“The psychology of the Golden Globes dress” plus 1 more

The psychology of the Golden Globes dress

Posted: 13 Jan 2011 02:21 PM PST

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – If an average woman can spend hours ruminating over an outfit, imagine what a star goes through choosing a look for a red carpet like the one at the Golden Globes.

Their gown choices are about as spontaneous as deciding who's going to star in $100 million movies. Both convey image and perception, both can triumph or fail. The cost is high in both cases.

This year's big-ticket Globes nominees Natalie Portman, Michelle Williams, Nicole Kidman, Angelina Jolie and Halle Berry are expected to turn out an impossible combination of Grace Kelly-meets-Audrey Hepburn-meets-Sophia Loren looks.

That in itself is an image-juggling act: Stars use red carpets to shape-shift their public image, their status, their career trajectories and even their love lives.

It's hard to believe, but before the late 1990s, stars came casually to the Globes.

"They'd wear pantsuits and little glasses to read their speeches," says Carlos Souza, global ambassador for the Valentino brand. "Mr. Valentino would watch, get so angry and say, 'Where's the glamour of Old Hollywood?'"

The tables turned in 2000, when Berry, nominated for Introducing Dorothy Dandridge, turned up in a sophisticated white Valentino stunner to the collective reaction of "Wow!"

"That dress was the game-changer," says Phillip Bloch, the stylist who dressed Berry in her early iconic looks. "It upped the ante for Globes style and was a career-making dress: the perfect storm of right woman, right dress, right moment. We were going for Natalie Wood, not Raquel Welch. Beautiful, not va-va-voom. Halle was already sexy; we wanted her to look like a real actress. That began the time when a dress could actually make a career."

Now it's reached maximum combustion.

"Fashion and image has become a big part of my job," says one Globe nominee's high-powered manager. "You don't want to alienate your audience by going over the top, but you can't overlook that a young female audience is affected by what actresses wear."

With all that weight resting on a choice, lots of cooks weigh in: stylists, plus managers, PR and relatives, to name a few.

"I had a boyfriend want to change the color of a couture dress the night before because he liked blue better than pink!" Souza laughs.

Notes stylist Elizabeth Stewart, who's working with Winter's Bone nominee Jennifer Lawrence: "It changes from star to star. Some know exactly what they want, some need a committee."

Case in point: Julia Roberts favors stark, simple dresses, even when attending the Globes in 2001, where she won for Erin Brockovich. But niece Emma Roberts was present when she debated the regal, black-and-white vintage Valentino she wore to the Oscars weeks later.

"Wear that one, Aunt Julia!" she said. "That's really glamorous, and make sure to show the back!"

It's no accident that when stars play unattractive on screen Kate Winslet in "The Reader," Kidman in "The Hours," Charlize Theron in "Monster" they crank up the femme fatale factor on the red carpet.

"Hilary Swank didn't show off her figure in 'Boys Don't Cry,'" says Tanya Gill, her stylist of three years. "But when she went to the Globes, it was in a sheer Versace couture dress. The year of 'Million Dollar Baby,' you saw more of her body. She wasn't going to hide how much she worked for those parts."

Then there's the "suddenly single" moment. Reese Witherspoon donned a succession of princess styles before her breakup with Ryan Phillippe. But when she emerged in 2007 in a short, tight, strapless yellow Nina Ricci, the message was: "He's gone, but I'm still sexy! And available!"

"Actresses have to walk a tightrope," says Cameron Silver, owner of vintage boutique Decades, from where many Globes gowns hail. "Too avant-garde and you're a 'fashion girl.' Too underdone and you're on the worst-dressed list. You want that middle space occupied by Penelope Cruz or Jennifer Garner: serious actress who happens to be chic."

In the case of certain actresses think Camilla Belle or Diane Kruger they're much better known for outfits than for acting. "It's not so bad being famous for style, if you want to be famous," Stewart says. "It's not their fault they look good in clothes."

So do Cate Blanchett and Tilda Swinton, but they work constantly.

"When an actress dresses authentic to who she is, she can go as far as she likes," Stewart says. "That demands true talent."

But when the scales tip and it's all style over substance, one stylist admits, "you wind up with free clothes and no parts."

Adds the major talent manager of one fashionista: "If there's too much emphasis on fashion, you do get taken less seriously as an actress. Courting the balance these days is almost harder than getting a great part statuesque doesn't always lead to a statue."

(Editing by Zorianna Kit)

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Geoffrey Keppel, scholar of human memory, dies at 75

Posted: 13 Jan 2011 11:14 AM PST

BERKELEY —

Geoffrey Keppel, a professor emeritus of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, whose research expanded our understanding of what causes humans to forget, died on Dec. 31, 2010, after a long struggle with chronic lymphatic leukemia. He was 75.

Geoffrey Keppel, professor emeritus of psychology

During his 47 years at UC Berkeley, Keppel served as dean of social sciences, chair of the Department of Psychology and director of the Institute of Human Learning. His accolades include a Distinguished Teaching Award in 1993 and, at the time of his retirement in 1994, the prestigious Berkeley Citation.

Along with his mentors, UC Berkeley psychologist Leo Postman and Northwestern University psychologist Benton Underwood, who both preceded him in death, Keppel demonstrated that forgetting is the result of interference from a variety of sources, including past memories, various aspects of the current memory, and new memories.

"Keppel's work continues to be influential in describing and understanding how the human brain copes with interfering thoughts and memories," said Stephen Hinshaw, chair of the UC Berkeley psychology department, quoting UC Berkeley psychologist Arthur Shimamura, a world renowned memory expert.

Ruth H. Maki, a professor emeritus of psychology at Texas Tech University, studied statistics and experimental design under Keppel as a graduate student at UC Berkeley. She said his teaching inspired her love of statistics.

"He touched many students, showing them that statistics isn't so hard and, in fact, can be fun," Maki said. "Thousands of students were helped by his superb statistics textbooks. New revisions of his textbooks will be greatly missed."

The oldest of three brothers, Keppel was born on March 17, 1935, in Oakland, Calif., and grew up in nearby Albany. His father worked for PG&E, but his true passion was writing poetry. Geoffrey Keppel and his brother Bruce both attended UC Berkeley and played on the campus's water polo team. Their younger brother Stephen worked for the U.S. Postal Service.

Keppel and his wife Sheila, an art historian, were high school sweethearts. After earning a bachelor's degree in psychology at UC Berkeley in 1957, Keppel went on to obtain both a master's degree and a Ph.D. in psychology from Northwestern University, where he met Underwood, a pioneer in the post-World War II study of verbal learning and memory.

In 1963, Keppel joined UC Berkeley's Department of Psychology as an assistant professor. He was promoted to full professor in 1970.

After more than a dozen years exploring the human memory, Keppel turned his attention to experimental design in psychology and the social sciences. His goal was to show students of behavioral science how to conduct research in ways that allow for clear and statistically meaningful answers, his colleagues said.

This enterprise yielded a series of major works on experimental design and analysis. Those included "Design and Analysis: A researcher's handbook" and "Data Analysis for Research Designs: Analysis of Variance and Multiple Regression/Correlation Approaches," which he wrote in conjunction with UC Berkeley psychology professor emeritus Sheldon Zedeck.

"Generations of psychologists around the world learned how to conduct rigorous research from these clear, precise and inspired volumes," said UC Berkeley psychology professor emeritus Jerry Mendelsohn, a longtime friend and colleague of Keppel's. "The warmth, humor and concern for others that made him so fine a colleague and friend were among the qualities that made him so fine a teacher."

In response to winning the Distinguished Teaching Award in 1993, Keppel wrote: "I approach the undergraduate psychological statistics and methodology course by drawing the students into the puzzles and challenges of experimental research … I do not present statistics as an arbitrary set of procedures, but as a means for revealing the answers to the fundamental issues that spark excitement in our discipline."

Among other honors, Keppel served as president of the Midwestern Psychological Association, president of the Division of Experimental Psychology of the American Psychological Association and chair of the Council of Graduate Departments of Psychology.

He was also the recipient of a National Institutes of Mental Health fellowship at the Applied Psychology Unit at Cambridge University in England, and of an additional fellowship at Wolfson College at Cambridge University.

In 1997, Keppel was honored by the American Psychological Association for Distinguished Career Contributions to Education and Training in Psychology.

He is survived by his wife of 54 years, Sheila Keppel of Oakland, Calif., daughter Melissa Keppel Riley of Point Reyes Station, Calif.; son Peter Keppel of Asheville, North Carolina; and four grandchildren. Plans for a memorial service are pending.

Psychology

Thursday, January 13, 2011

“The psychology of the Golden Globes dress” plus 1 more

“The psychology of the Golden Globes dress” plus 1 more

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