How to combine fashion, music and cinema in a single film? The perfect match may be found in Hong Kong director Wong Kar-Wai. Starring 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. Analysis.
(Cover photo credit: Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung in “In The Mood for Love,” 2000 - photo IMAGO / Zuma Wire)
The pitch: Sublime, mysterious and sensual
Hong Kong, early 1960s. Mr. Chow is a journalist, Mrs. Chan is a secretary. Both are married, they are neighbors on the same floor. They have other things in common: absent partners, extreme loneliness and a pronounced taste for style and the passage of time . They will gradually get closer... It is a story told a thousand times, which makes "In The Mood for Love" all the more unique: Wong Kar-Wai indeed breathes the sublime, mystery and sensuality into an adventure that is both banal and impossible.
The cast includes Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung, costumes and sets by William Chang, music by Shigeru Umebayashi . It's 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, it's no surprise. From his first films like "As tears go by" or "Nos années sauvages", Wong Kar-Wai has indeed imposed a style that is revealed to the general public with "In The Mood for Love".
Apart from a few mentions here and there, Asian cinema has been relatively little discussed so far. But the fact is that it has always resulted in a stylistic vision or a striking piece. Remember, for example , Leslie Cheung's blouse in "The Wild Years" .
© MICHAEL TSUI/South China Morning Post via Getty Images
Leslie Cheung in "The Wild Years," 1990.
Asian cinema is full of powerful stylistic inspirations . It can give you a taste for the shirt, suits, streetwear and even the men's tank top. It can also be the source 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 in its body, whether it's cinematic, musical or sartorial . It's also, typically, the kind of film that takes on its full meaning in a movie theater: it's a visual and sensory experience, which might also make you want to listen to Nat King Cole again.
The landscape of "In The Mood for Love" is made up of male and female bodies brushing against each other, sets and clothes that echo 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 one 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 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 thus 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 is a technique often used in cinema that takes on its full meaning here more than elsewhere: 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 story. 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 as well as I do: clothing can be a sign of recognition .
2. Style is a way to blend in with the surroundings
Another interesting point: the very powerful use of color, lighting effects and decor. In a way, we can say that the characters' looks match their environment . Thus Maggie Cheung's dresses often find an echo in the curtains, walls or furniture of the apartments. They are also part of a clothing tradition where Tony Leung's character displays a more Western look, to be seen through the prism of his job 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 random 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
This is without a doubt the most striking piece of clothing in the film . Maggie Cheung actually wears more than twenty different dresses: it's as if she were changing outfits between each scene. This is not entirely a coincidence: clothing is used on purpose, to translate the emotions of the characters . This is done through the pattern, the color, and the simple fact that Maggie Cheung owns more than twenty pieces says a lot about what she feels throughout the film.
The qipao dress is an emblematic Chinese garment , very popular in Shanghai in the 20s and 30s where it took the form that we still know today. It was banned in China by Mao Zedong because it was considered decadent. It is a high-necked, slit and close-fitting dress, often made of silk, with a 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 her building.
“She’s all set to go get some noodles!”
If you are passionate about textiles, the magnificent collection of dresses presented in "In The Mood for Love" is worth watching in itself . However, one may prefer other models of dresses for everyday use, less historically connoted, and in this case, one 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 slipped into the breast pocket of his jackets. His suits are fitted, most often worn with black shoes, shirts with large collars and rather thin ties, more or less fancy. It is an elegance that evokes the tailoring art of the sixties as we have seen 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 aesthete of cinema.
Among Tony Leung's favorite colors in terms of suits here: gray. It is, with blue, the most classic color of the formal register . Note that his suits are sometimes light and sometimes dark, as if they accompanied the mood swings of their wearer.
Nowadays, we can of course prefer a more contemporary vision in terms of cut and finishing to this very codified register of the suit. The trend is towards relaxation, even if the suit always has something very beautiful to tell with brands like Ardentes Clipei for example.
The openness to relaxation is also the overall idea of the Breno models at BonneGueule, for those of you who would like to try out the costume differently :
Whether you are drawn to Tony Leung's classic elegance or a more contemporary take on the suit, the topic remains more or less the same. The formal register is indeed one of the most demanding there is. It therefore requires making the right choices when choosing your suit . Material, cut, style: we give you all our practical advice in video if necessary.
3. The white shirt
To accompany his suits, Tony Leung's character obviously opts for a shirt. It is most often white, although he sometimes allows himself a few stripes or other colors. If his outfit is very stylized, his clothing universe is nonetheless linked to the professional dress code of the office as it was still in force 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 an amusing 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 in a way other than through the suit , it is of course possible. If ever, I analyze some looks with white shirt in an episode of Gimmick. We find masters of contemporary style like Yasuto Kamoshita or Namha “Nami Man” Nguyen .
