I’m jumping the gun, I know, but my hot and heavy lust for SUMMER just will not be quelled. Handpicked from movies that practically feature gorgeous weather as a character, here are four women whose style who will make you want to fast forward through this current 60degree bullshit to hot nights and mid-July:

While I attribute some of my obsession with Susan Sarandon’s wardrobe in Bull Durham to my general love for her character (the highly-if-not-overly-literate, Edith Piaf-loving, one-affair-per-Summer having, devotee to the Church of Baseball Annie Savoy), you really can’t deny the appeal of the 40s and 50s-style circle skirts, ballet tops, vintage beaded dresses, and kimonos that make up her closet. Granted, there are a few unfortunate scenes involving sneakers and tube socks, but hey, that’s just HONEST 80s. Love her for her vintage influences and turn to her when you’re nearing the end of a week spent entirely in gnarly t-shirts and the same pair of cut-offs.
The Sandlot’s Wendy Peffercorn: because her pin-up perfect look inspired a young lifetime’s worth of planning for a stolen kiss – and beyond that, she knew EXACTLY what she was doing. Watch the above scene repeatedly and practice waving NOW to all your future Summer flings.

In Stealing Beauty, Liv Tyler’s Lucy Harmon dances barefoot to Hole’s “Rock Star” wearing the perfect 90s slipdress and clutching for dear life to her Discman. It is the (fine, MY) definition of cinematic glory, and while I could stop there and you’d probably be on board, I will not. I will go on to tell you that later in the movie she wears a softly-tiered, floral gown so effortlessly wonderful that I just stopped and DRAMATICALLY put my hand to my chest while typing, and I will tell you that in the last scene (the one in which she walks home after having lost her virginity to a handsome Italian boy UNDER A TREE) she wears a skirt and blouse combo so simple and pure that it will make you want to purge your closet of anything even remotely androgynous. This movie is especially important, as it will make you feel pretty when the DC humidity is making you sweat like a DUDE.

The last character making my heart go all bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp for HOT WEATHER is Penelope Cruz as Maria Elena in Vicky Cristina Barcelona. She’s basically got FLOWY on lockdown, and the scene in which she wears that hat and gauzy nightgown started inspiring my wardrobe the second I saw it. Honestly, though, she REALLY makes the list for being so wild-haired, mascara-runny and attractively trampy throughout the film’s entirety. Because you can long all you want for smooth hair, matte skin, and an element of the demure – but it’s 85degrees. You are not going to wear much clothing and you are inevitably going to look a mess. Embrace it.










i love how today’s feature is all “let’s not jump ahead to summer” and i’m just like NO. GET US THERE.
April 10, 2009 at 12:23 pm