THE VIRGIN SUICIDES (1999)

As someone who spends a substantially above-average amount of time looking at costumes, it’s always fun to look back on movies made 10-20 years ago and see how the clothes hold up. It’s  surprising how quickly things start to look dated (and I don’t necessarily mean in a “I can’t believe a human thought this clearly hideous outfit looked good enough to photograph” way). Think of Mean Girls or Gossip Girl, both fairly recent examples of costume design that are still fashionable but immediately recognizable as mid-2000s. So it’s remarkable when a film manages to achieve a sense of true timelessness, the way The Virgin Suicides has.

Even more impressive when you consider that The Virgin Suicides is a period piece, set in 1970s Michigan. However, it doesn’t really look overtly 70’s or 90’s. Costume designer Nancy Steiner managed to create a distinct universe, inhabited by the Lisbon girls and their hand-me-down chic wardrobe.

A common criticism of Sofia Coppola’s work is that her films are all about style over substance – but I would argue that to some extent, the style IS the substance in her films. The emotional resonance of The Virgin Suicides comes from the dreamlike atmosphere as much as from the actual events of the story, which unfold more like a series of loosely connected memories than a traditionally structured narrative.

The soft, ethereal colors and fabrics give the Lisbon girls a sense of other-worldliness – most obviously Cecilia’s wedding dress, the only costume we see her in. Her sisters’ clothes bear a striking similarity, particularly as the film progresses and the girls become more and more isolated from reality.