Sources of inspiration for fashion, style and the way we dress as individuals can come from absolutely anywhere: from things you see in a magazine to people who pass you by on the street. I’m setting out here a series on different places I get my inspiration from, starting today with films.
There are so many films out there that are made with an intent of showing off the fashionable clothes in them (think: Sex and the City), but I’m not talking about those, I’m talking about those regular films, some maybe even children’s films or old fashioned, not with clothes that we might wear today, but that have such a beautiful atmosphere and maybe a touch of magic to them.
We don’t necessarily take inspiration consciously from these sources, you might watch a film about baseball playing American teens and find yourself reaching for your converse and denim shorts the next day, just because. Just like when I watched the 1997 version of Lolita, all I wanted to wear the next few weeks were crop tops, red lipstick and red heart shaped sunglasses.
Lolita (1997)
Of course that isn’t entirely practical in everyday wear, especially when it’s not exactly crop top wearing weather and you actually have to go out and do real people stuff. That’s where you can take general inspiration from.
Capture the Feel. Don’t Just Copy Like-for-Like
For example with the outfit above, the sunglasses are there, but only red and not heart shaped; the red lipstick is there. There is also the childish playfulness of the almost clashing block colours. The feeling of the film is there, but yet it is not an exact copy of the outfits, and it fits in with the trend at the time.
A little bit later I fell back in love with two films I loved in my childhood, The Secret Garden and A Little Princess. Both have a very similar atmosphere of a little girl feeling abandoned and lost, and both are fairly old-fashioned now, with styles and clothing that would not be available or even appropriate for modern day wear.
The Secret Garden (1993)
A Little Princess (1995)
Both these films are set in a time when longer skirts were more fashionable and appropriate for women to wear, and nowadays we have seen an influx of midi and maxi skirts in the fashion industry. Therefore, how could I fail to add a natural coloured maxi skirt into my outfit inspired by this?
An Outfit Inspired by Classic Films
As you can see above, the loose flowing hair is reminiscent of the hair tangled by the bleak moorland winds of The Secret Garden but is also influenced by A Little Princess with the big bow holding it in place, but modernised as it hangs over a low backed top.
Putting the Bow to Use
And finally why not something a bit more fun, who says you can’t be influenced in your fashion choices by cartoon mice wearing dresses?
Inspiration from Cartoons Too!
I hope you all enjoyed my first post at Student Fashion Blog, there are more in this series to come, and you can see more from me at my blog Rebel Angel.
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