We are all mesmerized by the glamour, décor, and style of movies. I love to watch what will become the new fashion trends, such as stylish movies Rosemary’s Baby, Breakfast At Tiffany’s, Belle de Jour, Blow-Up, Bonnie & Clyde, La Dolce Vita, 8 1/2, Purple Noon, Chinatown, Thomas Crown Affair, Wall Street, Alfie, Oceans’ Eleven, Rear Window, The Philadelphia Story, and so on.
Many of the greatest fashion designers have worked on movie wardrobes. Ives Saint Laurent designed clothes for Catherine Deneuve. Givenchy designed clothes for Audrey Hepburn, Edith Head designed for Alfred Hitchcock films.
Below are some of Hollywood’s leading stars in their most fashionable movies.
Breakfast At Tiffany’s
Audrey Hepburn plays the New York City adorable playgirl Holly Golighty in the movie of Truman Capote’s best-selling novel. Hepburn created the iconic little black dress fashion trend designed by Givenchy.
Hepburn’s wardrobe is classic: large sunglasses, wide brimmed hat, elbow gloves, tiara, trench coat, scarves, kitten heels, long black cigarette holder, faux pearls, rhinestone studded cocktail dress, and more.
Style icon Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993) British actress of film, stage, and TV. She performed in several fashionable movies, such as Roman Holiday 1953, Sabrina 1957, Charade 1963, Funny Face 1957, and My Fair Lady 1964. Winner of an Oscar, 3 BAFTAs, 2 Golden Globes, 2 Tonys, an Emmy, and a Grammy. She acted with leading men Cary Grant, William Holden, Peter O’Toole, Gregory Peck, Rex Harrison, Fred Astaire, Humphrey Bogart, George Peppard, Sean Connery, Henry Fonda, Mel Ferrer, James Garner, Burt Lancaster, Albert Finney, and others.
Film details: Breakfast at Tiffany’s, 1961, U.S., director Blake Edwards, cast: Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard. Costume design was by Givenchy and Edith Head.
Alfie
Michael Caine the stylish London lady’s man about town in the hit film which set fashion trends with new British high-end men’s Saville Row tailored suits.
Michael Caine, a leading British actor known for his gentleman style and Saville Row suits, played in several fashionable films, such as: The Ipcress File 1965, Sleuth 1972, Get Carter 1971, Hannah and Her Sisters 1980, and Mona Lisa 1986. Winner of an Oscar, BAFTA, and 3 Golden Globes.
Details: Alfie, 1966, British, director Lewis Gilbert, cast: Michael Caine, Shelley Winters. Costume design by Jean Failie and Jack Dagemais.
Mahogany
Diana Ross acted and designed the wardrobe for the Black Hollywood glamour camp classic. She played a fashion design student who makes it big in Rome. Fashion reflected the era’s excesses, exhibitionism, and extremes with over-the-top voluminous hair, mile-long eye lashes, big feathers, and big furs.
Diana Ross, singer and actress of recording, film, TV, and stage. She acted in Lady Sings the Blues, The Wiz, and Out of Darkness. Awards: 1 Oscar nomination, 1 BAFTA nomination, 1 Tony, 1 Golden Globe, and 2 Grammys with 15 nominations.
Details: Mahogany, 1975, U.S., directed by Berry Gordy, with actor Bill Dee Williams.
Belle de Jour
Catherine Deneuve’s iconic role in the French erotic thriller set fashion trends. She plays a bored housewife who becomes a high-end prostitute during the day and runs into trouble with criminals. Deneuve’s wardrobe set fashion trends with the new and popular French Girl Style.
Fashion icon Catherine Deneuve is a French actress, model, and singer. Other fashionable films of her’s include: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg 1964, The Young Girls of Rochefort 1967, Mayering 1968, Mississppi Mermaid 1983, The Hunger 1983, and Indochine 1992. Awards: Oscar nomination, BAFTA nomination, 2 Cesar with 14 nominations. She acted with leading men Marcello Mastroianni, Alain Delon, Gene Kelly, Jean Sorel, David Bowie, Omar Sharif, Gerard Depardieu, Jean-Paul Belmomdo, and others.
Details: Belle de Jour, 1967, France, director Luis Bunuel. Designer Ives Saint Laurant designed the wardrobe.
High Society
Luxury and high fashion with Grace Kelly, Bing Crosby, and Frank Sinatra in this screwball musical romantic comedy. Costume design by Helen Rose. Details: High Society, 1956, U.S., director Charles Walters, Cole Porter music.
Fashion icon Grace Kelly, an American actress in film, TV, and stage. She became the Princess of Monaco. Kelly performed in several stylish films such as Dial M for Murder 1954, The Country Girl 1954, To Catch a Thief 1955, and Rear Window 1954. Awards: an Oscar and 3 Golden Globes. She acted with leading men Cary Grant, James Stewart, William Holden, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Ray Milland, Clark Gable, Gary Cooper, Louis Jourdan, and others.
LA Confidential 
A star studded neo-noir film set in 1940s LA with fashionable cops and call girls. The story is about a series of murders around stolen heroin.
Film details: L.A. Confidential, 1997, director Curtis Hanson, cast: Kevin Spacey, Kim Basinger, Russell Crowe, and Guy Pierce. Costume design by Ruth Myer.
The Talented Mr. Ripley
Fashionable idle rich on the 1950s Italian Riviera dressed in 1950s Ivy League preppy style. The psychological thriller is about a conman forger who commits murder to steal a rich man’s identity.
Film details: The Talented Mr. Ripley, 1999, director Anthony Minghella, cast: Matt Damon, Jude Law, and Gweneth Paltrow. Costume design by Gary Jones an Ann Ruth.
American Psycho
Perhaps the best men’s high fashion movie, set in 1980s Wall Street wealth, excess, and decadence. American Psycho is a very dark comedy about a serial killer that leaves open the possibility that this is just a sick fantasy of a sociopath’s imagination.
Much of the movie is about personal grooming, men’s fashion, luxury lifestyle, and fine restaurants. This is critical to the character Patrick Bateman played by Christian Bale, who works overtime to fit into the 1980s Wall Street investment banking elite.
The movie is a 1980s men’s fashion catalog of designer suits, striped shirts, blue shirts with white collars, ties, shoes, styled hair, 5-star restaurants, elite nightclubs, and beautiful people.
Details: American Psycho, 2000, U.S., black comedy horror. Director: Mary Harron. Cast: Christian Bale, Jared Leto, Willem Dafoe, Reese Witherspoon. Costume design: Isis Mussenden.
A Single Man
Fashion designer clothes in the 2009 style showcase with Colin Firth and Julianne Moore, with Nicholas Hoult and Matthew Good. An English college professor tries to cope with the death of his lover in 1960s LA. Costume design by Arianne Phillips. Director Tom Ford who was also a fashion designer.
Dreamy and luxurious Sixties style. Moore in era specific sheath dress, drop earrings, impeccable era hair and makeup. Firth in perfect tailored suits, oxford shirts, tie bars, and thick black glasses.
Dr. No
Sean Connery set the standard for stylish British agent James Bond 007 in 1960s films Dr. No 1962, From Russia With Love 1963, Goldfinger 1964, Thunderball 1965, and You Only Live Twice 1967.
Style icon Sean Connery (1930-2020) was a Scottish actor who was knighted, acted in many notable films, and awarded an Oscar, BAFTA, and 3 Golden Globes. He acted with leading ladies Audrey Hepburn, Tippi Hedren, Brigitte Bardot, Ursula Andtess, Jean Seberg, Claudia Cardinale, Joanne Woodward, Jill St. John, Kim Basinger, Michelle Pfeiffer, and others.
La Dolce Vita
The 1960 stylish Italian Fellini film with Marcello Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg. About the social exploits of a tabloid gossip journalist who writes about the rich and famous in Rome. Mastroianni helped to establish worldwide attention to Italian fashion design with slim suits, slim ties, double cuffed shirts, large cuff links, and iconic shades. Ekberg is in the famous black strapeless gown. Costume design was by Piero Gherardi.
Leading international style icon Marcello Mastroianni (1924-1996) also performed in the Fellini stylish film 8 ½. Other fashionable films of his include: La Notte 1961, The Assassin 1961, Marriage Italian Style 1964, Casanova 70 1965, and Stay As You Are 1978. He acted with leading ladies Sophia Loren, Catherine Deneuve, Brigitte Bardot, Jeanne Moreau, Anita Ekberg, Anouk Aimee, and others.
Chinatown
Classic film noir with high fashion starring two style icons Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway. A 1974 murder mystery thriller involving LA developers. Costume design by Anthea Sylbert. Director Roman Polanski.
Faye Dunaway plays femme fatale Evelyn Mulwray in elegant tailored suits and perfect red lipstick. She also stared in the stylish films Bonny and Clyde 1967 with Warren Beatty, The Thomas Crown Affair 1968 with Steve McQueen, Network 1976, and the Eyes of Laura Mars 1978.
Jack Nicholson decked out in 1930s suits also appeared in the stylish films The Witches of Eastwick 1987, The Two Jakes 1990, and Something’s Gotta Give 2003.
Phantom Thread
Daniel Lewis Day plays real life fashion designer Reginald Woodcock in 1950s London. The highly acclaimed and successful movie is a dark Gothic tale of romance.
Woodcock designed haute couture fashion for royalty, high society, and the rich and famous. The movies’ fashion style is elegant and impeccable, including Day’s own wardrobe. Fashion designers said the movie is authentic about 1950s London and Paris fashion, British Vogue, Saville Row, and contemporary fashion houses like Chanel, Dior, Givenchy, Balmain, and Balenciaga.
British Daniel Lewis Day has played in such fashionable films as A Room With a View 1986, The Unbearable Likeness of Being 1989, The Age of Innocence 1993, and Nine 2009.
Film details: Phantom Thread, 2017, British, director Paul Thomas Anderson, cast: Daniel Lewis Day, Lesley Manville, Vicky Krieps. Costume design by Mark Bridges.
Gilda
A 1946 film noir classic with Rita Hayworth who plays the fashionable ultimate femme fatale temptress. The story is about Intrigue and murder at a Buenos Aires casino. Hayworth exudes saucy and luxurious style in lace slips, slinky split satin dresses, elegant plunging gowns, elbow length gloves, sequins, and midriff exposing outfits. Costume design by Jean Louis. Director Charles Vidor.
Rita Hayworth (1918-1987) an American actress and dancer who acted in fashionable films The Lady From Shanghai 1947, Cover Girl 1949, and Pal Joey 1957.
Spencer
Kristen Stewart plays Princess Diana during her divorce with Prince Charles in this 2021 psychological drama film. It is about her Christmas holiday at the royal estate of Sandringham. Costume design by Jacqueline Durran. Director Pablo Larrain.
High fashion, vintage era Chanel, opulent black velvet dresses, cherry red cherry tweed coat, strapeless gowns with elegant embroidery, stylish suits, and luxury casual.
Purple Noon
Style icon Alain Delon stars in this 1960 French stylish crime thriller, a role that made him the sex idol of Europe. Delon plays a conman and forger who kills a man to steal his identity. Costume design by Bella Clement. Director Rene Clement.
Alain Delon a French actor and 1960s sex idol. He played in several fashionable films, such as Rocco and His Brothers 1960, L’Elisse 1962, Any Number Can Win 1963, Le Samourai 1967, La Piscine 1969, and Borsalino 1970.
Wall Street
Charlie Sheen and Michael Douglas play Wall Street raiders who use illegal trading to acquire companies in this 1987 drama. High fashion power suits and ties, greed in Armani suits.
Douglas plays Gordon Gekko a legendary Wall Street raider who became a style icon of the excessive 1980s and ‘90s. The movie exudes in power suits and ties, bold colors, strong contrasts, pinstripes, suspenders, and expensive accessories.
Film details: Wall Street, 1987, director Oliver Stone, cast: Michael Douglas, Charlie Sheen, Daryl Hannah, Martin Sheen, Hal Holbrook, Terence Stamp. Costume design by Ellen Mironjnick.
Charade
Style icons Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn teamed up in this 1963 crime thriller. Hepburn is pursued by several men who want a fortune her murdered husband had stolen. Fashion design by Givenchy.
Iconic Cary Grant (1904-1986) a British-American actor, debonair and the definitive leading man. He starred in several fashionable films, such as Topper 1937, Bringing Up Baby 1938, The Philadelphia Story 1940, Suspicion 1941, Mr. Lucky 1943, Notorious 1946, To Catch a Thief 1955, An Affair to Remember 1957, Indiscreet 1958, and North By Northwest 1959. He acted with leading ladies Audrey Hepburn, Katharine Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Ingrid Bergman, Deborah Kerr, Joan Fontaine, Eve St, Marie, Constance Bennett, Rosalind Russell, Doris Day, and others.
Blow-Up
A Swinging Sixties London fashion photographer accidently photographs a murder in this 1966 crime thriller. The movie set fashion trends and made Jane Birkin and Veruscka supermodels. Costume design by Jocelyn Rickerdson. Director Michaelangelo Antonioni.
The Hunger
Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie, and Susan Sarandon play vampires in a love triangle in this 1983 stylish erotic horror movie. The movie is extremely stylish, erotic, moody, cool, haunting, elegant, and is a sensory overload. The film is perhaps the most fashionable horror film ever made. It’s like a long fashion or perfume ad. The cast exudes trendy fashion in black leather, lace, chiffon, designer suits, and dresses. Catherine Deneuve dressed in Yves Saint Laurent 1980s-designed clothing.
Details: The Hunger, 1983, UK, U.S., erotic horror. Director: Tom Scott. Cast: Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie, Susan Sarandon. Costume design: Yves Saint Laurant and Milena Canonero.
