Five Fashionista Films: These Silver Screen Threads Never Go Out of Fashion

By Gus Mollasis

When I think of fashion in the movies, my thoughts often turn to the sublime Audrey Hepburn in a black dress or Cary Grant in a double-breasted suit. If you’re looking for memorable films that touch on the fashion industry, have worn well, and look marvelous, look no further than these five. They thread the needle and make a perfect fit between fashion and entertainment. 

PHANTOM THREAD

(2017)

Daniel Day Lewis has always looked good and believable, no matter what he’s wearing, from Lincoln’s iconic top hat to that devious looking lid he wore as Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood. But his stylish performance and possibly his swan song in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread is a heady performance that you will never forget. 

It’s hard not to stare at Daniel Day-Lewis as a peculiar, charismatic, and aloof couture dressmaker and designer smitten with a waitress who becomes his muse, played magically by Vicky Krieps. The film sizzles, capturing the world of a man driven by his passion and fashion senses, while his home and family life are always strangely out of whack. Lesley Manville also shines in this film set in 1950s London. 

Phantom Thread received acclaim for its acting, screenplay, direction, musical score, costume design, and production values and was chosen by the National Board of Review as one of the top ten films of 2017, while being nominated for various Academy Awards, including Best Costume Design. 

Whether this often strange narrative works well for you or not, one thing is certain. You will never forget Lewis as Reynolds Wood—and how he dressed the women he designed and desired.

HALSTON

(2019)

A man with one name. A man who was the number one answer when a starlet or celeb was asked, “Who are you wearing?”

All the ups, downs, ins, and outs that make up the fashion industry are captured in one stylish American biographical documentary. Written and directed by Frédéric Tcheng, this film tells the story of the American fashion designer, Roy Halston Frowick—better known as Halston.

From his hob-knobbing with Jagger and Jackie Kennedy at Studio 54 and being the hottest item on the runway to being overproduced for the masses at Target, this mesmerizing and hard hitting film leaves little on the cutting room floor. 

This riveting film shows the icon’s fall from grace, while offering an empathetic insight into his models, clients, and lovers—and ultimately highlighting his battle with and eventual death from AIDS in 1990. With introspective commentaries from the likes of Liza Minelli, Marisa Berenson and Joel Shumaker, plus archival footage that includes Brooke Shields and Andy Warhol, you feel the breadth of a man, a brand—and the downfall of an iconic designer.

PRÊT-À-PORTER

Released in the US as Ready to Wear (1994)

A man with one name. A man who was the number one answer when a starlet or celeb was asked, “Who are you wearing?”

All the ups, downs, ins, and outs that make up the fashion industry are captured in one stylish American biographical documentary. Written and directed by Frédéric Tcheng, this film tells the story of the American fashion designer, Roy Halston Frowick—better known as Halston.

From his hob-knobbing with Jagger and Jackie Kennedy at Studio 54 and being the hottest item on the runway to being overproduced for the masses at Target, this mesmerizing and hard hitting film leaves little on the cutting room floor. 

This riveting film shows the icon’s fall from grace, while offering an empathetic insight into his models, clients, and lovers—and ultimately highlighting his battle with and eventual death from AIDS in 1990. With introspective commentaries from the likes of Liza Minelli, Marisa Berenson and Joel Shumaker, plus archival footage that includes Brooke Shields and Andy Warhol, you feel the breadth of a man, a brand—and the downfall of an iconic designer.

DESIGNING WOMAN

(1957)

Today it’s called a Rom Com, a romantic comedy where we meet a couple who overcome a lot to fall in love. And the reason why one romantic comedy works better than others is the chemistry of the couple in question and our eagerness to root for them to get together. 

The formula works to perfection in Designing Woman. The story finds two young professionals from the opposite side of the cultural tracks getting to know each other and adjusting to each other’s lifestyles while falling in love. 

Vincente Minnelli directs Gregory Peck and Lauren Bacall in this enjoyable film that earned George Wells an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

Peck plays sportswriter Mike and Bacall plays Marilla who designs clothes for artsy celebs. The pair fall in love over a whirlwind eight-day romance which ends with marriage. Along the way there are mishaps, misunderstandings, and miscommunications that lead to friction and fighting. Bacall and Peck wear their fame effortlessly while looking so marvelous together.

THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA

(2006)

Okay, already. We know Meryl Streep can do anything. And wear anything. She slips into her roles the way a celebrity puts on a pair of Dolce & Gabbana from a Swag bag—with great joy, hunger, gratitude, and the knowledge that she is best and deserves the best.

Streep is the best. And not surprisingly, she is at her best playing Miranda Priestly, a powerful fashion magazine editor. 

This comedy-drama directed by David Frankel is based on Lauren Weisberger’s 2003 novel of the same name. Notables Anne Hathaway and Emily Blunt play the roles of hapless and hopeless assistants who eventually rise to the occasion and design their own lives.   

While many in the fashion industry avoided appearing as themselves in the film for fear of displeasing US Vogue editor Anna Wintour, widely believed to have been the inspiration for Priestly—others allowed their clothes to be used, making it one of the most expensively costumed films in history.

In time, Wintour herself came around and tempered her initial skepticism, giving the film and Streep in particular a passing grade. Meanwhile films fans world-wide turned a film with a $41 million budget into a $326 million box office smash—proving once again that the world of high fashion can be truly be in vogue.