My personal style has undeniably been shaped by the films I have seen over the past forty years. Some dresses, some outfits have never left my mind after seeing them on the big (or small) screen and they live rent free in my head since then.
The first outfits to have left a lasting impression on me were those worn by Grace Kelly when I saw “Rear Window” for the first (but not the last) time at the age of 13. After watching the movie, I debated with myself (yes, there are several of me in my head) to determine which outfit I preferred: the black and white evening dress with its white tulle, the black dress that seemed so simple and so demure but whose organza shoulders brought a touch of sensual refinement or the cream blouse worn with the green suit that showed off the shoulders? I have never been able to decide.
Grace Kelly’s wardrobe, again in “High Society”, also had a lasting impact on me, especially the white swimsuit and the long, vaporous, embroidered gray dress that I had reproduced (in white) for my wedding (which I canceled a few weeks before the fateful date).
The brow dress worn by Eva Marie Saint in “North by Northwest” when she shoots Cary Grant, so simple, so austere but so elegant, was also quickly placed in the pantheon of dresses that I found iconic.
I tried for a long time to reproduce (without any success) Audrey Hepburn’s crazy ski outfit in “Charade” or the red dress worn by Audrey Hepburn again in “Funny Face“.
As you can see, my clothing style primarily drew its inspiration from that of the 50s and 60s.
The Bardot style – ample skirts, narrow waist and ballet flats – has long intrigued me. While I have been wearing ballet flats almost constantly for over twenty years, I only recently understood that a woman who wears ballet flats really only wants one thing: to be barefoot and therefore to be free.
Later, some dresses absolutely dazzled me, notably the red dress worn by Julia Roberts in “Pretty Woman”, the gold sequined dress worn by Sharon Stone in “Basic Instinct” or the one with black sequins created by Karl Lagerfeld for Anna Mouglalis in “Coco and Igor”.
Sometimes, the work of the costume designer on the film was so successful that all the outfits worn by the protagonist were pure wonders: this is the case with Maggie Chung’s dresses in “In the Mood for Love”, those worn by Kirsten Dunst in “Marie-Antoinette”, those worn by Charlize Theron in “Atomic Blonde” or those worn by Emma Stone in “Cruella”.
As you can see, the diversity of this dream wardrobe is limitless, even if I understood at the dawn of my twenties that it was pointless to try to reproduce an outfit literally, since the whole magic depends on the morphology and the way each person carries themselves.
I have, however, developed a lynx-like eye when it comes to clothing. I retain in my memory cuts, fabrics and details that would escape any reasonable person. For example, this black top with white trim that you will see in the following photos appears on the poster of Jan Kounen’s film “Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky” (and I think that it does not even appear in the movie itself).
I managed to track it down, quite simply. It is a dress, indeed.
Chanel top which is a dress but we don’t like the skirt – Vintage skirt – Tabitha Simmons shoes – Ray Ban sunglasses – Max Mara coat – Bvlgari handbag
April 3, 2026
