Sartorial Salvation for the Summer Girlies

All the summer fashion inspo you need: four films oozing with sun, sex, and style so good you'll be reaching for your basket bag (and a European lover—purely an accessory, of course).

New York has been especially dreary lately, sulking its way through spring. The harbinger of grey skies, soaked shoes, and that particular kind of damp that clings to summer silks we were so eager to debut. No matter. When the weather refuses to cooperate, we must turn inwards—or elsewhere. If you can’t be in the sun, the next best thing, or so I declare it, is to pretend you are by inserting yourself into the lives of alarmingly beautiful people as they play out onscreen.

Set on The Continent, sun-soaked, and ridden with characters whose main purpose seems to be the pursuit of perpetually looking divine and fighting invisible demons, these films are a balm; the essence of summer escapism. Style inspiration abounds: camisoles cling, cotton breathes, and hair is tousled in that very specific, ultra envy-inducing way that says I’ve just had better sex than you ever will.

Without further introduction—happy watching.

P.S. You might want to have Vinted open on your lap while you watch, it’s that good.

A Good Year (2005)

Set in the sun-drenched, wine-soaked vineyards of Provence (specifically in the southeastern Vaucluse region) in France, Ridley Scott’s A Good Year is an aesthetically intoxicating escapist film of the romantic persuasion that I have comfortably seen at least ten times (and will likely see at least another ten). The film features the begrudgingly charming Russel Crowe playing an insufferable London banker who inherits his uncle’s chateau and is forced to take the first holiday of his career to visit the property, and the heavenly Marion Cotillard, the local love-hardened and elusively sexy love interest.

Marion Cotillard is a vision. The essence of French girl en Provence, her style is flattering, feminine, and subtle. Strappy camis, simple cuts, effortless silhouettes. Though I once counted myself among the loudest low-rise denim detractors (now unselfconsciously eating my hat), I have always been obsessed with the final scene, in which Cotillard wears low-rise denim cuffed jeans with a simple singlet and looks celestial doing so. Formidable.

But we’re not done yet—Russel Crowe’s character also deserves his flowers in the style department. While at the chateau, Crowe helps himself to his late-uncle’s wardrobe. Contained within? A lesson in effortless, timeless, charming elegance. Worn with the kind of panache and nonchalance that only a man used to getting his way can muster, Crowe’s wardrobe spotlights 60s and 70s casual menswear staples: cashmere tennis sweaters, bespoke boating blazers, pique polos, linens, and classic British heritage tailoring.

La Piscine (1969)

Required watching for the Jane Birkin stans (yes, even the newest of you— welcome), La Piscine is a cornerstone of French new wave cinema and boasts costuming by none other than Courrèges, the design house ‘magical in its simplicity’.

What of the film itself? All I shall say is that an excess of prolonged eye contact and enough sexual tension to entrance a priest at confession meets a suspenseful plot and a subtle intensity of the characters in an idyllic, bohemian villa.

Now for the fashion. Birkin’s “innocent-sexy” style, featuring her iconic basket bag, statement sunnies, and an outrageously good collection of mini dresses, goes head-to-head with Romy Schneider’s self-assured sophistication, which centres men’s shirts, espadrilles, bare-backed evening dresses, and trousers, in a fashion lover’s feast. True of a good banquet, everyone ate.

While Romy’s wardrobe carries a very French, laid-back, nonchalant elegance quality, reflecting her as a well-heeled woman, her self-confidence, free will and womanhood, a very young and gamine Jane Birkin sports a pretty, preppy style (with gingham print as a centre piece). Birkin’s character, both lovely and insolent, is part tomboy, part temptress. — The Searing Style of Jacques Deray’s “La piscine”

Whether you are team simplicity or team sophistication, team Birkin or team Schneider, there is style inspiration everywhere you look.

Stealing Beauty (1996)

What’s not to love about a lush Tuscan setting, a naïve American woman, little to no plot, Italian men by the armful, and a mildly uncomfortable, borderline paedophilic relationship that we will not be unpacking here? Don’t answer that.

Romance and self-discovery permeate the costuming, where a carefree, bohemian energy mixes with the languid summer air and culminates in flowing fabrics, floral prints, and minimal accessories. The whole aesthetic is less fashion than feeling: sun-warmed, impulsive, and a little bit undone.

Liv Tyler’s character, Lucy, is styled with the artful casualness of someone who has no idea how beautiful she is, which, of course, makes her all the more beautiful. Her wardrobe is full of barely-there slips in gauzy cotton and faded florals, loose cotton shirts knotted at the waist, and prairie skirts that billow as she frolics. Ruffled tulle makes a soft, romantic appearance, as do flushed cheeks. There’s a sense that nothing she wears is ever too tight, too structured, or too considered, just clothes thrown on and somehow perfectly done.

Hair unbrushed, lips bare, shoes optional; the film’s styling isn’t about clothes. It’s about the brand of freedom only summer can buy. The type that is barefoot at dusk with a cigarette in hand and remnants of a kiss that probably shouldn’t have been had seared onto lips.

The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)

“Few films are as ravishing and effortlessly stylish as Anthony Minghella’s The Talented Mr. Ripley, the glorious 1999 thriller which sees the likes of Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Cate Blanchett, and Philip Seymour Hoffman swanning around ’50s Italy.” – A Look Back at the Sublime Summer Style of The Talented Mr. Ripley, 25 Years Later, Radhika Seth

Our tour of European escapism continues with a stacked cast and an extended Italian detour to the iconic Amalfi coastline. Set in the late 1950s and centring an interrogation of the premise of la dolce vita through an American lens, The Talented Mr. Ripley delivers the sparkling, hazy romance of the Italian riviera with a psychological thriller undercurrent.

Gwenyth Paltrow teaches a masterclass in holiday dressing in crisp white shirts, tortoiseshell headbands, and floral midi-skirts while the men’s wardrobes adhere to a blend of preppy Ivy League and Italian Riviera chic. Costume becomes a form of manipulation, aspiration, and performance. Atmospheric, seductive, and deeply narrative, you can practically feel the salt air clinging to their shirts and the sun staining their clothes lighter and lighter, day by day. Undone glamour at its most dangerous.

That brings us to the end of this first dose of summery film fashion inspiration. Please [only] let me know if you enjoyed and please share any recs of your own!! Xxx