Many years ago, when “Dynasty” was on the air, costume designer Patricia Field had a great merchandising idea.
“I thought a company like Sears, Roebuck should have a catalog featuring the ‘Dynasty’ collection, so as you were watching the show, you could order anything a character was wearing straight from the catalog,” she says. “The diamonds, the gold, the clothes, anything you wanted–you just could dial an 800 number.”
Of course, she has created a similar lust for clothes with the edgy looks she and partner Rebecca Weinberg craft on “Sex and the City.” Nameplate necklaces, hoop earrings, designer handbags, open-toed heels, sun visors, tube tops, vintage party dresses, floral appliques, diamond horseshoe necklaces, glitter T-shirts and fanny packs– these are the major retail hits of the last two years and have been showcased by the most appealing model of the moment, series star Sarah Jessica Parker.
If “Dynasty” set the tone for ’80s power dressing, then “Sex and the City” seems to capture the not-so-subtle contradictions inherent in being a woman these days. The HBO series not only has struck a chord with viewers, but also seems to be inspiring designers from New York to Milan.
“When you see someone walking, talking, eating, drinking in an outfit, it comes alive and those clothes become much more relatable than if you see them on some model posing still in a fashion spread in a magazine,” explains Field. “You can identify with the person on TV or in film wearing those clothes in a realistic situation. There’s a much bigger connection there.”
Ready-to-wear trends have often originated from hit movies or television shows. Who can forget the crocheted cap Ali MacGraw wore in “Love Story,” the men’s vests and trousers Diane Keaton sported in “Annie Hall,” or the beret Faye Dunaway worked in “Bonnie & Clyde”? What ’70s girl didn’t want the “Charlie’s Angels” bikini? The twist today seems to be the increased visibility of costume designers, and the media marketing machine, with help from the Internet, has accelerated the process.
Can this season’s multitude of miniskirts and snug-fitting tops be attributed to “Erin Brockovich,” which was winning film awards as designers were putting the finishing touches on fall? Is “Sex and the City” to blame for all those one-shoulder tops and blouson minidresses? Is “Moulin Rouge” the cause of the permeating boudoir feel with all the French lace and fishnets? (In fact ABC is teaming up with Home Shopping Network in a month-long experiment to sell jewelry worn by the stars on the soap opera “All My Children,” tapping into the show’s three million women fans.)
“Good characters evoke strong reactions,” says Field. “And if they’re dressed right–in a way that supports the character–then you want to look like them whether you hate them or love them.”
Of course, the timing has to be right too.
Rita Ryack, who has worked as a costume designer for directors Ron Howard and Martin Scorsese, remembers how odd it was to witness the rise of the “scumbag look” after she put Robert DeNiro in seedy ’50s rayon shirts and trousers for “Cape Fear.” The movie came out in the early ’90s, when grunge music already was giving rise to a slouchy, tattered aesthetic.
Ryack was equally surprised when she saw the luxurious ’70s fashions she designed for Sharon Stone’s character in “Casino” (1995) appear on Tom Ford’s runway for Gucci the following season. While Ford has said he is influenced by pop culture in general, he denies being driven by any film in particular. When The New York Times recently asked him whether the butch looks he presented for spring/summer 2001 were offshoots of the film “Boys Don’t Cry,” the story of crossdresser Teena Brandon , he only snickered.
Other designers are more forthcoming.
Isaac Mizrahi is seen studying the film “Nanook of the North” for inspiration in the documentary “Unzipped.” Anna Sui often lists rock ‘n’ roll films as jumping-off grounds for her collections. Vivienne Tam described her fall 2001 line as the product of “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and “The Matrix.”
“It’s nice putting something out that people respond to,” says Michael Kaplan, costume designer of such fashion-buzz films as “Flashdance,” “Blade Runner” and “Fight Club.”
“When Versace did an homage to ‘Fight Club’ last year with looks that were taken verbatim from the film, from shaved heads and fake fur coats to that red leather jacket Brad Pitt wore, I had two reactions. Of course, it’s validating for me as a designer. But I also felt it was a way for them take away any responsibility or guilt they had for using my ideas.”
Obviously, this is a feeling Kaplan knows well but can’t exactly do anything about. The ’40s-meets-futuristic looks he devised for “Blade Runner” (1982) were virtually copied in their entirety by Alexander McQueen a few seasons back. And when Kaplan ripped off the collar of a sweatshirt for “Flashdance” (1983), he started one of the biggest crazes of the ’80s. Marc Jacobs, a friend of his, even confessed to watching the film again when he was coming up with his ’80s-themed summer 2001 collection.
“It’s not my intention to set trends,” Kaplan says. “My goal is to strengthen and support my characters. That’s all I was thinking about when I was dressing Jennifer Beals. Dancers did cut their sweat shirts as a way to allow them greater freedom of motion. Jennifer also had beautiful shoulders and this was a way to show them off. It was all very thought-out in terms of her character. But when I started seeing men in West Hollywood wearing that style, I thought, ‘Oh my God, that’s gone too far.’ “
The latest film he styled, “Pearl Harbor,” is being linked to the military look that’s in vogue. But Kaplan thinks this one is a bit of a stretch.
“Sometimes the media is overly anxious to make trends happen,” says Kaplan, referring to a trend report in Entertainment Weekly that claimed that his costumes were “inspired by Miguel Adrover and Ralph Lauren’s fitted, belted, all-American tops and pants.”
Says Kaplan: “In reality, Miguel Adrover and I were not at all influenced by each other. Anyone can walk into a store and pull clothes and link it to a film. There’s always a war movie playing.”
Sometimes the connections are real; other times, they’re overinflated. When Carol Oditz designed the costumes for the 1995 film “Georgia,” loosely based on the life of Janis Joplin, Vogue credited her with causing the demise of grunge. In reality, Oditz might have inspired a few women to wear their slips as skirts, but that hardly caused a movement. Her use of a certain pearl necklace in “Tin Cup” (1996), however, did cause one of the biggest stirs in the jewelry business.
“Everyone now refers to them as the ‘Tin Cup’ pearls,” says Oditz, who also started a trend toward baggy rayon shirts on the golf course instead of the usual knit tops. Her costumes for “The Ice Storm” (1997) also led to the feathers-and-fringe bohemian luxe look of a few seasons back.
“We don’t have the machinery to give our looks an afterlife,” she says. “And that’s where the fashion industry comes in. I make millions of dollars for other people. It’s the sad truth.”
Field, who has her own clothing line and two New York boutiques, is uniquely poised to profit from the trends she inspires on the screen. But she also says many of her ideas stem from her store and the colorful people who shop there. Perhaps that’s why she diplomatically concludes: “We’re all in a giant fishbowl, watching each other.”
