Hollywood And Fashion: How Does Cinema Impact The Way We Dress?

Liv Leftwich’s views on the most styl­ish moments as seen on the big screen. 

Words Liv Leftwich

From vin­tage glam­our to icon­ic cos­tumes, cin­e­ma has always played a cru­cial role in pop cul­ture. Whether we are aware of it or not, every “look” or out­fit we put togeth­er is influ­enced by some­thing greater. Every­thing we see and observe fil­ters into our cre­ative sense of self, impact­ing the clothes we wear and the char­ac­ter we adopt. 

The con­nec­tion between fash­ion and film is inex­plic­a­ble and is known for rein­tro­duc­ing trends from the past and bring­ing them to the fore­front of the 21st cen­tu­ry. With nos­tal­gia well and tru­ly mak­ing a come­back this sea­son, it’s apt tim­ing to review the top films which have helped shape the realm of fash­ion and con­tin­ue to spark trends – both on and off the runway. 

Break­fast At Tiffany’s (1961)

While many films are con­sid­ered “fash­ion­able”, there are few which live up to this icon­ic Audrey Hep­burn classic. 

The plot is large­ly irrel­e­vant – the true impact of this film lies in its quin­tes­sen­tial aes­thet­ic. Enriched with pearls, state­ment shifts, and over­sized shades – Hepburn’s role as Hol­ly Golight­ly super­charged ultra-glam out­fits into the main­stream mar­ket. Looks that were pre­vi­ous­ly deemed too “fan­cy” sud­den­ly became acces­si­ble to a wider audi­ence. Epit­o­mis­ing Hol­ly­wood glam­our — sexy sil­hou­ettes cel­e­brate fem­i­nine shapes, all point­ing towards a time­less ele­gance, which Hep­burn pulls off effortlessly. 

Pret­ty Woman (1990)

Don­ning the ulti­mate makeover scene – this 80s rom-com takes pow­er-dress­ing to a whole new lev­el. Trans­form­ing from sala­cious sex work­er to prim and prop­er lady – Julia Roberts’ char­ac­ter reveals what a wardrobe revamp can do for your self-confidence. 

Strolling down Rodeo Dri­ve in style, Vivian Ward (Roberts) seeks revenge against the snob­by shop assis­tants, who had pre­vi­ous­ly shunned her. The mem­o­rable line, “Big Mis­take – Huge!” has become unan­i­mous with the film’s lega­cy, lib­er­at­ing the way that women shop. 

From sta­ple shoul­der pads to sleek cock­tail dress­es and pol­ka dot prints – the movie cov­ers a range of fash­ion­ista moments, all of which are inspired and notably suit­able for the upcom­ing Ascot season. 

Clue­less (1995)

Known for ele­vat­ing the school­girl look into some­thing far more chic – this 90s film paved the way for two-piece tar­tan and extrav­a­gant headwear. 

From plaid, checked prints to knee-high sig­na­ture socks – these prep­py pieces are still pop­u­lar today. Y2K fash­ion has tak­en the run­ways by storm recent­ly, with the micro-mini trend first being show­cased by Miu Miu on the S/S22 cat­walk before an array of design­ers fol­lowed suit. 

  • Miu Miu Spring Sum­mer 2022 cat­walk show. Dis­cov­er the col­lec­tion here.

The Great Gats­by (2013)

A cel­e­bra­tion of art deco dress­ing – fringed hem­lines and sequin finishing’s ooze opu­lence in this 1920s inspired movie. Designed by Mar­tin and Miuc­cia Pra­da, the wardrobe in this film has resur­faced recent­ly, with the likes of Erdem and Halpern show­cas­ing sim­i­lar shapes dur­ing their Autumn/Winter 2022 shows. 

  • Halpern A/W 22 cat­walk show
    Dis­cov­er the col­lec­tion here.
  • Erdem A/W 22 cat­walk show
    Dis­cov­er the col­lec­tion here.

You can also check out oth­er films whose fash­ion pres­ence also strong­ly impact­ed cin­e­ma…

The Col­or of Pome­gran­ates (1969)

See OVERDUE’s edi­to­r­i­al inspired by The Col­or of Pome­gran­ates in issue #004 “Film”. Issue is avail­able for pur­chase in our online shop.

  • Pho­tog­ra­phy Annemarie Sterian
  • Pho­tog­ra­phy Annemarie Sterian

Cred­its Pho­tog­ra­phy @annemariesterian
Cre­ative Direc­tion @tesssavina
Direc­tor of pho­tog­ra­phy @jamesbutler_cine
Styling @mashamombelli
Set Design­er @jimmy_frank
Hair @chloe_frieda @chloealicefrieda
Make­up @annajpayne @agentofsubstance
Cast­ing & Pro­duc­tion @studiobajek
Pro­duc­er on set @pawlowska_marta
Stylist’s assis­tant Lucy Hayes, @kaelanoneill
Photographer’s assis­tant @karolina.wielocha
Mod­el Mitch @selectmodellondon

Chris­tiane F. (1981)

Guc­ci even took inspi­ra­tion from the cult movie for their Spring/Summer 2016 ad campaign.

Guc­ci Spring/Summer 2016 Cam­paign Film
Watch

The Vir­gin Sui­cides (1999)

In the Mood for Love (2000)

Fac­to­ry Girl (2006)

Most recent­ly,

House of Guc­ci (2021)

Lady Gaga as Patrizia Reg­giani in House of Gucci.

Camille Cot­tin (Pao­la Franchi in House of Guc­ci) is OVERDUE issue #004 cov­er star. Read “Joy Ride”, Camille’s inter­view with OVERDUE in issue #004 “Film”.

Spencer (2021)

Kris­ten Stew­art as Lady Diana Spencer in Spencer.

With time-peri­od fash­ion con­tin­u­ing to cre­ate a buzz amongst pop cul­ture — glam­our and deca­dence are two trends that are not dis­si­pat­ing any­time soon. It seems like there is no evi­dent expi­ra­tion date of the rela­tion­ship between cin­e­ma and fashion.