Hollywood Continues its Love Affair with Monochromatic Method Dressing
Image via Wikimedia Commons
As I walked through the rainy streets of Shoreditch this afternoon, my eye was caught by a giant chartreuse wall on the horizon. Instantly, I knew this was an advert for Charli XCX’s new A24 feature The Moment, though the wall itself said nothing more than ‘‘this is movie promo btw,’’ set against brat’s signature green. The Moment’s marketing, minimalist yet monolithic, is not unique: minutes earlier, a billboard promoting Emerald Fennell’s adaptation of Wuthering Heights urged me to ‘‘Come Undone’’ in its campaign’s signature red - a passionate hue that has bled from its adverts into its stars’ wardrobes. While promoting the film in Paris, Margot Robbie’s custom Chanel (by Matthieu Blazy) was strikingly scarlet and unapologetically gothic; at the film’s world premiere, she wore a custom Schiaparelli Haute Couture gown by Daniel Roseberry, as romantic as the film itself.
Monochromatic Method-Dressing is not new to the red carpet, but it seems omnipresent nonetheless: The iconic press tour for Greta Gerwig’s Barbie in 2023 - so pink it allegedly caused a shortage of fluorescent pink paint - seems to have paved the way for Marty Supreme orange, immortalised by that Timothée and Kylie look. During both Wicked press tours, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande epitomised their characters in a striking clash of pink and green looks. So why do these films dominate both our conversations and Instagram feeds? They understand the power of signature styling: to maximise their cultural capital, movies must pick a colour.
The red carpet’s penchant for method dressing may seem relatively modern, but its roots run deep; director Baz Luhrmann (on Disney+’s In Vogue: The 90s) described the nineties as ‘‘an explosion of sexuality, of sensuality, of freedom’’ - a moment that led Hollywood and the fashion industry to become irrevocably intertwined. While the monochromatic nature of modern press tours may seem necessary in an age of cultural oversaturation, the whimsical impulse behind it captures the enduring love affair between fashion and film, as well as their mutual capacity for creative disruption.
Law Roach, the influential stylist known for pioneering method dressing through his work with Zendaya (most recently her tennis-inspired looks for 2024’s Challengers and a jaw-dropping Thierry Mugler archival robot suit for the London premiere of Dune: Part Two) says he strives ‘‘to be a storyteller more than anything else.’’ Perhaps method dressing can do more than spark social media virality; it could bring the storytelling of cinema into our own realities. Maybe brat green, Marty Supreme orange and Barbie pink are more than marketing ploys – they might be vital attempts to bring art to life and reaffirm fashion as escapism.