Have you ever wondered what your favorite characters are wearing? Whether they be cohesive outfits that inspire you, or they look like a complete mess that confuses you, it is all intentional. American fashion designer Rachel Zoe said, “Fashion is a way to say who you are without having to speak.” This quote perfectly relates to the characters and the way they are styled.

Color palettes, silhouettes, accessories, and patterns: all of this helps us know who a character is supposed to be. Some of the best movies are made with these things in mind. A good example of how patterns help us is Sophia Coppola’s 2006 film Marie Antionette.

Although the film is full of historical inaccuracies, there’s no denying the costumes are exceptional. First of all, in an attempt to emphasize just how young Marie was at the time of being married (14), they styled a 24-year-old Kirsten Dunst in lighter, pastel colors and also in organza, tulle, netting frills, and ruffles giving her a softer look. She was adorned with a ribbon around her neck and light makeup to avoid making her look matronly.

In actuality, women in 18th-century France wore deep jewel tones, big ruffles, heavy makeup, and jewelry to show their status, and most of the older people in the cast were dressed this way. Not only does the costume help with determining Marie’s age, but it also helps with her emotional state. Throughout the film, Marie is depicted as having three stages during her life in Versailles.

Part 1 is her arrival at Versailles as she struggles to fit in she is dressed in big ruffles and restricting garments, pastel, and confectionary colors that contrast with the rest of the court, all done intentionally to emphasize how out of place she is, Having many people in the court actually compare her to a cake, and the restrictiveness of her garments emphasize how desperately she wants to fit in.

Part 2 is early 1780’s her more relaxed looks when she finally feels at peace, the main stressor of her life comes from the fact that she couldn’t produce an heir to the throne once she finally does she begins to dress in white flowy cotton dresses and wears her hair down sometimes decorated in flowers to indicate how peaceful and happy she is.

Lastly, part 3 is the late 1780’s her mourning period, After her mom and son die she transitions from creamy colors to dark,  dusty, faded, and muted colors, and the dresses become restrictive once more. This means to show how Versailles is fading into history due to the upcoming revolution and to show the pressure that she is feeling the fabrics look heavier than before.

And as we all know the famous quote ”let them eat cake” was historically never said by Marie. They did in fact add this controversy in the film. In the scene she looks pale and is wearing bold deep red colored lipstick, all in all, she isn’t dressed like her, the contrast in color is intentional to show how she never said that and would never say that. 

Another film that uses Costuming in an exceptional way is David Frankel’s 2006 film The Devil Wears Prada. With this movie, I’d like to speak more about the progression of style in storytelling. Andie Sachs is a recent college graduate who has an aspiration to be a serious journalist and gets hired to be an assistant at a prestigious runway magazine. Miranda Priestly and Emily Charlton, the other two fashionistas in the film, keep a consistent look even when they are going through their own struggles. Andie the main character of the movie, is the only one who has a true and drastic style progression.

In the opening scene of the movie, we get a montage of women who are getting ready for work. All the women are well put together and fashionable and Andy in comparison is shown to be less sophisticated. Her preppy outfit is as professional and good in theory, but it is poorly put together as she wears a lavender sweater over a white button-up, an oversized tan blazer, and black pants.

Again in comparison, her outfit looks frumpy while everyone else looks high-end and sophisticated. Andy the next day is wearing a blue sweater over another white button-up up but this time the ensemble is disturbed by an ill-fitting argyle skirt, another outfit good in theory but bad in execution. As the story progresses we see a compilation of Andy wearing more unflattering hideous outfits and sweaters that tell the viewer that she isn’t adapting or learning while she is at her job.

After failing a job that she was assigned Andy becomes distraught wanting to quit, After getting a pep talk and a makeover from Nigel a stylist at the magazine she tries once more. All of her outfits post-makeover are items from the magazine’s closet. The interesting fact of the story is that while Nigel is helping her, she herself is being drawn to specific designers, much like anybody who has their own taste.

She progresses in the story from thinking that fashion is frivolous and unimportant, to seeing just how demanding and hard the industry and the work is. While the other two characters are always seen in bold and elegant styles, Andy is always seen in a feminine and elegant style with designers that reflect that such as Calvin Klein, Miu Miu, Chanel, and Dolce and Gabbana. Post-makeover we see another montage of Andy going to work wearing amazing outfits that differ in style for the sake of having Andy find out what she does and doesn’t like. She becomes increasingly more comfortable with her body and herself.

In a later scene, we see her conflicting with her past self. She wants to hold on to her past of being a serious journalist but embraces her newer self who loves fashion. She wears an outfit that meshes her old and new styles. She wears a black shoulderless sweater over a white button-up. This is a more cohesive look than in the past.

She later styles herself for the first time since the makeover. Her outfit isn’t a copy-paste of what Nigel has been putting her in, which tells us that she has developed her own style. She wears a dark purple pencil skirt with a black peplum sweater, the silhouette being something sophisticated.

By the end of the movie, we can see her wearing a dark green dress with a black cape coat. Her neckline is the exact same as Miranda’s, indicating just how far into the fashion industry Andy has come. This also shows us that she herself could be a future Miranda. She quits on the spot because the thought of being Miranda is horrifying to her.

In her final outfit, she wears a black turtleneck, brown leather blazer, jeans, and brown boots Now that she doesn’t work at the magazine, she wears what she can afford- so no designer clothing. This is a perfect outfit to end the movie as it showcases that while she has no big brands, she still developed style. Her outfits are increasingly more cohesive than they were before.

Finally, a movie I believe does an amazing job of using color theory in terms of storytelling is Anna Biller’s 2016, The Love Witch. The technicolor film having influences of ambiguously vintage fashion uses color theory to its advantage while simultaneously having a limited range of color.

Although witches stereotypically are represented in black, Anna Biller took it upon herself to break those stereotypes. In the first scene, our main character Elaine is shown covered head to toe in red with a red car and red luggage. Red is a representation of passion, anger, love, danger, and excitement, all of which describe her perfectly. Like the title suggests Elaine is a love witch, Love is her identity and main aspiration.

Throughout the film she is a disastrous woman who will love you to death, consistently destroying the lives of anyone she comes across.  When she first arrives at the house she meets her landlord Trish is wearing a peach pantsuit. The contrast in colors represents how different they are in their ideologies but the fact that pink is derived from red also shows us how similar they are. As the film continues Elaine and Trish match the colors of their outfits because while they are different the closer they grow the more they realize just how similar they really are.

Near the end of the movie, Trish and Elaine are opposites once more with Elaine wearing white and Trish wearing black. Throughout the film, Elaine’s eyes are an important part of the film with constant visuals of eyes. Elaine sports a constantly shifting eyeshadow; the colors change depending on her mood. And Elaine is the only one who wears bold eyeshadows, which sets her apart from everyone.

The main color she wears is blue. She wears this to make people view her as a hypnotizing, optimistic, and upbeat person, but blue actually represents her cold, sad, distant, and detached nature. The other colors she wears are green and purple. Green is serene and tranquil. She only wears green when in her apartment, while either painting or making spells. This is the only time she is depicted as calm.  When she is deeply in love or infatuated with someone she wears light purple to represent passion, but once those relationships go sour she wears a deeper, darker purple to illustrate her frustration.

These films have exceptional fashion and there are many more examples.

What are some movies or shows you think use costuming to tell a story, or what are some movies you believe have incredible fashion? Tell us in the comments!