"Carol" Week: Carol's Style
Wednesday, December 23, 2015 at 8:18AM Manuel here, continuing our Carol week festivities.
Carol Aird always looks like she’s stepped right out of a fashion spread. Or rather, she wouldn’t look out of place if she were to walk into one. She’s always so impeccably dressed, courtesy of course, of one Ms Sandy Powell.
“Category is: Femme Butch Realness”
I was half-joking when I wrote that note down as I finished Haynes’s film back in NYFF but the more I savored the concept, the more apt it became as a description of Mrs Aird...
What I love about Powell’s choice of wardrobe for Blanchett is the way it’s both tight-fitting (constricting even!) and form-enhancing but also quite severe and austere. Those dresses wrap around and hug her body while those blazers, blouses and trousers give her an imposing air. You can see this in her jewellery too, which is both dramatic and ornate (those broches!); heavy but understated. She’s both ultra feminine and stylishly masculine.
Look no further than the gorgeous robe/pajamas ensemble she wears. The cut and pattern (those shoulder pads!) contrast beautifully with the silky and loose fabrics, weaving masculine garb and feminine style. This even bleeds into and obviously informs Blanchett’s performance: that perfectly coiffed hair—not a strand out of place—and these striking ensembles match the mask-like expression Carol usually wears. She is a woman constantly in command of her appearance, her mouth always teetering in between a knowing smirk and an indifferent frown, carefully offering up clues and cues to those in search of them.
Reader Comments (12)
Femme Butch Realness. OMG. It's so so true. The armor of the glamour make it such a study in contrast.
My fave ensemble is when they arrive in Chicago, with Carol rocking pants and that magnificent fur coat, which should get a character credit for being so important.
New extended fan-made trailer for Carol!!! (Sumptuous & Gorgeous!!!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zh3sD_ccIag
I know this post isn't about the cinematography but dear lord look at that colour and lighting and composition! And of course, peak Blanchett.
Again, it's been a good enough year for movies, but I feel I'd be even more satisfied if instead of the 80 or so 2015 releases I saw in the cinema, I just went to see Carol and The Assassin 40 times each.
Goran, that's why the Oscars should have 10 slots inteead of five and tolerate a so- so year like last year, nonetheless (that would make up the ante for prestige movies and good popcorn ones, EQUALLY). And for Christsakes, BAN from every award ANY film not premiered before, say, around December 20th, or else, move forward the schedule for EVERY award of interest AFTER the New Year! Why is this so difficult to understand? That Joey Berlin looks like a big time celebrity sucker way more than the people in HFPA (which, at this point, look like the jury of Cannes in comparison) I know this is out of post, so I', sorry.
TeamCarol here, BTW.
With all the year long hype of Carol … I am actually afraid to go and see it… I have it so built up in my mind… I hope I won't be disappointed… I love Blanchett … will see it next week.
These clothes look amazing, but please, no more Oscars for Sandy. No mas.
All I want for Christmas is to be that fabulous for two seconds.
I would like to find Cate Blanchett under the tree on Christmas morning. I've been good all year. Please Santa, just do this for me.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for discussions of Powell's fantastic character-specific costume design, but Carol's style is a far cry from "butch" or "masculine." She's high-femme all the way: as the saying goes, "velvet covering steel."
There are precious few representations of butch lesbians in media. If you're looking for a period comparison, the Beebo Brinker Chronicles revolved around a butch woman in postwar America. It's pretty good for pulp fiction!
Yeah if there's one complaint I have with Carol it's that *of course* yet again both women in a lesbian love story are completely femme lipstick lesbians.
And yes I know not all lesbians fit the butch stereotype etc etc but if you went by Hollywood representations you'd have to assume that none of them ever do.
But if you went by representations in films directed by actual lesbian women, it's a very different story. Hm, I wonder why that is...
Mack, I would have hoped the "realness"/drag queen lingo would have been enough to suggest that of course Carol isn't a "butch" in any but in a stylized, obviously feminine way, though yours and goran's point that lipstick lesbians continue to be the most visible form of mainstream lesbian representation is definitely valid, Orange is the New Black notwithstanding. I'm now obviously curious about these Beebo Brinker Chronicles (queer pulp can be so incredibly exciting to read!)
As for Oscars, I do feel we may be headed for another Sandy victory, unless perhaps she cancels herself out? I mean, how do you choose between lipstick lesbian Blanchett and vampy stepmother Blanchett?