by Fashion and film have always had a mutually beneficial relationship, but 2023 was a year for the ages. Acting royalty Dame Maggie Smith appeared in a Loewe ad, Margot Robbie turned into Barbie on the red carpet, Timothée Chalamet wore a beautifully polished custom lavender Prada to launch the film Jolly Wonka and Jacob Elordi not only gave an eyebrow piercing the 90s back to Saltburn but He also wore 90 different outfits to play Elvis in Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla. In a competitive field, here’s our pick of some of the most unsettling, meta and voluminous outfits seen on the big screen this year.
The leather jacket in Return to Seoul
Park Ji-min’s screen debut in Return to Seoul directed by Davy Chou is noteworthy. The painter and sculptor, who is now an actress, fully commits – there is a scene where she dances alone in a bar which is very strong. Fashion-wise, however, the real star is her 80s black leather jacket with a funnel neck, which represents the second chapter of the film and its hips with meaning and anticipation. It has been compared to the style from Blade Runner, although in high fashion terms it is reminiscent of the work of Nicolas Ghesquière, womenswear designer at Louis Vuitton. The look is part of a narrative narrative. Chou had originally seen this outfit as a mini skirt, but Park wanted something stronger, and she got the jacket herself.
Everything in the quotes
You might find the best clothes from 2023 in this steady, sexy, 90-minute menage a trom romp set in Paris. Franz Rogowski in a dragon motif top with leopard trousers, Adèle Exarchopoulos in a retro leather jacket and mini skirt, or Ben Whishaw in a sensible navy cable jumper. What makes the clothes in this Ira Sachs film so good is that they feel completely true to what the characters would wear, and a lot of the sexiness of the film is tied to how believable the outfits feel. Clothing designer Khadija Zeggaï says Sachs gave her “carte blanche”. “Right from the start, Tomas (Rogowski) came across as a lost bear, with a lot of magic. I had found this fur jacket – I wanted to dress it up in womenswear too,” she says. The final scenes show Rogowski cycling in his fur jacket, dress shirt and bow tie sublime.
Greta Lee’s minimal slouch in Past Lives
The outfits in Past Lives may not have the sexiness of Past Lives, but all the same they embrace the idea of real life clothes that the characters actually wear. Greta Lee’s wardrobe has an ordinariness that makes her attractive. The most obvious example is the pair of fluid slacks and striped shirt (worn loose, cuffs undone) that she wears to reunite with her childhood sweetheart whom she has not seen for 12 years. This outfit is in a non-discriminating way and also looks complete.
The costumes in Rustin
In this Netflix biopic, Colman Domingo plays Bayard Rustin, who is surrounded by men, including Martin Luther King Jr (Aml Ameen), wearing sharp suits. Although Rustin wears a suit—notably a beige three-button two-piece—he tends to favor the jacket, shirt collar buttons open, loose-tie look. It emphasizes his passion for action and there are also echoes of Barack Obama (whose production company gets a producer credit) during his presidency.
Tilda Swinton in the Fendi double in The Eternal Daughter
When asked about her most memorable moment in Joanna Hogg’s The Eternal Daughter, costume designer Grace Snell tells a glorious story about two Fendi printed dresses. Both appeared in Hogg’s previous work with Snell, The Souvenir: during a birthday meal, the film’s central character, Julie, (played by the Honorable Swinton Byrne) wore one, while her on-screen mother, Rosalind (played by her real-life mother, Tilda Swinton), was wearing the other. These two gorgeous dresses reappear in The Eternal Daughter – set years later and Swinton now playing both women – again at a birthday meal.
“I made a phone call to Tilda before she traveled to Wales to film to pack the dresses just in case,” recalls Snell. “They managed to be a very important moment in the film.” Swinton also wears other pieces from The Souvenir and The Souvenir Part II. “I do a lot of preparation for Joanna’s films but we only commit to watching the day before each film day, which allows the film to sort of dress itself,” says Snell.
Emma Stone’s sleeves in Poor Things
Yorgos Lanthimos’ film Poor Things with Emma Stone looks on stage like a glorious avant garde fashion show. This comes as no surprise when costume designer Holly Waddington told Vogue she was inspired by everything from 60s Moncler and Courrèges puffer jackets to cages and latex, and Lanthimos reportedly wanted it to be “the sleeve”. Stone sleeves are a real hit. They’re huge, they’re puffy, and they bounce across the screen like an underwater creature from Planet Earth III.
Cailee Spaeny coat in Priscilla
In Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla, there are about 120 custom-made costumes to enjoy the film’s namesake, played by Cailee Spaeny. This stunning belted coat with its metallic ball buttons is “one of the few vintage pieces we found and rented from a costume house in Toronto,” says costume designer Stacey Battat.
“It’s a great love story, and they shared an intimacy that I felt was really important to convey in the costumes.” To reimagine Priscilla’s wedding dress Battat worked with Chanel, and with Valentino for Elvis’ tuxedo. Battat says her favorite Priscilla look is a light blue dress with bows that she wears when Elvis takes her on a shopping trip, and advises her to go for “black hair and more eye makeup.”
