And a few extras.
As Luca Guadagnino’s newest film, Queer, makes its way through the film festival rounds, I can’t help but wonder what kind of visual charms will be in effect during the post-WWII erotic drama set in Mexico City. Based on the 1985 William S. Burroughs' novel by the same name, the film starring Daniel Craig, Jason Schwartzman, and Drew Starkey also marks Guadagnino’s second collaboration with Challengers screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes — and the second time Guadagnino has brought on Loewe’s creative director Jonathan Anderson into the triumphant throuple.
However, before Johnathan Anderson, there was Giulia Piersanti. Piersanti, knitwear designer for Céline, worked with Guadagnino on his 2015 La Piscine-esque film, A Bigger Splash, the 2017 hit Call Me By Your Name, the 2018 remake of Suspiria, and the 2022 love-lorn thriller Bones and All. In honor of Guadagnino’s constant inclusion of voices from contemporary fashion, we’ve decided to travel back in time and revisit some iconic alliances between fashion designers and the silver screen. For more on Anderson’s involvement in Challengers, check out what Sophia Scorziello had to say for HALOSCOPE back in May.
And before Piersanti became a tried and true member of Guadagnino’s end credits, Raf Simons also had a turn with the Italian director. Brought onto the 2009 film I Am Love, Simons dressed Tilda Swinton as Emma, the Russian wife of a powerful businessman submerged in Milain’s high society. “She’s not suppressed or oppressed in any way,” said Swinton in an interview with The Refinery, “...but she’s just not fully alive when you first meet her.” That is, until she’s introduced to Antonio, a blossoming young chef and the friend of her son. Emma exists disconnected from herself when she first appears, wearing muted neutral colors, headbands, and up-dos that feel almost Hitchcockian. Designed during Simons’ tenure with Jil Sander, the gradual shifts in the clothing’s cut and color give viewers a nuanced perspective into Emma’s psyche.
Six years later, Simons would dress Swinton again, this time paired with Giulia Piersanti on the task. The duo took on Swinton’s Bowie-meets-Marianne (again, watch La Piscine to understand) persona in the psychological drama. Set in Italy, the film focuses on a rockstar, played by Swinton, while she recovers from a throat surgery with her young boyfriend, an ex-lover, and his teenage daughter (I told you) while vacationing in Sicily. This time, however, instead of signaling quiet luxury with Birkins and pearl earrings, Swinton is decked out head-to-toe in Dior. It seems like Simons, who was at Dior at the time, couldn’t resist putting the British actress in some of the brand’s most emblematic silhouettes. Watch to see a killer white A-line jumpsuit with a statement belt, elegant shirt dresses, and a pair of perfect oversized sunglasses with reflective silver lenses.
Sometimes, it's not the director who calls all the shots. When it came to Alfred Hitchcock’s who-done-it mystery thriller starring German actress Marlene Dietrich, certain criteria had to be met before she agreed to the role. Not only did the lead have enormous control over which takes of her made the final cut, but she also stipulated that Hitchcock had to hire her close friend Christian Dior, whom she’d been introduced to by artist and filmmaker Jean Cocteau, to costume her for the film. Though Dietrich was often seen in pants and tuxedos, the character of Charlotte Inwood wore dresses throughout and describing the pieces as touchstones of glamour almost feels like an understatement. After Stage Fright, Dior would go on to work with Dietrich on her next project, 1951’s No Highway in the Sky, in addition to designing the black satin gown and bolero she wore at the 1951 Academy Awards. This also led to Dior’s styling of Ava Gardner in the 1957 film The Little Hut, and Olivia de Havilland in 1956’s The Ambassador’s Daughter.
Catherine Deneuve and Yves Saint Laurent may have met while telling the story of Belle de Jour’s Séverine, but their relationship would last until the designer’s death in 2008. Luis Buñuel’s film follows a young bourgeois housewife grappling with her secret masochistic desires, who decides to spend her afternoons working at a high-class brothel. Clad in boxy jackets and double-breasted coats, modest knee-length skirts, and loafers, Séverine’s outward ensemble juxtaposes the internal themes of subversive desire explored in Buñuel’s film. But Deneuve and Saint Laurent would continue to work together once filming wrapped, partnering up for François Truffaut’s La Sirène du Mississipi in 1969, Marco Ferreri’s Liza in 1972, and Tony Scott’s The Hunger, a vampire drama featuring David Bowie, in 1983.
When Jean Paul Gaultier arrived on set for Peter Greenaway’s epic gangster satire, did they know it would be a match made in heaven? If you haven’t watched the Thatcher-era masterpiece, it’s nothing short of a feast (plus dessert) for all five senses. Greenaway’s dedication to aesthetics and meticulous attention to set design is all the more furthered by Gaultier’s eye. The film is a study of the lavishly absurd and the straight-up grotesque, reaching levels of kitsch Wes Anderson can only fantasize about. Georgina Spica, played by Dame Helen Miren, is a woman used to suffering at the hands of her sadistic husband, and as the characters move through the rooms of the French restaurant Le Hollandais, the lighting and costumes move with them. Varying in color, identical outfits transform from red to green to white — and black when they’re outside — depending on where the characters are. JPG’s signature corset is a recurring garment throughout the film, along with tassels, bondage-style straps, gloves, and feather details.
The Fifth Element (1997)
Could we mention Gaultier without bringing up Luc Besson’s ‘90s cult classic? By this time in his career, JPG had already worked with Greenaway and Pedro Almodóvar for the 1993 black comedy Kika, which featured what I can only describe as the titty dress. A black bloodstained asymmetrical gown, with plastic prosthetics exploding (literally) from the bodice, became an iconic visual representation of the Spainiard’s film. When Besson approached Gaultier for the sci-fi action flick about a taxi driver, played by Bruce Willis, teaming up with former secret agent Leeloo (Milla Jovovich), to save the world from a fast-approaching meteor, he had his work cut out for him. Gaultier ended up creating over 1,000 costumes for the production, dressing tons of extras in addition to the main cast, and it paid off. The costuming became emblematic of the film's most striking moments, with the bandage outfit seen on Leeloo and the blue-clad flight attendant costumes living assuredly in the zeitgeist's mind.
Prior to Miuccia Prada — heir of the eponymous fashion house and founder of Miu Miu — joining the set of Baz Luhrmann’s biopic Elvis in 2022, or his adaptation of The Great Gatsby in 2013, she was part of bringing the Globe Theatre to Miami, or the other way around. Love it or hate it, the allure that Romeo + Juliet has is undeniable. The urban, tropical setting, in conjunction with the unabridged script of the Shakespearean tragedy, makes for one of the most impactful viewing experiences of any early teen. Despite the often exuberant quality of Luhrmann’s set design, many of the Italian’s pieces leaned on simplicity. Prada was behind the white dress and angel wings that Juliet, portrayed by Claire Danes, had on during her father’s masked ball, in addition to what the young couple wore during their secret wedding ceremony.
Some honorable mentions go to Paul Schrader’s 1980 classic, American Gigolo, where Richard Gere was styled by Giorgio Armani; Karl Lagerfeld’s contributions to the 1976 Parisian S&M film, Maîtresse, directed by Barbet Schroeder; and Yohji Yamamoto’s work on the 2002 film Dolls, directed by Takeshi Kitano. Japanese writer and director Kitano has collaborated with Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons and Issey Miyake in the past, but his long-standing relationship with Yamamoto is a recurring sartorial delight in his oeuvre. And, though it was a brief thing, Manolo Blahnik’s custom creations for Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette can’t be forgotten.
Lastly, I’d like to debunk the incorrect assumption that Paco Rabanne was responsible for Jane Fonda’s costumes in the 1968 cult classic Barbarella. Though many pieces — the green sequin minidress with plastic chain-linked fringing in particular — were inspired by Rabanne’s space-age aesthetic, all of the outfits were made by costume designer Jacques Fonteray. Sydney Sweeney is set to star in the film’s 2025 remake, and I’m eager to see who Edgar Wright — director of Baby Driver and Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World — selects to style the Queen of the Galaxy, though there’s no doubt that those moonboots will be enormous shoes to fill. 🌀
Carlota Gamboa is a poet and art writer from Los Angeles, CA, who spends most of her time pressing buttons at a Beverly Hills talent agency. You can find her work in Bodega Magazine, Salt Hill Journal, The Oversound, Whitehot Magazine, and Art & Object. Find her feigning apathy @its_wtvr.