Following Suit: How Hollywood influences fashion

With the opening of the film Sweeney Todd, which promises to be a box office thriller, coming to theatres on Friday, I can't help but notice the buzz of a certain dark, witchy trend happening alongside in the industry. Fall 2007 lines were particularly witchy- even more so than usual. The fascination with the eerie and somewhat cadaverous theme popping up in the entertainment industry right now is effecting everything from color schemes to threads, even the photography of fashion is taking a dip into an illusory world.

Alexander McQueen's paganist inspired Fall collection is a prime example, dedicating his line to a witch who died in Salem in 1692. A hairstylist for McQueen's show, Eugene Souleiman, claims that the last few seasons were all a bit more Romantic and now it has "all gone a bit Tim Burton" in his words. The makeup, hair, decor, and accessories only served to embellish the tension caused by the spookiness during the show. Black taffeta dresses mixed with metallic blues and greens took over the collection, adorned with high fitted black boots, witchy pointed shoes, crosses, and stiff ruffles. The gowns definitely had a 17th century influence, however, maintained furturistic details and cuts to shake things up. It is also clear that the models may have had to sign a contract restricting any of them from tanning for a few months to prepare for the daunting white skin associated with this type of spectacle.
While McQueen's style is usually quite callous and it may not surprise you that he would dedicate the line to a witch, several other designers showed a similar influence in their fall collections as well. Though not all necessarily dark, the clothing resembled 17th century moodiness, a light colored gown made dreary by a metallic coat slung on the shoulders or shoes with intricate designs that wrap up the leg like a slivering ivy attacking its prey.

It seems that everywhere I look, there are tv shows, Broadway musicals, events, and more associated with this nefarious point of view. One would expect that by Christmas the buzz on Halloween themes would be over, however, designers are presenting wears that could be confused as costumes. The excitement behind this age old idea of something so scary it is intriguing is very interesting to me. I particularly love the influence on photography resembling the cinematography of a Tim Burton film. Fashion photographers place ensembles in a cold dismal setting, causing the brighter tones to pop and giving motion to a static picture. Still, the film industry takes the cake in recreating the 17th century, Salem inspired, cadaverous forms of art as horror films tend to be a sure fire route to succeed at the box office. And while they continue to haunt my dreams to no end, I will be one of the first in line to see the costumes worn by Johnny Depp while he performs his butchering-barber scandals in a very "cut-throat" film.