So I saw the new English comedy Easy Virtue tonight, and pardon my ignorance, I did not know that it originated from Alfred Hitchcock's 1928 silent film adaptation on a play by Noel Coward. I wasn't sure what to expect from Jessica Biel's leading lady role, but the English countryside setting + 1930's period + Colin Firth combo was enough to lure me inside the movie theater. Plus, I've always been a sucker for period films set in the 1920's/30's, because the costumes alone are, (allow me to say) bloody marvelous. Contrary to the flapper dresses I was half-expecting to see in this movie, there were a lot of pants - chic, classic silk trousers, sometimes paired with a drapey blouse, sometimes with a wide collared furry bomber. I suppose the "modern" pants look was essential to portraying Larita's (played by Biel) easy virtue. It is so quintessentially 30's American sports style, yet so current at the same time. Throughout the movie, I can't help but think "this is so Derek Lam!" or "I can see Tod's doing this jacket" and "This screams Donna Karan" with some of Larita's clothes. And indeed there are real resemblances seen on this fall's runway shows - elegant, relaxed, and perfectly ensembled (just add a cloche hat and voila you're back to 1929). Perhaps it's time to unleash the Larita in all of us.
Runway images: Donna Karan fall 09; Derek Lam fall 09, via style.com
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