1. 50s Silk Blue Swing Dress, indigolace on ebay
2. Adrienne Vittadini Silk Scarf, sarmar04 on ebay
3. Lacina Top, Anthropologie, $39.95
4. Sunglasses, Forever 21, $2.99
5. Chirp and Tweet Dessert Plate, Anthropologie, $14
6. Red Wool Princess Coat, shop blue bird on ebay
7. Cupcake Apron, Boojiboo on etsy, $28.75
8. Painted Rose Hairclips, Forever 21, $2.80
I have to dedicate this post to my co-worker, Patrick, who recently lent me season one of Pushing Daisies. The exchange went somewhat like this.
Patrick: Would you like to borrow my season one Pushing Daisies DVDs? [Read: I would like to have someone to discuss Pushing Daisies with on Thursday mornings. Please watch quickly, and get caught up.]
Tricia: Umm…okay.
He gave me the DVDs, and I watched. In one day, I watched six episodes. Consecutively. Yes, I understand that this fact is a little embarrassing. Which is why, after the sixth episode, I left the apartment to get a cupcake. Then I returned, and resumed watching.
Produced by ABC, Pushing Daisies is the most whimsical, wildly imaginative TV series that I have ever watched. Visually, Pushing Daisies resembles a love child between Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Tim Burton (Ignore the biological impossibility! Imagination!). Since Amelie is my favorite movie, by far, it makes sense that I am utterly smitten with Pushing Daisies. There are even a few parallels between Pushing Daisies and Amelie!: the Pie Hole (Montmartre café), Chuck (English-speaking Amelie!), costume design, and the first episode of Pushing Daisies even features a song from the Amelie soundtrack!
The plot revolves around Ned, a pie-maker with the ability to bring dead things back to life with the touch of his finger. After reawakening the dead, Ned has a minute to retouch the person. If he doesn’t, the dead thing stays alive and someone else dies in exchange. Finally, if he touches anything that he had once revived, the thing stays dead forever. Make sense? I hope so. Ned and Emerson, a Private Investigator, use Ned’s extraordinary gift to solve murder crimes (and cash in on the reward money). Originally, this plan worked well worked, until Ned had to reawaken his childhood sweetheart, Chuck (!@#!@$%!$!@#!$%!!!!)
Ned can’t bring himself to un-reviving Chuck from the dead. Which is great, because I ADORE CHUCK! She is brilliant! Witty! Quirky! Charming! Adventurous! Oh, Chuck! How I wish I could be you! Chuck is a hybrid of Zooey Deschanel, Rory Gilmore, and AMELIE. Some of my favorite fictional/real people! So many exclamation points! Furthermore, Chuck always wears the most sparkling clothes! She pairs wonderful dresses with perfect little cardigans! Chuck joins Ned and Emerson, and the show chronicles the team’s sleuthing adventures.
So after six straight episodes of Pushing Daisies, what do I think about? How can I be like Chuck?! I subsequently went to this Pushing Daisies fan site (where all the pictures in this post are from!) to oogle at the Pushing Daisies cast (mostly Chuck). Chuck wears a lot of 1950s swing dresses, and ebay is the perfect place to find them. The dress up, up above has a Chuckish silhouette, and is well-tailored too! On trips to the morgue, Chuck frequently wears bold-colored wool coats, sunglasses and scarves so Mr. Coroner doesn’t recognize her. (Her disguises are kind of fruitless, but I enjoy seeing her disguises nonetheless!) I wear nearly as many cardigans as Mr. Rogers, and Chuck seems to be the same way too! I’ve always fawned over Anthropologie’s dainty cardigans. They’re always so cozy and detailed! Chuck also enjoys lovely hair things: Audrey Hepburn-sized hats and flower hair clips! When she isn’t at the morgue, Chuck helps Ned bake pies (and even suggests that the Pie Hole should serve CUP PIES…CUPCAKE-SIZED PIES…panda-precious!), and wraps herself in cute aprons. Lastly, a perfect plate for the Pie Hole’s famous Three Plum pie. Yummy!
19 Responses for "Smitten with Pushing Daisies"
I guess I have to start watching this show! I would also like to dress like her.
I too am totally obsessed with Pushing Daisies! I got into it for the Amelie vibe, too.
Great post, Tricia! I simply adore this show!!! Especially since I love the art direction and fashions used. Of course, it’s always a plus when Jim Dale is the narrator… (he also did the books on tape for Harry Potter)
To be fair, I don’t recall implying “please” before “watch quickly.” However, it’s been a long time since I tried to imply to much by saying so little, so my form may be off a little.
Ambrrr- Did you know Amelie is the creator’s favorite movie? I found this out after I started watching; it seems to make sense! I feel like there are a lot of similar lighting techniques too; I used to know more of the DEETS (It has been a while since I last watched my Amelie dvd)…but now I’m intrigued and I’ll have to watch the extras again. Or the movie again, too.
Lorraine- Thanks! THANK YOU FOR SHARING WITH ME THE JIM DALE FACT. Confession: I own harry potter book four on tape …err…cd…and I KNEW THE NARRATOR’S VOICE SOUNDED FAMILIAR. You have demystified the enigma of the day. Congratulations.
Patrick- I was trying to make you seem polite. Doing you a favor. Also, I AM IMPRESSED YOU FOUND THIS ON YOUR OWN, you little lamb. I was going to send you a link via outlook xchange when I returned to 1k box. Since I have no computer today.
i haven’t watched much of this show, but it’s come highly recommended.
i’m afraid to watch a series that might end abruptly, ie, carnivale. i’m still not over that show, and it’s been years since it’s final episode.
i like that red scarf a lot.
I never saw carnivale! Pushing Daisies IS on its death bed. I guess you just have to enjoy what’s left. And think back nostalgically when the show is dead. Like Freaks and Geeks. My So Called Life. Sigh.
OMG! WATCH CARNIVALE!
i am so obsessed with that show, it’s not even funny. it’s collected in dvd, and it’s awesome.
if you like carnies, fantasy and such, you’ll like it :)
Thanks, I’ll have to check it out!!
Wait: what?? It’s on it’s death bed? Tricia, are you speaking metaphorically, or have they canceled it?? Oh, dear…. I just caught up last night on a few episodes that I missed. But yeah, I couldn’t figure out why the story narration sounded so magical until I found out it was Jim Dale (and I confess to having book 4 on cd too).
It seems like there’s a high chance it will be canceled! I hear the ratings have been extremely bad this season. I guess it’s difficult to appreciate the show, and doesn’t really appeal to a wide audience. An audience as large as, I don’t know, Dancing With the Stars (Angst. Bitter. Beef.). Also, the creator might return to Heroes?!
Noooo! I blame the writer’s strike for ruining their momentum… that seriously bums me out. :(
Hey, Pushing Daisies fans might be interested to know there is an interview that just went up on Fancast with the Executive Producer Bryan Fuller and he says he would uo to make a Pushing Daisies movie or comic book and also touches on the possibility of changing networks (like Scrubs did). The interview is at
http://thebiz.fancast.com/2008/11/a_pushing_daisies_movie.html
They are also looking for comments on whether fans would watch a movie and how you feel about so many plot lines being left unfinished if it is the end.
Ack I’m so happy you started watching this show finally so we can discuss something besides GG. Not that that’s bad. Also, I love Chuck because she frequently wears green… which happens to be my favorite color. I heard the show might get canceled though :[:[
Wow! I didn’t know you watched the show! I especially love it when she wears really saturated colors- especially kelly green. I really liked the kelly green dress from season one’s Halloween episode, which is in the picture above. It’s true; it might be canceled! What are your thoughts of this season?
[...] out the Pushing Daisies Fashion Guide. Full of bright, cheery outfits. Also, fun stuff going on in the comments [...]
I bet you’ll enjoy this as much as I do! I want to be just like Chuck, too.
http://community.livejournal.com/chuck_chic
I SAW THAT, and LOVED IT! The composite pictures are so well done, and stunning!
[...] Fashion Tricia posted an awesome article about the vintage inspired fashions on the show. I’ll just leave you with [...]
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