If “fashion is a language,” then its onscreen translation transcends time or place. When it comes to the sartorially-minded film characters that we love and those that linger in our mind, it’s not only the unique or striking sense of dress that tickles our fancy, but the way in which they absorb the wardrobe of the character into their personality and the essence of the role. And in looking back through cinema’s past, there are countless films whose style now serves as a beacon of fashion iconography.
However, when it comes to examining the way we dress ourselves in everyday life and that constant desire to reinvent and invigorate ourselves aesthetically, you can always look to the movies for a wealth of inspiration. So from the candy-flipped punk-y pleasures of Gregg Araki’s characters and Sofia Coppola’s dreamy pastel ennui to the elbow-patched and academic pleats of Woody Allen and the heartbreakingly haute world of Wong Kar-wai, let’s take a look back on a fantastic list of films featuring some of cinema’s most stylish characters.
THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO, Whit Stillman
Chloe Sevigny and Kate Beckinsale
NORTH BY NORTHWEST, Alfred Hitchcock
Cary Grant and Eve Marie Saint
AMERICAN GIGOLO, Paul Schrader
Richard Gere
SUMMERTIME, David Lean
Katherine Hepburn
CLUELESS, Amy Heckerling
Stacey Dash, Alicia Silvertone, and Brittany Murphy
THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY, Anthony Minghella
Matt Damon, Jude Law, and Gwneyth Paltrow
AMERICAN PSYCHO, Mary Harron
Christian Bale
SUMMER OF SAM, Spike Lee
Jennifer Esposito, Adrien Brody, John Leguizamo, Mira Sorvino
MOULIN ROUGE, Baz Luhrmann
Nicole Kidman
THE LADY EVE, Preston Sturges
Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda
THELMA & LOUISE, Ridley Scott
Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis
FLASHDANCE, Adrian Lyne
Jennifer Beals
2046, Wong Kar-wai
Ziyi Zhang
CASINO, Martin Scorsese
Sharon Stone
TOUTE UNE NUIT, Chantal Akerman
Aurore Clément
BARBARELLA,Roger Vadim
Jane Fonda
MARIE ANTOINETTE, Sofia Coppola
Jason Schwartzman and Kirsten Dunst
DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN, Susan Seidelman
Rosanna Arquette and Madonna
DOOM GENERATION, Gregg Araki
Rose McGowan
LOVE STREAMS, John Cassavetes
Gena Rowlands
LAWRENCE ANYWAYS, Xavier Dolan
Suzanne Clément and Melvil Poupaud
BASIC INSTINCT, Paul Verhoeven
Sharon Stone
NOWHERE, Gregg Araki
Kathleen Robertson, Rachel True, and Christina Applegate
CAMILLE 2000, Radley Metzger
Danièle Gaubert
MILLENNIUM MAMBO, Hou Hsiao-Hsien
Qi Shu
FOXY BROWN, Jack Hill
Pam Grier
MANHATTAN, Woody Allen
Meryl Streep and Woody Allen
KLUTE, Alan J. Pakula
Jane Fonda
BELLE DU JOUR, Luis Bunuel
Catherine Deneuve
BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S, Blake Edwards
Audrey Hepburn
ANNIE HALL, Woody Allen
Woody Allen and Diane Keaton
SHAFT, Gordon Parks
Richard Roundtree
VALLEY OF THE DALLS, Mark Robson
Patty Duke, Sharon Tate, and Barbara Perkins
BETTY BLUE, Jean-Jacques Beineix
Béatrice Dalle
JAWBREAKER, Darren Stein
Julie Benz, Rose McGowan, and Rebecca Gayheart
CASABLANCA, Michael Curtiz
Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman
JACKIE BROWN, Quentin Tarantino
Pam Grier
LOVE STORY, Arthur Hiller
Ryan O’Neil and Ali Macgraw
BULLITT, Peter Yates
Steve McQueen
KABOOM, Gregg Araki
Thomas Dekker, Haley Bennett, Roxanne Mesquida
THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR, Sydney Pollack
Robert Reford
THE DREAMERS, Bernardo Bertolucci
Louis Garrel, Evan Green, Michael Pitt
MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO, Gus Van Sant
Keanu Reeves and River Phoenix
Check out Part I HERE
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