I
think by now most people have seen the movie “The Great Gatsby”, with Leonardo
Dicaprio and Carey Mulligan, directed by Baz Luhrmann. If you haven’t seen it,
perhaps this post will encourage you! ;) This movie is from the same creators
of “Moulin Rouge” and “Romeo and Juliet”. Just from this we know it is going to
be a great production; starting with the soundtrack all the way to the
costumes.
I’ve
been thinking that sometimes we don’t realize how important of a roll do costumes
play in every movie. For instance in this movie each character has it’s own
color palette and textiles textures that helps us catch the character’s mood:
Myrtle
Wilson and her cousin Catherine: they are dressed with very bright colors, thin
shiny fabrics, ruffles, plastic accessories and heavy make-up. All these things give the impression of cheapness
and decadence, not to mention the looseness of easy women.
Catherine
Tom
Buchanan: he is always wearing dark colored clothes (even when the movie takes
place in the summer) and the “Hitler-ish” mustache. Before he opens his mouth
you know he is the bad guy in the movie.
Jay
Gatsby: he has got the soft looks not only because of the baby face, but
because he is always wearing light colors and fabrics, such as linen. Even his
car (one of guy’s favorite accessories) is yellow, while Tom’s is navy blue.
Daisy
Buchanan: the director wanted to make her look as the most beautiful and
richest woman in the world. She is always wearing diamonds, light colors and soft
fabrics, such as silk, feathers and fur. But what is quite interesting is that
she actually never wears white, which I interpret as her not being completely
pure of heart, and by the end of the movie we realize she isn’t. She is always
wearing this soft palette of gray and nude. She does wear a black caftan, but
with a white big rose embroidered in her back, which can be her being torn
between good and bad.
But
this post is about the extraordinary fashion that we get to see in this movie.
These are a couple of facts that you need to know:
- The costume’s design was a collaboration between Catherine Martin and Miuccia Prada (MiuMiu and Prada).
- Some of the dresses are from old collections, only they have been restyled to fit the 1920’s fashion.
- The jewelry in the movie is from no other than Tiffany’s.
- They wanted to make historical references but in an unexpected and contemporary way. You can appreciate this in the music and the costumes. It’s quite similar to what he did in “Moulin Rouge” and “Romeo and Juliet” making covers of current songs and mixing them with melodies of the different time periods, in which each movie took place. This movie takes place in the 1920’s, what he tried to do is give a new vibe to jazz music, he wanted to show jazz like back on those days, when it was something that has never been heard before. In “Moulin Rouge” they also gave it a twist by mixing a cover of “Smells like teen spirit” (Nirvana) and Lady Marmalade (Pink, Christina Aguilera, Lil Kim and Maya).
Any
way here are some pictures of the costumes that you saw or will see in the
movie. J
"The Chandelier dress" is from spring/summer 2010 collection
Photos taken from internet
