What happens when the clothes in a TV show are more charismatic than the characters
Just as designers the world over are placing their delicate, angular faces in their careworn hands and forlornly asking, “What is to become of the conventional fashion show?”, TV and film have come up with an answer.
For every blink-and-you’ve- missed it digital catwalk show in 2020, there has been a mega fashion moment on Netflix, Apple TV+ and even the Beeb.
Think of God-awful-want-to-punch-her-in-the-dimples Emily, of Emily in Paris fame, whose every last sparkly little tweed mini skirt and fuchsia stilettos sells out the minute the dimples totter into view. And we’re not talking Asos here, but actual Chanel. In Asia, they cannot get enough of Emily’s fashion sense, and they’re showing their appreciation in the most meaningful way possible, as far as brands are concerned. Ker-ching.
Onto the remake of Rebecca, starring a far-too-bland-for-the-part Armie Hammer as Max de Winter, and a far-too-beautiful-for-the-part Lily James as the second Mrs de Winter. Hitchcock rightly resisted pressure from Laurence Olivier to cast his then wife Vivien Leigh as the second MdW back in 1940, preferring Joan Fontaine, who while hardly plain, didn’t possess Leigh’s flashy beauty. Or James’s.
Julian Day, the second Rebecca’s costume designer, told this paper yesterday that he based the remake’s unarguably fabulous clothes on those worn by Wallis Simpson and Coco Chanel – thereby demonstrating tremendous diligence but also why this clod-hopping MTV Rebecca was misbegotten from the get go. Had second MdW actually dressed like Wallis, Max de Winter, being, deep down, a fundamentally decent sort, would probably have reported her to the anti fascist movement. Women like Chanel and Rebecca would have made mincemeat of 2nd MdW whose big sartorial fantasy, aged 21, was to be 35 and wear a little black dress and pearls. To those who think that this is being pedantic, sorry, but 2nd MdW’s apparent mousiness is kind of the entire point of the book.
You’d think someone like me, who derives enormous pleasure from gazing at beautiful clothes, would be pleased that telly has finally stopped dressing its actresses like the cast from the Halifax ads. But when the clothes in question are more charismatic than the characters, even I start to lose interest. Ratched, the fabulously costumed blockbuster starring Sarah Paulson as the demented sadistic nurse? Couldn’t get past the first 15 minutes. I never did discover how a nurse came to have so much fancy luggage. Ditto Hollywood, also on Netflix, also wondrous looking. But as compelling as a rail of beige suits.
The Morning Show, Apple TV+’s flagship drama, starring Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon, combines plot, character arcs and an overview of the MeToo debate with Aniston’s Kors and Dior packed wardrobe. Mrs America also had an engrossing story line and clothes. So it can be done.
Back in 2007, the film adaptation of Ian McEwan’s Atonement, created the perfect union of fashion and emotion. Who can forget Keira Knightley in that plunge back emerald silk bias cut dress? Not David Cameron that’s for sure, as anyone who has read Sasha Swire’s entertaining diaries will know. According to Swire, our former prime minister was particularly exercised by Knightley's underwear in this scene, or lack of it. As Alexis of Schitt’s Creek, another show featuring “bold” fashion choices along with endearing characterisations would say, ewwwww.
Still, designers wondering how to engage with a public that may be falling out of love with conventional ways of showing fashion could do worse than jump into bed with any film production that will have them. As for the arts – they could do with all the help they can get.
Lisa Armstrong's column appears each Saturday in The Saturday Telegraph and is published online every Saturday at 7am on Telegraph Fashion.
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