This Wednesday, “The Great Gatsby” is set to open the 66th Cannes Film Festival. The costumes for this film, adapted from the eponymous F. Scott Fitzgerald novel for the screen by Baz Luhrmann, were imagined by Miuccia Prada, creative director for the brands Prada and Miu Miu.
In collaboration with talented costumier (and wife of Baz Luhrmann) Catherine Martin, notable for her work on the film Moulin Rouge by the same director, Miuccia Prada created the 40 different outfits for the character of Daisy Buchanan, incarnated on screen by actress Carey Mulligan. The plot unravels during the Roaring Twenties, a period in which the U.S. experienced an economic boom and a degree of prosperity after the first World War. It was only natural then for Miuccia Prada to rework the iconic wardrobes of this time period. The women of the 20s were resolutely modern. Their skirts and haircuts got shorter, androgyny became popular, and the “garçonne” style became these ladies’ prerogative. A masculine-inspired wardrobe was worn during the day, but at night femininity would take back over.
The fashion of the 20s coincided with a women’s emancipation movement and a relaxing of morals. They could now smoke, drink, and drive to catch up to their male counterparts. Dresses encrusted with thousands of crystals and precious stones like emerald, jade, and topaz, brilliant pearls and sparkles to reflect the light of the chandeliers overhead, fringes that swayed in time with their movements, fur, velvet, silk, taffetas… nothing was considered too beautiful to dress up these personalities of New York high society that whiled away their time in lavishly sophisticated parties at the home of the ultra-wealthy and mysterious Gatsby, on the coasts of Long Island. Several costumes were conceived using old models from Miuccia Prada’s collections. They were then restyled with respect for the rules of the 20s, explains Catherine Martin. One of the most spectacular pieces is Miuccia Prada’s Chandelier dress that Daisy wears to a ball. She’s entirely covered with crystals; the original model comes from Prada’s Spring/Summer 2010 collection. For the famed costumier, this dress is the perfect mix between old and new, beauty and the elegance of modernity.
Beyond the friendship that unites the director with the designer, Miuccia was chosen because the models from her old collections perfectly coincide with the spirit of the 20s that Luhrmann was looking for. The Italian designer has once again demonstrated her talent, sweeping us away into the decadent soirées of the “Roaring Twenties”, with the delicious and shameful desire to stay there for just one night.
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