Fashionable Affair
The movie: “Unfaithful”
The costume designer: Ellen Mirojnick, whose films include “Fatal Attraction,” “Chaplin,” “Wall Street,” “Intersection,” “Speed,” “Mulholland Falls,” “Face/Off,” “Twister” and “What Women Want.”
Sex appeal: To be sure, when beautiful, married and affluent Westchester suburbanite Connie Sumner (Diane Lane) launches into an extramarital affair with a French smoothie named Paul (Olivier Martinez), sexy clothes are required. But anyone expecting to see the obvious—say, the latest shocking Versace dress or even a tightly tailored Gucci suit—will be in for a surprise. A lover of old French films, director Adrian Lyne favors women’s clothes that are sexy in the way fabrics like rayons and crepe de chines slide up a leg. And also in the way they don’t give a clue to the sexy lingerie-clad creature lurking beneath the sweater beneath the trench coat. “With Adrian you look at what to put on someone to have sex in,” says Mirojnick. That also means stockings are out and high-heeled pumps and sling-backs are in. Jewelry is almost imperceptible—a gold band, tiny diamond hoops. The results for both men and women are classic yet contemporary shapes that give the movie a timeless quality.
Dressing down: Connie wears the kinds of dresses that flatter women but are rarely seen—’30s- and ’40s-inspired, bias-cut, slightly empire-shaped rayon florals. There are three different versions in the movie. Mirojnick says the dresses were modeled after dresses from Les Habitudes worn by the director’s wife. (Mirojnick also gave Lane one of her own Les Habitudes white cardigans to wear—no shirt underneath—for her second encounter with Paul.) The dresses are deceptively demure but great for sex—you just pull them over your head. Mirojnick made them based on originals still available at the Les Habitudes store on Robertson Boulevard in Los Angeles. Connie also wears a classic black sheath from the Barneys New York private-label collection, another favorite Mirojnick source. Connie’s trusty shoulder bag is also Barneys New York.
Quoted: “It’s almost impossible to find real clothes for contemporary women today that don’t look matronly and the same goes for men,” says Mirojnick. “I mean classic yet cool shapes that you can wear year after year and you’re not out of style. Whatever happened to simple straight skirts? There’s always some crap on it. There’s far more sexiness in a simple approach with no adornment. People are afraid of the word classic.”
Macho versus no longer macho: Richard Gere’s Edward Sumner is the family man who discovers he’s been deceived. To play down Gere’s natural sex appeal, he wears an assortment of soft, cozy sweaters and sweater vests as well as corduroy trousers and washed-out cotton pants, all in a muted palette. Shirts, ties and sweaters are from Paul Stewart. His blazers are Armani. Paul, meanwhile, literally wears little other than nubby sweaters and a big, non-descript tweed coat. Mirojnick says that when Lyne begins a movie, he collects images he finds appealing. One was of a young man drinking from a carton of milk while wearing a raincoat with nothing but boxer shorts underneath. That was translated to an emotional scene with Paul, shirtless, in the overcoat.
Trivia: Clothing really does tell a story. When Connie first meets Paul, he’s wearing a cerulean blue cotton scarf around his neck. Soon, she buys her husband a gift—a cerulean blue TSE cashmere sweater that looks totally out of whack with his all-muted wardrobe. —Betty Goodwin
