Snap are in business providing dress shops with cheap copies of exclusive Paris designs.  When the owners of the more expensive shops discover his scam, Sherwood suggests that they send him to Paris to make copies of the European designs for them.  Secretly, each owner agrees and Sherwood and his partners are in business.  The designs are closely guarded, however, and Lynn does not succeed in copying any of them until they learn by accident that Oscar Baroque, one of the top couturiers, gets his ideas from old costume books.  Lynn invents her own designs in the same way, and she and Sherwood sign each drawing with the name of a big designer, selling them to their contented New York customers.

Sherwood expands his goals when he meets Joe Ward, an ostrich feather salesman with a surplus he can't sell.  He recognizes Baroque's companion, the Grand Duchess Alix, as Mabel, a friend of his from Hoboken, New Jersey.  Threatening to tell Baroque the truth about her background, Sherwood suggests that she convince Baroque to back and design the costumes of a musical revue in which she will star.  Baroque buys Ward's entire supply of ostrich feathers, starting a rage for the product.

Lynn is sure that it is just a matter of time until the police catch up with Sherwood.  Although she has fallen in love with him, she is so tired of his schemes that she considers leaving him for the piano player, Jimmy, who is in love with her.  Not content with his success, Sherwood announces the opening of Maison Elegance, a new fashion house that will compete with Baroque.  Lynn's designs are a great success until Baroque discovers the forged sketches that Sherwood is selling in New York.

The police arrest Sherwood, and Lynn agrees to leave with Jimmy.  Sherwood begs the police for an afternoon to straighten everything out.  He attends Alix's wedding to Baroque, where he threatens to tell the world the truth about her unless Baroque withdraws the charges.  Then he sells Maison Elegance to Baroque and stops Lynn just before she leaves, asking her to come to America with him and promising never to get involved in another scheme.

American Film Institute Catalog