Costume dramas

WEST SIDE: Megan Fox's sexy hourglass figure in Jonah Hex is bound to inspire a corset revival.

CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD: Claire Danes in lush green velvet in Me and Orson Welles.

LOVES IT: Tilda Swinton is set to inspire a rush on Jil Sander's minimalist, tailored looks in I Am Love.

TO DIE FOR: Katherine Heigl takes her fashion cues from Bonnie and Clyde in Killers.

RURAL CHIC: Miranda Otto channels 1920s rural chic in the Australian drama South Solitary.

IN THE HOOD: The buckled, brown suede boots created for Cate Blanchett in Robin Hood have already begun to flood the market.

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Grazia magazine recently ran a six-page spread of trends likely to be sparked by Disney-Pixar's latest animated production, Toy Story 3.

The mag is expecting a rush on Jessie and Woody's western looks, Dolly's orange smock, Buzz's neon cosmonaut chic, Hamm's nude colouring and Barbie's "bubblegum brights". I would have thought there would be more chance of us dressing like The A-Team's B.A. Baracus (mohawk, anyone?) than a pull-string cowboy doll and a space ranger, but stranger things have happened.

Don't forget that when Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are was released last year, American fashion label Opening Ceremony reported a rush on its adult version of Max's white wolf suit, complete with furry ears and tail.

There is no question that film has a big impact on fashion. Over the years, cinema has not only influenced fashion trends, it has, at times, revolutionised the way we dress. The 1934 film It Happened One Night, for example, is said to be responsible for the demise of the undershirt, following a scene in which Clark Gable rips off his shirt to reveal a bare chest.

The film, showing at a time when most men wore undershirts, led to a significant slump in sales, with some reports suggesting up to 75 per cent of American men ditched the garment. And in 1938, Katharine Hepburn boosted the popularity of women's trousers when she wore wide-legged pantsuits in Bringing Up Baby. The defiant actor reportedly walked around the studio in her underwear until film bosses, who had instructed her to wear skirts, finally allowed her to wear her trousers on set.

In recent years, there has been a spate of films in which clothes have played a leading role. Since the phenomenal success of The Devil Wears Prada in 2006, fashion films such as Valentino: The Last Emperor, Sex and the City, Coco Avant Chanel, Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky, the American Vogue documentary The September Issue and Tom Ford's A Single Man have flooded the box office.

While Carrie and co have already stamped their mark on new-season fashion trends in the form of harem pants, turbans, flowing kaftans and maxi dresses, in the coming weeks and months we can expect even more trends to trickle from the big screen to the street. Here's a quick glance at some of them. \

I Am Love
Starring Tilda Swinton as a Russian who marries into a wealthy Milanese fashion family, I Am Love is already proving a successful branding exercise for Fendi and Jil Sander, who custom-made all the men's slim-fitting suits and the leading lady's minimalist, tailored looks, respectively. Expect a rush on Swinton's neat shift dresses.

Jonah Hex
The curvaceous Megan Fox plays a gun-wielding prostitute in the western drama Jonah Hex - an adaptation of the DC Comics character. Fox is about to do for corsets what Sarah Jessica Parker did for Manolo Blahniks. Publicity shots of her hourglass curves already have fashion insiders talking about a corset revival.

Robin Hood
Copies of the buckled, brown-suede riding boots created by the artistic director at Roger Vivier, Bruno Frisoni, for Cate Blanchett as Maid Marian in the latest big-screen adaptation of Robin Hood have already begun to flood the market.

Me and Orson Welles
Set in New York in the 1930s, this film features Claire Danes as a beautiful and ambitious production assistant at the Mercury Theatre Company. She is the love interest of aspiring actor Richard Samuels (Zac Efron). Her stunning wardrobe, which includes glamorous gowns fashioned from lace and velvet and pretty tea dresses with knitted vests and cardigans, is likely to inspire designers around the globe.

Killers
Bonnie and Clyde chic, including safari-style trenches and neck scarves, could be coming to a store near you as filmgoers look to re-create Katherine Heigl's sexy, 1930s-inspired spy looks.

Mildred Pierce
More 1930s looks in the form of printed shirt dresses, narrow, knee-length woollen skirts, broad-shouldered jackets, silk evening gowns, floral tea dresses and hats are wardrobe staples for big-screen beauties Evan Rachel Wood and Kate Winslet in the HBO mini-series Mildred Pierce - a remake of the 1945 movie that starred Joan Crawford.

South Solitary
Miranda Otto's 1920s tweed skirts and coats, woollen hats, knitted cardigans, woollen tights and court shoes look remarkably on-trend in this Australian film. She plays an unmarried thirtysomething who finds unlikely love when she moves into a lighthouse.

- © Fairfax NZ News