On Friday, at a press conference in New York, a journalist asked Woody Allen a question in anticipation of his latest film:
“Why do your protagonists tend to be neurotics who find life meaningless?”
“Why do I find life meaningless?” Allen misheard.
Of course, Woody’s protagonists are him, from Owen Wilson to Cate Blanchett. And his latest film Magic in the Moonlight, in which Colin Firth plays a curmudgeonly magician, is no different. “I was trying to imitate Woody,” Colin Firth admitted. In the film, which will be released July 25, the fresh-faced Emma Stone plays a swindler slash psychic who has duped a wealthy family in the French Riviera into believing she can read minds. Firth intends to rat her out, but ends up falling in love with her. Love, deception, magic, illusion, art––call it what you will––it's the stuff Woody Allen films are made of.
Clothes are another form of deception, and as Emma Stone’s character accumulates stunning 1920s threads from her rich benefactors, she dives deeper into duplicity. Sonia Grande, costume designer for this film as well as Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Midnight in Paris, had just five weeks to put together the soft yet striking costumes, a combination of her own designs plus vintage originals from around the world. We’d happily perform a disappearing act and steal them all.
“Woody Allen's girls are different and, in fact, his heroines are the most complex characters to dress, as if he was asking to double their charm. They are usually women with little make-up and no lipstick. The search for beauty is in other ways,” she said. In one scene, Emma Stone wears a beret and red sailor-inspired dress, not unlike the iconic tie and bowler hat of Diane Keaton in Annie Hall. In another scene, Stone dons a sparkling 1920s ballgown that belongs to the same family as Rihanna’s nipple-baring dress, “an original from that period [that] was bought in London from a collector.”
Grande's list of inspirations for the costumes include, “the photographic work of Jacques Henri Lartigue and Edward Steichen, expressionist painters like Otto Dix, especially for the Berlin cabaret and jazz club, and also Dutch painter Leo Gestel for some of the hats.” 1920s Paris was the setting of a major fashion revolution, especially for women, and Grande says, “sometimes I wonder if talents like Vionnet, Patou, Coco Chanel would have existed without this bustling and overwhelming activity, without the existence of this creative richness, or without this change of mindset that gripped society."
Soft pastels and creamy lace add to the dream-like quality of the film’s French Riviera setting and Emma’s already youthful face looks even younger in the formless dresses with Peter Pan collars and flower-crowned hats. Which made us wish she ended up with the hot, young, eligible bachelor (Hamish Linklater) who serenades her with a ukulele by the pool, instead of grumpy Firth... but that’s another discussion.
Allen’s response to the whole “life is meaningless” question?
“Life is meaningless... it's not a criticism. You’re born, you die, you suffer. You’re gone forever and that’s it. I’ve never found a good solution. The best I can offer is distraction. You can be distracted by your love life, baseball games, movies. That’s all you can do.”
Thanks, Woody. We’ll add beautiful clothes to that list.
Magic in the Moonlight opens Friday, July 25![]()
“Why do your protagonists tend to be neurotics who find life meaningless?”
“Why do I find life meaningless?” Allen misheard.
Of course, Woody’s protagonists are him, from Owen Wilson to Cate Blanchett. And his latest film Magic in the Moonlight, in which Colin Firth plays a curmudgeonly magician, is no different. “I was trying to imitate Woody,” Colin Firth admitted. In the film, which will be released July 25, the fresh-faced Emma Stone plays a swindler slash psychic who has duped a wealthy family in the French Riviera into believing she can read minds. Firth intends to rat her out, but ends up falling in love with her. Love, deception, magic, illusion, art––call it what you will––it's the stuff Woody Allen films are made of.
Clothes are another form of deception, and as Emma Stone’s character accumulates stunning 1920s threads from her rich benefactors, she dives deeper into duplicity. Sonia Grande, costume designer for this film as well as Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Midnight in Paris, had just five weeks to put together the soft yet striking costumes, a combination of her own designs plus vintage originals from around the world. We’d happily perform a disappearing act and steal them all.
“Woody Allen's girls are different and, in fact, his heroines are the most complex characters to dress, as if he was asking to double their charm. They are usually women with little make-up and no lipstick. The search for beauty is in other ways,” she said. In one scene, Emma Stone wears a beret and red sailor-inspired dress, not unlike the iconic tie and bowler hat of Diane Keaton in Annie Hall. In another scene, Stone dons a sparkling 1920s ballgown that belongs to the same family as Rihanna’s nipple-baring dress, “an original from that period [that] was bought in London from a collector.”
Grande's list of inspirations for the costumes include, “the photographic work of Jacques Henri Lartigue and Edward Steichen, expressionist painters like Otto Dix, especially for the Berlin cabaret and jazz club, and also Dutch painter Leo Gestel for some of the hats.” 1920s Paris was the setting of a major fashion revolution, especially for women, and Grande says, “sometimes I wonder if talents like Vionnet, Patou, Coco Chanel would have existed without this bustling and overwhelming activity, without the existence of this creative richness, or without this change of mindset that gripped society."
Soft pastels and creamy lace add to the dream-like quality of the film’s French Riviera setting and Emma’s already youthful face looks even younger in the formless dresses with Peter Pan collars and flower-crowned hats. Which made us wish she ended up with the hot, young, eligible bachelor (Hamish Linklater) who serenades her with a ukulele by the pool, instead of grumpy Firth... but that’s another discussion.
Allen’s response to the whole “life is meaningless” question?
“Life is meaningless... it's not a criticism. You’re born, you die, you suffer. You’re gone forever and that’s it. I’ve never found a good solution. The best I can offer is distraction. You can be distracted by your love life, baseball games, movies. That’s all you can do.”
Thanks, Woody. We’ll add beautiful clothes to that list.
Magic in the Moonlight opens Friday, July 25
