Wim Wenders in Yohji Yamamoto <3
directors are the real style icons + notes on "personal style"
I didn’t watch the Oscars last Sunday, not so much due to the time difference but because I recently admitted to myself that I find award shows awkward and uncomfortable. I did however scroll through all the outfits the attendees wore on the red carpets (award show + afterparty) and, while some actors turned out some gorgeous looks, my stand-out was German filmmaker Wim Wenders:
Here he is on the red carpet with Koji Yakusho, who starred in his Perfect Days, wearing Yohji Yamamoto. Love not only the outfit but also the fact that he’s actually rewearing what he sported on the runway during the brand’s latest menswear show in January. He does look very at home and comfortable in it. I don’t know him, but it feels very him.
And in fact it turns out - and sorry if this is a known fact, I was unaware - that Wenders has a longstanding personal relationship with the Japanese designer and even directed a doc about him in 1989 titled Notebook on Cities and Clothes.
I then stumbled upon this very fun interview by Hagop Kourounian (via my new favorite instagram account @directorfits) in which the filmmaker details what he calls his “obsession” for the designer’s work:
“I got a crash course in fashion rather in what it takes to design clothes for people, men and women, so that what they feel and what they wear makes them not only feel good, makes them feel confident, gives them a sense of their own history and in the end has works on the sense of identity.”
In the interview, Wenders also talks more broadly about his personal relationship to fashion and his approach to getting dressed. Lots of gems like this one:
“I was 10 years old, I got my first watch and I was told to put it on my arm and put the shirt over it and I was completely against that idea. I was so proud to have a watch I was gonna wear that watch on top of my shirt.”
Kourounian also interviewed Justine Triet (director of Anatomy of a Fall), confirming my suspicion that despite her seemingly effortless, idgaf-about-fashion style, she knows exactly what she’s doing with her sneaky little Lemaire looks:
“I think we can call my style as sort of a false negligence.[laughs] But I always wear lipsticks, red lipsticks you know. I’m obsessed, I have many many many many lipsticks. Red. [mhm]”
Another great dresser who’s out there proving that directors are the real style icons is Celine Song, who has been wearing all the cool brands throughout this award season (Loewe, The Row, Thom Browne…) but always in a way that feels very her:
I also appreciate how both Justine and Celine have been wearing the same brands as their lead actresses, respectively Sandra Huller and Greta Lee, who have also been killing it style-wise both on and off the red carpet:
Things I read: maybe it’s because I had these stylish directors in mind but I came across a lot of pieces on “personal style,” a term that gets thrown around a lot but I’m linking some articles that I thought made some interesting points on the topic:
The algorithm’s new crush on ‘personal style’ by Molly Rooyakkers (@style.analytics on instagram), which hints at what I think is the main issue with how people are talking about “personal style” as if it were a trend (we see a similar thing happen with “sustainability”), which is inherently contradictory.
Clotheswise: Successful Dressing for Your Lifestyle by Laura McLaws Helms, who discusses a fashion advice book from 1982. It’s fascinating how the almost desperate desire for what's basically a "uniform" that's on the one-hand simple and essential but at the same time perfectly encapsulates our entire essence apparently was already a major concern in the 80s (and I imagine even before that).
“The rules of dressing are practically the same no matter what you spend. I want as little as possible in my closet. I want just one thing, but I want it to be right."
- Audrey Hepburn
Will your style ever "cohere" or are you fated to WANDER forever? by Jonah Weiner, who asks THE question when it comes to personal style, which he ultimately answers with:
“All who wander are not lost…. A journey can itself be cohesive. You develop your sensibility, you deepen it, you broaden it — and if you do it right, that’s your superglue"
Thoughts on Taste by Tahirah Hairston, who provides her own very interesting context for understanding taste and style (I suggest you read the whole piece) to get to another point that lies at the core of the misunderstanding and misuse of these terms.
"Of course, we are humans with a sense of belonging, so we are always going to be signaling something about who we are in hopes of attracting the appreciation and acceptance from those we want to be in community with. But, many people don’t have taste because they are more interested in getting it right, which results in copying and pasting an aesthetic, than in taking the risk of being themselves."
Other people’s sweatshirts by Haley Nahman - even though this piece is specifically about sweatshirts I think it touches on a major point about why many of us are so deeply preoccupied with “finding our personal style”, what are we really looking for?
“The coveting of other people’s sweatshirts is a philosophical conundrum, not a rational one. […] Which is to say, the rest of us are searching for something that can’t be sold. We want patience, discernment, satiety. Instead, we look for the perfect t-shirt, the perfect jeans, the perfect wool coat.”
Things I watched:
Drive-Away Dolls - a silly movie (“directed by a Coen brother”) perfect for a rainy day. I saw it in a very small but packed theatre and people were laughing very hard, which usually irritates me because it feels performative but this time I just found it cute, especially the elderly couple sitting next to me.
Miranda July’s Kajillionaire (2020): ugh I love Miranda July! Btw speaking of directors and fashion, the exhibit “Miranda July: New Society” just opened at Fondazione Prada and I can’t wait to see it!
Things that are on my mind:
Ayo Edebiri’s Vogue shoot
chocolate covered cherries from Muji (mysteriously not on the website?)
(not dissimilar) this dumpling
New segment: do we like this? (actually could use the feedback)
the Lemaire croissant bag? (what’s coated cotton?)
These Lirika Matoshi cargo pants with bows:
Ok that’s it, happy Saturday from me and John Waters in Comme des Garçons!
second rug with the black dashes and red borders, first pair of pants