NEW YORK (AP) 鈥 For fashion lovers, movie spoilers aren’t really about the plot. A leaked photo or paparazzi snapshot of an actor strutting in fiery red Jacquemus slingback heels or carrying a Coach handbag on set can speak volumes.
This summer, social media users were served a visual feast of photos and videos revealing costumes from the 鈥淭he Devil Wears Prada 2鈥 and 鈥淎merican Love Story鈥 鈥 and found them not necessarily to their taste. Both productions filmed in the busy streets of New York, and the widely shared footage sparked conversations around the proverbial watercooler about the creative direction of their beloved characters or real-life figures like Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy. They may have been polarizing, but the costume designs had everyone talking 鈥 and film industry experts say that was, perhaps, the point.
Brand analytics firm Launchmetrics reported that photos of designs from the brand Gabriela Hearst, including a colorful patchwork maxi dress pictured in the leaked photos of actor generated more impact than the brand’s recent fall/winter Paris fashion week show, after all.
Buying into the spoilers
Before social media, set photos of an actor in costume would often be staged and sent to news outlets to control the narrative and create buzz, said Sofia Sondervan-Bild, a film producer and adjunct film instructor at the New York University Tisch School of the Arts. Now, the videos and photos that flood social media are often outside productions鈥 control. On Instagram and TikTok, users are dedicating accounts to the fashion in the set photos and creating posts discussing spoilers.
Newman Parker, 25, a fashion influencer and longtime fan of 鈥淭he Devil Wears Prada,鈥 started a TikTok series identifying all the bags featured in the photos and where to source them. Commenters on his posts have chimed in with helpful tips on some of the rarer vintage finds. For fans of the 2006 movie, the leaked photos of the sequel have only fueled their desire to see it.
鈥淚 really just hope that the garments are beautiful on screen and that there are some looks that we haven鈥檛 seen,鈥 he said. 鈥淚鈥檓 hungry for something that hasn鈥檛 been spoiled.鈥
Parker said one of his favorite looks from the set photos shows Hathaway, who plays Andy Sachs, in the multicolored Gabriela Hearst maxi dress with a bucket hat. Some criticized the look online for being too trendy for Andy. (In the first movie, she’s a journalist disinterested in fashion who transforms into a fashionista while working at the fictitious Runway magazine under Miranda Priestly.)
For the sequel, Molly Rogers, who previously worked with the first movie’s has taken on the costume design. Rogers鈥 bold design choices for the TV series 鈥淎nd Just Like That鈥 caused quite the stir, much like the leaked set photos of 鈥淭he Devil Wears Prada 2.鈥 Rogers told The New York Post that she felt fans would get burned out by all the paparazzi shots before seeing the film. Surely, social media users were caught off guard by photos of Meryl Streep dressed in character, carrying a bedazzled pink water bottle it seemed Miranda Priestly would not be caught dead with.
鈥淚鈥檓 willing to give some grace and some hope, but also, I would not be a true fan if I didn鈥檛 say, after the 鈥楢nd Just Like That鈥-ification of ‘Sex and the City,’ I鈥檓 a little nervous about what went wrong,鈥 Parker said. 鈥淚 think only time will tell.鈥
Costume designers are tasked with creating an authentic closet for their characters, said Deborah Nadoolman Landis, founding director of UCLA’s David C. Copley Center for the Study of Costume Design. Landis, who has worked on the sets of 鈥淚ndiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark鈥 and 鈥淐oming to America,鈥 said leaked photos lack the context of the overall screenplay.
鈥淲hen we see somebody on the street, we have no idea what the dramatic context is,鈥 she said. 鈥淗ow long it鈥檚 going to be on screen, whether we鈥檙e just going to see the top, whether she is or they are sitting behind a desk.鈥
Capturing an icon
Unlike period dramas where niche experts can offer their criticism on the style of dress of centuries-old eras, the more recent past opens the door for a wider audience to weigh in sartorially.
First-look and paparazzi photos of Ryan Murphy’s 鈥淎merican Love Story鈥 led to an outcry on social media with their release. The forthcoming TV show explores the high-profile relationship before their death in a 1999 plane crash. The it girl’s effortlessly minimalist ‘90s style has endured, enamoring even younger generations of fashionistas.
Ann Caruso, celebrity stylist and brand consultant, first met Bessette-Kennedy when they were both living in Boston.
鈥淚f you look back at the minimalism of the ‘90s and what Carolyn was wearing, it was like this effortless chic and the monochromatic palettes, her perfectly cut slip dresses, the men鈥檚 shirts,鈥 Caruso said. 鈥淚t was all quiet luxury before the term existed now.鈥
Friends who remembered Bessette-Kennedy and even fashion critics were quick to note their disappointment over the first-look photos of calling out the size of the Herm猫s Birkin bag on her arm, the color of her hair and the style of coat she was pictured in.
鈥淚 was actually really angry, and I just felt like she was she made such an impression on the world with her fashion,鈥 Caruso said. 鈥淭hey seemed to really get JFK Jr. and to not get her along with him is just such a disappointment.鈥
In defense of the costume design, Murphy spoke to Puck News 鈥 acknowledging that he had no idea that 鈥減eople cared as much as they do.鈥
Jack Sehnert, a New York design executive, began running @carolynbessette, an Instagram account, dedicated to the style muse in 2015. Sehnert said that while 鈥淎merican Love Story鈥 didn鈥檛 get the first-look photos right, he has since seen a change in more recent photos.
鈥淚 do think that we鈥檙e about to see a barrage of artistic license taken on who she was, how she dressed, because what鈥檚 kind of exciting is we鈥檙e moving into this new field where she is a Princess Diana, she is Jackie Kennedy, and she鈥檚 looked at as such,鈥 he said.
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