How to combine fashion, music and cinema in a single film? The perfect match may be found in Hong Kong director Wong Kar-Wai. Worn by Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung, his film “In The Mood for Love” is not only an aesthetic slap in the face: it also tells the secrets and emotions of its characters through clothing. Decryption.
(Cover photo credit: Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung in “In The Mood for Love”, 2000 - photo IMAGO / Zuma Wire)
The pitch: Sublime, mystery and sensuality
Hong Kong, early 1960s. Mr. Chow is a journalist, Mrs. Chan is a secretary. Both are married, they are next door neighbors. They have other things in common: absent partners, extreme loneliness and a pronounced taste for style and the passing of time . They will gradually get closer... It's a story told a thousand times, which makes "In The Mood for Love" all the more unique: Wong Kar-Wai infuses the sublime, the mystery and the sensuality to an adventure that is both banal and impossible.
Cast: Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung, costumes and sets by William Chang, music by Shigeru Umebayashi . It is an understatement to say that “In The Mood for Love” is an aesthetic slap in the face . But for those who are infatuated with Asian cinema, this is in no way a surprise. From his first films like “As tears go by” or “Our wild years”, Wong Kar-Wai imposes a style that is revealed to the general public with “In The Mood for Love”.
Apart from a few mentions here and there, relatively little has been said about Asian cinema so far. But the fact is that each time it resulted in a stylistic vision or a striking piece. Remember, for example , Leslie Cheung's shirt in “Our Wild Years” .
© MICHAEL TSUI/South China Morning Post via Getty Images
Leslie Cheung in “Our Wild Years”, 1990.
Asian cinema is full of powerful stylistic inspirations . It can give you a taste for shirts, suits, streetwear and even men's tank tops. It may also be at the origin of an unexpected crush for the down jacket with denim inside , like the one worn by the charismatic Yu Zhang in the rough and very black diamond that is “An Elephant sitting still” by Hu Bo.
© IMAGO / Everett Collection
Yu Zhang in “An Elephant sitting still”, 2018.
“In The Mood for Love” plays precisely in this category. It's a film that has style firmly rooted in its core, whether cinematographic, musical or sartorial . It is also, typically, the kind of film that takes on its full meaning in a cinema: it is a visual and sensory experience, which will also perhaps give you
The landscape of “In The Mood for Love” is the bodies of men and women brushing against each other, settings and clothing echoing each other . William Chang's work on the costumes, and more generally the color, photography and aesthetic universe of the film are breathtakingly beautiful .
For my part, I had seen this film when it was released in theaters and I had never returned to this universe since. Twenty years have passed, which could make you nostalgic. Except that my passion for clothing allows me today to rediscover things that explain to me a little more what I like in “In The Mood for Love”.
1. Clothes speak for the characters
This is one of the first things that strikes you: style and clothing in particular occupy a central place in “In The Mood for Love” . The title of the film in Quebec also sums up the underlying story of the film quite well: “The silences of desire”. Here, this is expressed among other things by the outfits of the main characters, and in particular by Maggie Cheung's incredible wardrobe.
Each pattern, each color, each piece of fabric means something about a thought or an emotion . If the characters are hardly demonstrative, it is through clothing that we learn a little more about their most intimate secrets. It's a technique often used in cinema that takes on its full meaning here more than anywhere else: Wong Kar-Wai is obsessed with style .
As is often the case, it's all in the details: accessories for example. We can thus note some links between the couples through the women's handbags and the men's ties - similar from one couple to another, they betray a secret history. Abandoned by their respective partners, Mr. Chow and Mrs. Chan come together through style and solitude. In fact, they each take care to dress (well). Now you certainly know it like me: clothing can be a sign of recognition .
2. Style is a way of blending into the background
Another interesting point: the very powerful use of color, light effects and decor. In a way, we can say that the characters' looks match their environment . Maggie Cheung's dresses are often echoed in the curtains, walls or furniture of apartments. They are also part of a clothing tradition where the character of Tony Leung displays a more Western look, to be seen through the prism of his profession as a journalist.
If it is possible to decorate a room like you put together an outfit , it is just as possible to put the two together. This is precisely what “In The Mood for Love” achieves on numerous occasions.
What does this say about the characters? That their style is not accidental and that it is part of a permanent search for balance with what surrounds them. Does this mean that style only makes sense if it coexists with its environment? I am one of those who think so. And you ?
4. These pieces that the film will make you want to wear
1. The qipao dress
It is undoubtedly the most striking item of clothing in the film . Maggie Cheung also presents more than twenty different dresses: it's as if she changes outfits between each scene. This is not entirely a coincidence: clothing is used on purpose, to convey the emotions of the characters . This comes through pattern, color, and the simple fact that Maggie Cheung owns more than twenty pieces says a lot about how she feels throughout the film.
The qipao dress is an iconic Chinese garment , very popular in Shanghai in the 20s and 30s where it takes the form we still know today. It was banned in China by Mao Zedong because it was considered decadent. It is a high-necked, slit, close-fitting dress, often in silk, with pattern, flowers or stripes.
In “In The Mood for Love”, Maggie Cheung swears by this type of dress and never forgets to take care of her outfits, even for everyday affairs . Which obviously leaves no one indifferent, starting with the people who share his building.
“She’s well prepared to go get some noodles!” »
If you're passionate about textiles, the stunning collection of dresses featured in "In The Mood for Love" is worth the viewing alone . We may, however, prefer other models of everyday dresses, less historically connoted, and in this case, we can take a look at other style proposals here:
2. The gray suit
In "In The Mood for Love", Tony Leung's character only wears suits , with a white pocket square tucked into the breast pocket of his jackets. His suits are fitted, most often worn with black shoes, shirts with large collars and rather thin, more or less fancy ties. It’s an elegance that evokes the tailoring art of the sixties as we saw it in the series “Mad Men” for example, or closer to home, in the character of Alain Delon in “Le Samouraï” by Jean-Pierre Melville - another cinema esthete.
Among Tony Leung's favorite colors in terms of suits here: gray. It is, with blue, the most classic color in the formal register . Note that his costumes are sometimes light and sometimes dark in color, as if they accompanied the mood swings of their wearer.
Nowadays, we can of course prefer to this very codified register of the costume a slightly more contemporary vision in the cut and finishes. The trend is towards relaxation, even if the suit always has something very beautiful to say from brands like Ardentes Clipei for example.
Openness to relaxation is generally the idea of the Breno models at BonneGueule, for those of you who would like to try out costumes in a different way :
Whether you're drawn to the classic elegance of Tony Leung or a more contemporary take on costume, the subject matter remains more or less the same. The formal register is in fact one of the most demanding there is. It is therefore necessary to make the right choices when choosing your costume . Material, cut, style: we give you all our practical advice on video if necessary.
3. The white shirt
To accompany his costumes, Tony Leung's character obviously opts for the shirt. It is most often white, although it sometimes allows itself a few stripes or other colors. If his outfit is very stylized, his clothing universe nonetheless remains linked to the professional office dress code as it was still at work in the 60s.
The formal white shirt is worn here as was often done at the time over a white tank top . We can rediscover a funny anecdote on this subject in this article on the film “ New York Miami ” with Clark Gable. This very particular art of the white shirt is precisely what we tried to tell at BonneGueule through the Avellino shirt.
That being said, for those of you who would like to discover the white shirt other than through the suit , it is obviously possible. If ever, I analyze some looks with white shirts in an episode of Gimmick. There we find masters of contemporary style like Yasuto Kamoshita or Namha “Nami Man” Nguyen .
