Film Petit: Zoolander

2001. Freshman year of college for me, and the peak of that period in our rich American cinematic history when funny things that should have been only as long as an SNL sketch got made into full length features. It was the the hey-day of my generation's stupid comedy. Jim Carrey was starting to do horror movies and trying to win awards, meanwhile Will Ferrell was in everything I called funny.

My roommate and I (hi Kira!!) probably watched Zoolander twice a week that year, at least as background noise to homework. And yeah, it was on VHS. (Damn, I'm old. I don't even know who the new Will Ferrell is right now, and I don't care.)

If you weren't a college freshman in this ridiculous time and you didn't have a fine appreciation for the types of movies I'm talking about, then proceed with caution. This isn't one of those FP's where we stand convicted that everyone's life would be made richer by viewing the movie we are paying homage to. If you see it for the first time now, you may think it's the dumbest thing you've ever seen. Or you may love it. But there are no guarantees. So let's proceed with the one-liners. 

Derek Zoolander is played by Ben Stiller as a "really really ridiculously good-looking" male model at the peak of his career. These ain't no Slashies. He's expecting to win his fourth male model of the year award, but he's upset by rookie model Hansel, played by Owen Wilson, so hot right now. After that and the devastation of losing his three male model roommates in a tragic gasoline fight accident, he decides to retire from modeling. Until designer Mugatu (Will Ferrell) finally wants to hire Derek to be the face of his new "homeless fashion" collection. But it's all a plot to brainwash Derek to kill the Prime Minister of Malaysia (the claymation dude) because he's outlawed child labor. "My name is little Cleetus!"

Oh, and there's a Derek/ Hansel walk-off, judged by David Bowie. "Listen to your friend Billy Zane."

The scene I reference in the graveyard is actually the funeral for Derek's three gas-fighting, Wham-listening, orange-mocha-frappucino-enjoying friends. Derek is giving the Eugoogoly, when he is upstaged by Hansel's entourage entering. So hott right now. He's wearing this ridiculous shirt and I just knew I had to make one for Elsie. 

I used the Bimma Sweater pattern by Lou Bee Clothing. I loved it! This is such a cute and original style. You can it with a big cowl attached, a hood, or a smaller shawl collar. I used the shawl option in a size 3 for this, but I can't wait to try the other styles too. I found this weird fuzzy yarn at Joann and just hand stitched it sloppily onto the shirt. I love the way it just hangs haphazardly on the sides. Elsie was mostly jumping off gravestones, but she occasionally found time to work her Hansel shades for the camera too. 

Which reminds me, am I a horrible person for taking my kids to the graveyard for pictures? And is it weird that they enjoyed this setting far more than any other photo shoot ever? They were running around hunting ghosts the whole time. Oy. 

Although he's not a big part of the funeral scene, I really wanted to include Jerry Stiller's character Maury Ballstein. He owns Derek's modeling agency, Ball's Models and is working in cahoots with Mugatu. And he's got a prostate the size of a honeydew apparently, but I didn't use that for Hendrix's acting notes.

Maury is always wearing some sort of crazy tracksuit, even if it's a gold one to a big awards ceremony. Alas, Joann had no gold velour! Not even an ugly paisley print. But I was set on velour. 

So with brown and teal velour, it turned into something off the set of Freaks and Geeks, but the styling is all Maury. By the way, velour is not the most fun I've ever had on my sewing machine. Use a lot of pins, iron on a low setting, and turn your presser foot pressure down really low. Those are just some tips, because I know Hendrix is gonna be bringing velour back on the sewing blogger scene. He loves this outfit. He said he couldn't wait to wear it to school to show his friends. 

"It's a casserole Sheila! IT'LL KEEP!"

The pants are size 6 Oliver & S Art Museum trousers. Did Liesl ever envision them in velour with piping down the sides? I don't know, but they really are a great basic pant shape for this kind of stuff. Of course I left off all pockets. Welts in velour? Ouch. 

The shirt is size 6-7 raglan tee from the book Sewing for Boys, with added front kangaroo pocket, waist and sleeve bands,  and "collar." I put that in quotes because it ended up being a disaster that could barely fit over Hendrix's head. I was sewing late at night and didn't want to figure out how to do the placket this top needed. So I just stuck the collar right on the neckline. I'll take it off later and just put a ribbed neckband on so he can  actually wear it often. Let this be a lesson: some of what we do here on Film Petit is poorly sewn and just for effect. Or maybe I should day some of what I do on Film Petit.  

My favorite thing is that early 80's knit piping on the shoulders. Knit piping is hard to find, but I actually got this stuff when I visited Kristin in Portland this summer. 

It's been a while since the last Film Petit, and I forgot how crazy fun it is! Thanks to Kristin for kicking my ass back into gear. Her kids reenacted the walk-off scene between Derek and Hansel and they are working it. Hilarious. Ambi-turning and everything.

And this time we had SO much fun working with Rae as our guest! Of course, everything she does is stellar, so seeing her take the idea of FP and run with it was such an honor. Her son Elliot knocked it out of the park with award show Hansel. THAT COAT!!! Check it out here.


Now that we are back in the habit, we have a couple more Film Petit plans in the work. To see all my older FP posts, go here, and see all of Kristin's here.

Thanks for being such great Film Petit fans! You guys make it so fun for us when you get excited about these posts :)