Editing Top Hat (section)

===Wardrobe: The "feathers" incident===
Although [[Bernard Newman (designer)|Bernard Newman]] was nominally in charge of dressing the stars, Rogers was keenly interested in dress design and make-up.<ref>Rogers' preoccupation lost on the ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' critic who wrote: "she is again badly dressed, while her facial make-up and various coiffeurs give her a hard appearance", cf. Billman (1997), p.90. Croce (1972), p.66, disagrees.</ref>  For the "Cheek to Cheek" routine, she was determined to use her own creation: "I was determined to wear this dress, come hell or high water. And why not? It moved beautifully. Obviously, no one in the cast or crew was willing to take sides, particularly not my side. This was all right with me. I'd had to stand alone before. At least my mother was there to support me in the confrontation with the entire front office, plus Fred Astaire and Mark Sandrich."<ref name="Rogers">{{cite book
  | last = Rogers
  | first = Ginger
  | title = Ginger, My Story
  | publisher = Harper Collins
  | year = 1991
  | location = New York
  | page = [https://archive.org/details/gingermystory00roge/page/143 143]
  | isbn = 0-06-018308-X
  | url = https://archive.org/details/gingermystory00roge/page/143
  }}</ref>

Due to the enormous labor involved in sewing each ostrich feather to the dress, Astaire—who normally approved his partner's gowns and suggested modifications if necessary during rehearsals—saw the dress for the first time on the day of the shoot,<ref>Astaire had approved the costume sketch. cf. Billman (1997), p.89.</ref> and was horrified at the way it shed clouds of feathers at every twist and turn, recalling later: "It was like a chicken attacked by a coyote, I never saw so many feathers in my life."<ref name="Astaire">{{cite book
  | last = Astaire
  | first = Fred
  | title = Steps in Time
  | publisher = Heinemann
  | year = 1959
  | location = London
  | pages = 205–211
  | isbn = 0-241-11749-6 }}</ref><ref>[[David Niven]] attended the shoot in the company of Astaire's wife, Phyllis, who suffered from a speech impediment. He recalled her verdict: "She looks like a wooster", cf. Billman (1997), p. 89</ref> According to choreographer [[Hermes Pan (choreographer)|Hermes Pan]], Astaire lost his temper and yelled at Rogers, who promptly burst into tears, whereupon her mother, Lela, "came charging at him like a mother rhinoceros protecting her young."<ref name="Thomas">{{cite book
  | last = Thomas
  | first = Bob
  | title = Astaire, the Man, the Dancer
  | publisher = Weidenfeld & Nicolson
  | year = 1985
  | location = London
  | page = 112
  | isbn = 0-297-78402-1 }}</ref>
An additional night's work by seamstresses resolved much of the problem; however, careful examination of the dance on film reveals feathers floating around Astaire and Rogers and lying on the dance floor.<ref name="Mueller" /> Later, Astaire and Pan presented Rogers with a gold feather for her charm bracelet, and serenaded her with a ditty parodying Berlin's tune:

{{Poem quote|Feathers—I hate feathers
And I hate them so that I can hardly speak
And I never find the happiness I seek
With those chicken feathers dancing
Cheek to Cheek<ref name="Billman" /><ref>Since Astaire and Pan had to create a tap track to accompany the routine, they also created a joke version, replete with melodramatic female sighs and creaking sounds to accompany backbends for Rogers' amusement. cf. Mueller (1986), p. 86</ref>}}

Thereafter, Astaire nicknamed Rogers "Feathers"—also a title of one of the chapters in his autobiography—and parodied his experience in a song and dance routine with [[Judy Garland]] in ''Easter Parade'' (1948).<ref name="Mueller" />

Astaire also chose and provided his own clothes. He is widely credited with influencing 20th century male fashion and, according to ''[[Forbes]]'' male fashion editor, G. Bruce Boyer, the "Isn't It a Lovely Day?" routine: "shows Astaire dressed in the style he would make famous: soft-shouldered tweed sports jacket, button-down shirt, bold striped tie, easy-cut gray flannels, silk paisley pocket square, and suede shoes. It's an extraordinarily contemporary approach to nonchalant elegance, a look [[Ralph Lauren]] and a dozen other designers still rely on more than six decades later. Astaire introduced a new style of dress that broke step with the spats, celluloid collars, and homburgs worn by aristocratic European-molded father-figure heroes."<ref name="Boyer">{{cite book
  | last = Boyer
  | first = G. Bruce
  | title = Fred Astaire Style
  | publisher = Assouline
  | year = 2005
  | pages = 10–11
  | isbn = 2-84323-677-0 }}</ref>