For many contemporary designers, films were an introduction to the power of fashion. And while most children were focused on the plot, they were often more interested in the visuals and – especially – the clothes. For example, Maximilian Davis, the Milan-based creative director of Ferragamo, remembers being fixated on the color palette of the 1999 Stanley Kubrick drama “Eyes Wide Shut” when he watched it as a young teenager; Willy Chavarria, who designs his eponymous brand in New York, first saw the 1973 horror classic ‘The Exorcist’ when he was 12 and was enchanted by a khaki dress. As adults, both men have watched these films over and over again, weaving elements of the big screen into their collections. Here she and seven other designers talk about the cinematic fashion moments that continue to inspire them.
Michael Kors, 65: “Eyes of Laura Mars” (1978)
It’s the ultimate fashion film. Faye Dunaway’s clothing, by legendary costume designer Theoni Aldredge, is remarkable, and watching Dunaway, as the fashion photographer Laura Mars, shoot Lisa Taylor, the model of the moment, in Columbus Circle, wearing culottes with a slit, was my first experience with a photo shoot. The disco soundtrack, Barbra Streisand’s theme song and the fact that it featured the best hair and makeup people of the time – John Sahag and Joey Mills – made it seem like a real piece of the New York fashion world. And how many movies have a Calvin Klein cameo in the credits? The movie version of big city glamor will always be part of my fashion vocabulary.
Colleen Allen, 29: “The Color of Pomegranates” (1969)
When I was at university at Central Saint Martins, someone shared a still from the wedding scene of the film and I fell in love with it. Loosely based on the life of an Armenian poet, the film depicts the rituals of his daily life, and every shot resembles a Renaissance painting. The very first frame is of juice dripping from pomegranates onto a beige tablecloth, and it’s incredibly rich but also natural; this is how I like to work with colors. There are many beautiful red, pink and purple shades in my palette. It’s a good reminder of the universal nature of colors and how they live in our subconscious: white as purity, red as passion and so on. To show the evolution of a character, they are very important.
Simone Rocha, 38: “In the Mood for Love” (2000)
The cinematography and lighting are incredible, and my father is from Hong Kong, where the film is set, so I was immediately drawn to it. It has influenced some of my collections, such as the spring 2015, which focused on my Chinese grandmother. The tactile flourishes on Maggie Cheung’s character, who have this vulnerability that contrasts with her strength and stoicism, were inspiring, but most of all I was captivated by the pace of the film, the way the characters talk to each other and look at each other. and the general restraint. Some pieces from the 2015 collection were very subdued – for example, I made a black dress with an irregular hem and a marabou feather on it – while others were decidedly feminine. Sometimes I turn on the soundtrack while I’m working.
Maximilian Davis, 29, from Ferragamo: “Eyes Wide Shut” (1999)
Between the ages of seven and ten, I spent weekends with my grandmother in Trinidad and we watched movies together, back-to-back, from 6 p.m. to midnight. She made me watch over 18 movies, so I was exposed to a lot. When we watched “Eyes Wide Shut,” I didn’t understand everything that was happening, but the colors, the light and the atmosphere stayed in my mind. I returned to it during lockdown when I was working on my first collection for my own brand, Maximilian. I was looking for my Trinidadian roots and exploring Carnival, and there are so many headdresses and masks in ‘Eyes Wide Shut’. I also appreciated the simplicity of the costumes and their silhouettes – from Nicole Kidman’s undergarments to her camel coat. I rewatched the film a few times when I was designing my first collection for Ferragamo. It included black evening wear and the runway was made of red sand. Even the audience watching the models walk felt very ‘Eyes Wide Shut’.
Willy Chavarria, 57: “The Exorcist” (1973)
I saw this movie when I was twelve, which was crazy at the time. Now I think a ten-year-old could look at it and say, “Oh, the special effects are so bad.” But it was so important when it came out, and I loved it – and as I got older, I loved it even more. It’s not just the story, which is essentially about good versus evil; the aesthetics are also very nice. I love the color palette of the costumes: Chris MacNeil’s pale khaki dress with a cream ribbed turtleneck has been an instant inspiration for me. The way William Friedkin directed it also influenced me artistically: the slow build-up, what is said without saying anything. He creates an atmosphere to tell a story. I know it’s a little weird, but I probably watch “The Exorcist” once a year.
Hendrik Zankov, 44, by Zankov: “I am love” (2009)
I’ve seen this movie at least ten times. Raf Simons, at the time with Jil Sander, provided the costumes and filming took place in Villa Necchi [the modernist house designed by the architect Piero Portaluppi]which I love and visited many times when I lived in Milan. I used the pistachio green from the garden room in my collections. And there are so many other beautiful colors in the film, like when Tilda Swinton’s character walks to the dry cleaners in a bright orange dress with an orange Hermès bag. But the appeal is not just aesthetic. Swinton’s character is Russian, just like me, and as an immigrant to the United States, I also long for my motherland and culture. When I watch the film, feelings from my childhood come back.
Clare Waight Keller, 54, from Uniqlo: “The Royal Tenenbaums” (2001)
When the movie came out, I was working at Gucci with Tom Ford and we all loved it. Wes Anderson came onto the scene as this person with such a specific color palette who created these playful, otherworldly sets. The characters are off their wagons, but we felt connected to them because these types of characters actually exist in the fashion world. Gwyneth Paltrow is so iconic as Margot, an eccentric chic girl in a fur coat. At Gucci we used real fur at the time and I did a lot of research based on that coat. When I was at Chloé, I made a collection around tracksuits, and the ones from the film were definitely a reference. As vintage as it looked, the film felt very relevant to contemporary fashion at the time. Margot looked like she just came out of a Prada show.
Rachel Scott, 41, from Diotima: “Teorema” (1968)
There is so much about this film that appeals to me. It’s about a typical Milanese family, and I lived in Milan for four and a half years. It is also about a bourgeois woman who is succumbed to desire, and that is reflected in the way she presents herself. How people dress is a kind of language, and that is expressed so beautifully in this film but also questioned. The style is very archetypal: the matriarch dresses in a certain way, just like the daughter and the housekeeper. But it’s the spirit of the women and their complexity that I always come back to. When I design, I think a lot about the bourgeois Jamaican woman who presents very well, but also goes to a carnival or a dance party to be completely sexual. I always investigate how those extremes can exist within one person.
Marie Adam-Leenaerdt, 28: “Le Daim” (2019)
The films of French director Quentin Dupieux are short but radical. I also like that they are low budget. It’s not the budget that makes a high quality film, and that goes for fashion too. To me, his films are more like paintings because they all focus on one subject. They remind me that every detail counts, and that art can and should be a space for experimentation. I really like ‘Le Daim’, or ‘Deerskin’ in English, which is about a man who buys a suede jacket and becomes obsessed with it and becomes violent towards people he meets who wear a similar jacket. Dupieux takes small, realistic subjects and adds something to make them absurd. That’s what I like to do with clothes.
These interviews have been edited and condensed.
