There is a strong relationship between fashion and cinema. All films need clothes. But if handled well, the fashion of a film can define an era. Designers respond to films every season. So I thought I would start taking a look at some iconic fashion and film moments, where two come toether perfectly. So starting with The Duchess, starring Keira Knightley, based on the bestselling biography by Amanda Foreman, tells the story of eighteenth century society beauty Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire.
Georgiana, (pronounced George-ay-na) long suffering wife of public adulterer the Duke of Devonshire, was a remarkable character. In a male dominated society where women were passed from father to husband, and when women’s suffrage was still a century away, she is credited with shaping the profile of the Whig Party. As she comments to her new husband early in the film, ‘you [men] have so many ways of expressing yourselves, whereas we women make do with our hats and dresses’, she was one of the first to recognise the power of imagery. Her ‘hats and dresses’ created a fashion icon copied by women of every rank in society, but most importantly conveyed political messages to the masses. She hosted parties pulling together figures from the realms of politics, literature and art. But the show and spectacle, her new ‘style’ to be revealed, was as highly anticipated as the politics.
Michael O’Connor, who won an Academy Award and a BAFTA for Best Costume Design, brought her daring and imagination to life with historically modelled costumes. Perhaps one of his best was produced for Georgiana’s speech in support of future Prime Minister Charles Grey, with whom she had a famous affair resulting in daughter Eliza. The costume was based on a soldier’s uniform, a statement of masculinity as she stepped out of wifely duties; a frogged jacket over a long riding skirt, with fox tails falling from a plumed hat. O’Connor also captured Georgiana’s use of political colour, in this instance the buff and blue of the Whigs. Just as with savvy modern politicians wives, whose clothes and colour choices are scrutinised in the media, Georgiana recognised it as accessible imagery for the public. O’Connor’s only reinterpretation was in remoulding the rounded meringue shapes the curvy woman of the time preferred into slimmer shapes more suitable for Knightley, and the modern waif aesthetic.
Georgiana continually pushed boundaries, specialising in giant feathered headdresses or hats, and three-foot-towers of hair decorated with ornaments; ships in full sail or an arrangement of stuffed birds and waxed fruit. The oversized black hat portrayed in Gainsborough’s portrait was widely emulated. She made outrageous fashion desirable, no different to the modern Daphne Guinness or Lady Gaga. As the original public relations manipulator, Georgiana skill was in creating drama and anticipation, and knowing when to wear what.
Georgiana, (pronounced George-ay-na) long suffering wife of public adulterer the Duke of Devonshire, was a remarkable character. In a male dominated society where women were passed from father to husband, and when women’s suffrage was still a century away, she is credited with shaping the profile of the Whig Party. As she comments to her new husband early in the film, ‘you [men] have so many ways of expressing yourselves, whereas we women make do with our hats and dresses’, she was one of the first to recognise the power of imagery. Her ‘hats and dresses’ created a fashion icon copied by women of every rank in society, but most importantly conveyed political messages to the masses. She hosted parties pulling together figures from the realms of politics, literature and art. But the show and spectacle, her new ‘style’ to be revealed, was as highly anticipated as the politics.
Michael O’Connor, who won an Academy Award and a BAFTA for Best Costume Design, brought her daring and imagination to life with historically modelled costumes. Perhaps one of his best was produced for Georgiana’s speech in support of future Prime Minister Charles Grey, with whom she had a famous affair resulting in daughter Eliza. The costume was based on a soldier’s uniform, a statement of masculinity as she stepped out of wifely duties; a frogged jacket over a long riding skirt, with fox tails falling from a plumed hat. O’Connor also captured Georgiana’s use of political colour, in this instance the buff and blue of the Whigs. Just as with savvy modern politicians wives, whose clothes and colour choices are scrutinised in the media, Georgiana recognised it as accessible imagery for the public. O’Connor’s only reinterpretation was in remoulding the rounded meringue shapes the curvy woman of the time preferred into slimmer shapes more suitable for Knightley, and the modern waif aesthetic.
Georgiana continually pushed boundaries, specialising in giant feathered headdresses or hats, and three-foot-towers of hair decorated with ornaments; ships in full sail or an arrangement of stuffed birds and waxed fruit. The oversized black hat portrayed in Gainsborough’s portrait was widely emulated. She made outrageous fashion desirable, no different to the modern Daphne Guinness or Lady Gaga. As the original public relations manipulator, Georgiana skill was in creating drama and anticipation, and knowing when to wear what.
Images from The Duchess, 2008
The Duchess pained by Thomas Gainsborough, 1787
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