London Map print £34 notonthehighstreet
As it’s London fashion week I thought I’d make my usual fashion week series about my favourite movies set in London and the UK.
Although, fashion weeks come and go and street style changes when it comes to lasting style its the big screen that has it all. As a well styled movie can immortalise a look forever. Yes – I knowthe special effects, the soundtrack and of course, the stars are all important – but for now I am focusing on the best dressed movies.
Some are timeless examples of ‘iconic’ movie style, a few are modern classics with some very memorable ensembles and some are a little more quirky, but nevertheless all chic in their own right.
These movies have eternal style and even now continue to inspire the fashion world in one way or another.
*9 Stylish Movies set in London & the UK*
MOVIE: Scandal
PLOT: Based on the real-life Profumo Scandal of 1963, where an affair between an exotic dancer and model named Christine Keeler and the Minister of War shakes up the British government and the lives of everyone involved.
ICON: Christine Keeler (Joanne Whalley)
STYLE: 1960’s style at its best from early showgirl style to classic little black dresses, duster coats and gloves. Chic Capri pants, boat neck sweaters and ballet pumps figure heavily too.
MOVIE: The Edge of Love
PLOT: Two feisty, free-spirited women are connected by the brilliant, charismatic Welsh poet Dylan Thomas who loves them both.
ICONS: Vera Phillips (Keira Knightley), Caitlin Thomas (Sienna Miller)
STYLE: Beautiful vintage 1940’s clothes that goes Wartime ensembles and high octane starlet glamour (red lips, long gloves, seamed stockings and hair set in waves) to a cold and windy Welsh countryside chic (floral tea-dresses, chunky cardi’s, knee-high socks and folded down wellies).
MOVIE: Sid & Nancy
PLOT: Morbid ‘Sex, drugs and, rock and roll’ biographical story of the tragic Sid Vicious, bassist with British punk group The Sex Pistols, and his girlfriend Nancy Spungen.
ICON: Nancy Spungen (Chloe Webb)
STYLE: Late 1970’s gothic punk style from London to New York – head to toe black, rubber bondage gear, fishnet tights, leopard print and leather. Paper white skin, candy blush and thick black eyeliner is finished with peroxide blonde hair.
MOVIE: Alfie
PLOT: Working class, cockney lad Alfie Elkins is charming, confident and a total unrepentant ladies’ man who gradually begins to understand the consequences of his lifestyle in a swinging 1960’s London.
ICON: Annie (Jane Asher)
STYLE: Sixties silhouettes including pastel polo necks, pencil skirts and paisley prints. From lowly young Annie and her heavy fringe and beehive to older lady Ruby and her luxe furs, long gloves and chiffon lingerie.
MOVIE: Atonement
PLOT: Set in the England in 1939 and 1999 it tells the story of fledgling writer Briony Tallis, who as a thirteen-year-old, irrevocably changes the course of several lives when she accuses her older sister Cecilia’s lover Robbie Turner of a crime he did not commit that has lasting repercussions for all of them.
ICON: Cecilia Tallis (Keira Knighley)
STYLE: Besides the defining emerald-green silk bias cut dress. There’s 1930’s and 1940’s wartime suiting, trench coats and tea dresses galore.
MOVIE: My Fair Lady
PLOT: A misogynistic and snobbish phonetics professor Henry Higgins agrees to a wager that he can take a dirty, Cockney flower girl called Eliza and make her presentable lady in high society.
ICON: Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn)
STYLE: From the iconic Cecil Beaton designed black and white number Eliza wears to Ascot. It’s all about billowy gowns, elbow length gloves and accessories – big hats in almost every scene and beautiful necklaces and tiaras.
MOVIE: An Education
PLOT: A coming-of-age story about a bright, hard-working teenage girl in 1960s suburban London who is all set to go to Oxford and how her life changes with the arrival of a playboy David Goldman who nearly twice her age.
ICON: Jenny Mellor (Carey Mulligan)
STYLE: From uniformed school girl to a super stylish young woman we see Jenny’s transformation through glamorous Jacquard cocktail dresses, pillbox hats and leopard print accessories.
MOVIE: Blow-Up
PLOT: A successful mod London fashion photographer Thomas finds something very suspicious in the shots he has taken of a mysterious beauty in a desolate park. The fact he may have photographed a murder doesn’t occur to him until he blows up the negatives and uncovers details that help piece the puzzle together.
ICONS: Jane (Vanessa Redgrave), Patricia (Sarah Miles) and models Veruschka, Jane Birkin and Jill Kennington
STYLE: More of a time capsule into the swinging 1960’s fashion scene where the grey skies of the London background made all the mod outfits look Technicolor in comparison.
MOVIE: Darling
PLOT: Young, attractive and amoral model Diana Scott firmly decides to become rich and famous by sleeping her way to the top. After meeting a well-known TV journalist Robert Gold who introduces her to a luxury Jet-set lifestyle she encounters more money, fame and fun…but at what price?
ICON: Diana scott (Julie Christie)
STYLE: From bored housewife to London model and the jet-set of Europe – expect everything from sixties prim shift dresses and jewels, to mod dresses and over sized glasses to daring Riviera bikinis and headscarves.
Any chic London movies that you think I have missed off?
** Click HERE to see my 9 Stylish movies set in New York (#NYFW part one)
I absolutely adore that first print which I appreciate isn’t the point of the post, but I do love it.
Love that picture B! Might have to look at it for our new place, as we really want a London-themed print! x