In the series of “Once upon a time…” at the cinema, Quentin Tarantino adds his stone to the building with “Once Upon a time in Hollywood”. If the film focuses on the adventures of two losers played by Brad Pitt and Leonardo Di Caprio, we discover more generally an ode to cinema and the sense of dressing. Is style a matter of success? No, and I'll tell you why.
(Cover photo credit: Brad Pitt in “Once upon a time in Hollywood”, 2019 - photo IMAGO / Cinema Publishers Collection)
The pitch: 1969, a traumatic year
1969, Hollywood USA. Rick Dalton is a star who has gone out of fashion. He is accompanied by Cliff Booth, his lifelong understudy who also serves as his handyman. The world of cinema is in the midst of a transformation, and success can now be found in his neighborhood neighbor Roman Polanski. Having become losers in spite of themselves, the two men try as best they can to relaunch their careers at a time when the Hollywood dream is about to experience one of its most tragic moments...
In the cast of this very Tarantino adventure released in 2019: Brad Pitt, Leonardo Di Caprio, Margot Robbie and even Al Pacino. We also meet Damian Lewis, here in the role of Steve McQueen . As always with the American director, it is a feast for the eyes and ears, especially if you are sensitive to his very particular sense of dialogue .
The title of the film inevitably brings to mind Sergio Leone. It's a habit with Quentin Tarantino: his films always summon others, in a more or less explicit way. This art of quotation does not only testify to the American director's bulimic passion for films . He also acts as a smuggler, allowing us to discover a whole section of cinema, from the New Wave to the Spaghetti Western. For those of you who have not yet seen Sergio Leone's ultimate masterpiece, a little stylistic catch-up session here:
What to look for in terms of style
If you want to get a good idea of the clothing style of the late 60s in California , “Once upon a time in Hollywood” should logically meet your expectations. The film recreates with unretouched meticulousness everything that made up the atmosphere of the time : the sets, the cars, and of course the costumes, the importance of which can once again be measured in the balance of 'a movie. Here they are the work of Arianne Philips, already spotted in the cinema with Tom Ford in “A Single Man” but also in fashion , with prestigious brands and magazines.
Beyond the historical and societal aspect, Quentin Tarantino's film above all offers a very large number of inspiring outfits . We will mainly discuss here the style of its two male protagonists, but make no mistake, everything is likely to appeal to you, starting with the outfits of Margot Robbie, here in the role of Sharon Tate.
If “Once upon a time in Hollywood” has slipped into our fashion and cinema topics several times, it is not entirely a coincidence. There are enough materials and clothes here to sharpen your sense of style . But the film is not content with a few well-thought-out outfits. What did I learn from it for my part?
1. Fashion passes, style remains
It's an idea long championed by designers like Coco Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent . The two main characters of “Once upon a time in Hollywood” are from the outset presented as has-beens. This is because the cinema of 1969 has moved on to something else. Fashion is not exempt from this trend-related phenomenon.
The cuts, colors and style of the late 60s and early 70s as seen in the film will be swept away and made obsolete in the following decades . But that was before they came back into fashion in one way or another in recent years. This strange game of musical chairs never ceases to produce new examples. The latest one?
2022 menswear telling 2011 menswear how the tables will turn pic.twitter.com/DXZSmevvS8
— Tyler Watamanuk (@tylerwatamanuk) this (vintage) ad from the early 90s for the Levi's brand. Like the shirt, we regularly find the denim jacket in the cinema . She accompanies in particular the characters of road movies like “Wild Ride” or “Thelma & Louise”.
3. The leather jacket
Generally speaking, the costumes in “Once upon a time in Hollywood” demonstrate a certain sense of style and costume in cinema. You will certainly find plenty of other inspiring pieces, but if I had to mention one last one to make you want to dive back into the film, it would definitely be the leather jacket of Leonardo Di Caprio's character.
This jacket has something irremediably late sixties early seventies: the cut, the color, the collar . It's typically the kind of piece that you can have fun finding in thrift stores. For my part, I have long had a particular affection for vintage leather jackets.
I have owned three or four different ones, all found at the Clignancourt flea market and more or less similar to the one worn by David Bowie on the cover of the “Heroes” album. We were able to see this type of jacket again in the mid-90s, with a host of English groups like Suede or Elastica. But beyond the style, you must of course look closely at the quality of the leather.
Leonardo Di Caprio, for example, combines his leather jacket with a high-neck sweater , in orange or yellow shades. But if vintage or seventies colors are not your cup of tea, we can conclude by moving towards more simple and contemporary style proposals, by looking at suede leather for example:
For other stories about clothing in Quentin Tarantino's cinema:
