A Short List of Cinematic Looks I Love

I've always had a deep fascination with film. Though it wasn't until I was 14 I met Ivan, a friend who taught me what it really was to be a cinephile (or at least a pretend one). Our friendship entailed talking about life while comparing our every experience to old movies. It felt kind of like Bertolucci’s The Dreamers, every conversation was tainted by the silver screen; we shot very experimental short films, we told our stories through the lens, we felt freed by cinema. He would stay over at my place and we would watch film after film after film until dawn broke. He taught me about directors, actors, photography, composers, screen-writing...

Before him, I there were my cousins. It was a more naïve approach, I learned how to have fun through cinema, and I started recognizing the world around me with every movie we saw. We spent long summers at my grandparent’s house, where we would rent two movies a day –a comedy and a horror flick – and when it was just us girls, we would get the cheesiest most romantic comedies and dramas that could leave us in tears or craving for love. We woke late, spent the day at the beach, and had the grandiose lunches my grandma made; afterwards we took long naps on the hammocks, being cradled by the sounds of the ocean. At night we’d go to the nearest Block Buster and spend at least an hour trying to choose the right movies for that night, and off course, the right snacks to go with them.

Movies were as well a heavy fashion reference for me. I can’t forget seeing Belle for the first time in that golden gown swinging and dancing in Beast’s Gothic Castle. Or that rainy night I stayed home and I first saw Margot Tenenbaum’s blue tennis dress and fur coat iconic combo. The French New Wave brought a new era of fashion to my life, in these films nothing felt gratuitous, but rather necessary, no character could exist without their impossibly French look. It not only left a mark in me, it shaped the collective imagination of generations to come. So, with this in mind, movie characters became my go-to inspiration for basic startorial decisions.  Here is a short(-ish) list of some of my favorite on screen style muses.