The cult melodrama "Brutal Games": Guide to the style of the 90s
Olesya Iva
We much attention We pay to trends and modern fashion, but it should be understood that they are only guidelines that each interprets in its own way. The style is shaped, among other things, by the influence of the surrounding reality and culture, including art, films or video clips. From time to time we analyze works from which one can draw a lot of knowledge about the fashion of the epoch and adopt a number of stylistic techniques. Today we recall the important generational film "Cruel Intentions" with Ryan Phillip, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Reese Witherspoon in the leading roles, representing not only the transcription of the classics in a new way, but also a guide to the fashion of the late 90s.
"Brutal Games" is a cult youth cinema of the end of the 90s, on which a whole generation grew up. After 16 years, the film raises many questions (it is now clear how actively he laid the archetype of the “good bad guy” into the audience’s minds, which even Fifty Shades of Gray still ride), but, nevertheless, a reverent feeling of nostalgia . From the soundtrack, including the hits "Every you, Every Me" by Placebo and "Bitter Sweet Symphony" by The Verve to the style of the characters and their great drama. "Brutal Games" are based on the novel Shoderlo de Laclos, whose action was transferred from France of the XVIII century to Manhattan late 90s, and the main heroes are the New York golden youth instead of the French aristocracy. Compared to the book, the age of the heroes who seduce each other, blackmail, manipulate and fight for reputation, is significantly reduced (by about 17 years old) - so that their experiences are clearer to the target audience.
Now “Brutal Games”, of course, is difficult to look seriously (if you do this, it will be a completely different text), but the fact that it’s “on style” is a fact. The minimalism of the 90s, the influence of sports and preppi culture are thought out here and there. The costume was made by Denise Wingate, who also put her hand on another hit of the 90s - the Melrose Place TV series about California yuppies. However, to work with costumes Denise Wingate went to the forehead. Say, the negative character Katherine (played by Sarah Michelle Gellar) wears entirely seductive corsets, dresses, mostly black, and her opposite Annette (the role of Reese Witherspoon) - modest cardigans, romantic dresses and light-colored chinos. But if we discard the cliché of these images and the tendency of the filmmakers to stereotype, and concentrate only on fashion, it’s more than worth exploring the film: the 90s are back on the peak.
We have already talked about the role of dark glasses, which always add to their owners of the external slope. The main character Sebastian is well aware of the nature of the coolness of the glasses. From the first minutes of the film, he appears in glasses with a small rectangular frame and does not remove them a good half of the film - hiding his true face behind dark lenses. After all, behind the mask of the fatal seducer, he later turns out to be a sensitive and romantic guy. Only the heroine Reese Witherspoon, who symbolically appears in them in the final, can remove the mask and dark glasses from him.
Under an elegant black trouser suit, Katherine turns out to be a seductive corset and bodice. This, of course, is a tribute to Jean-Paul Gautier and his concept of "underwear as outerwear." It was at the beginning of the 90s that Gauthier created linen suits, including cone-shaped sconces, for Madonna’s “Blond Ambition Tour” tour. In addition, Catherine's sexy outfit is driven by the scene of seduction of her stepbrother.
Key features of Katherine's style: concise dresses, emphasizing the shape, dark lipstick and classic haircut "feathers" to the shoulders, which even became too popular in the early 2000s.
It looks like the naive heroine Cecile is one of the many victims of Catherine's manipulations. The innocence and naive purity of the girl emphasize her outfits. Cécile wears funny T-shirts, white knee-highs, plaid skirts, classic loafers or white sneakers, balancing somewhere between preppy style and teen wardrobe..
Chinos, shirt with rolled up sleeves, hair, tucked behind the ears - a modest image, incredibly popular today. Sebastian in the scene of familiarity with Annette dressed in classic things: a safari jacket and a V-neck jumper - a nice set of things to create a good first impression: both sexy and “decent”.
Laconic dresses and jewelry, sandals on a thin strap, polo, midi skirts and white sneakers - you can clearly see how much the fashion of the late 90s and 2015 has in common.
Here both heroes in clothes adhere to the "fatherly" style, trying to look too decent. What gives the era of the 90s with giblets, so it hairstyles, sung later by boys pop groups: dyed blond and curls in the gel, glorified by Justin Timberlake.
Sunglasses, black elegant suit, wide-brimmed hat - Katherine, on the one hand, quotes the style of Audrey Hepburn of the 50s, on the other - shows the canonical set straight from the 1998 Gucci advertising campaign, filmed under the guidance of Tom Ford. In addition, here we see the archetypal image of a femme fatale with dark glasses. The outfits of the heroines in the famous scene with a kiss perfectly reflect the contrast of the characters: an emphatically “adult”, “dangerous” Catherine and an inexperienced Cecil who prefers polo, sneakers and hairpins in her hair.
One-piece one-piece sports swimsuit - also greetings from the 90s. Here, of course, not the "Malibu Rescuers", but rather the normcore from the past. Ryan Phillip is clearly paying tribute to Hugh Hefner’s style by appearing in a silk shirt with a deep neckline.
Dark rectangular glasses, basic clothes of dark colors, durable boots, loose pants, a classic coat of dress cut. Sebastian's style is male minimalism, which still gives no rest to brands like Jil Sander and Hermès.
The main characters again demonstrate the functionality and simplicity, so important in male and female fashion in both the late 1990s and the mid-2010s.
The proximity of the characters of Sebastian and Catherine, as well as their hypocrisy, re-emphasize dark glasses. In addition, both heroes again quote the Gucci campaigns of the second half of the 90s: both heroes and designers in those days actively manipulated people with the help of sexuality and temptation.
It seems to us that if one of the founders of the preppi style, Ralph Lauren, was far-sighted and bolder, you probably would have used this image of Sebastian, rubbing the racket, in his advertising campaigns. For sure, then men's V-neck sweaters would not look so old-fashioned.
Low heel, associated with modesty and restraint, is back in fashion this fall. Here is one of the ideas with which to wear shoes with a slight rise - a short dress and a neat watch on a metal strap.
A cashmere soft jumper, a calm lavender-colored pencil skirt, diligent pigtails - it is precisely the modesty of the heroine that takes Sebastian by surprise, who by all appearance shows that he is a dark and mysterious character.
Mulley - one of the most outstanding shoe models - has become extremely fashionable by this summer. We do not cease to see too direct borrowings of ideas by stylists and designers in the epoch preceding 2000. However, here the heel in combination with the open top and well-fitting trousers again shows how the dresser aptly picked up the clothes for the situation in the film.
The most famous movie scene. "I am impressed" - "I am in love". Here both heroes are visually united by the color of clothes - blue. The color of purity, as they thought in the 16th century, and melancholy, as is customary to think now.
As you already understood, Sarah Michelle Gellar’s outfits are a clichéd seduction textbook. She makes her appearance understand how depravity looks (and the desire to look older than her seventeen, so typical of this age). Catherine can appear both in a laconic dress, and in silk in linen style and pastel beige color - it is perhaps one of the most royal in the film. Lingerie that can be seen through transparent things, a short skirt and neat sandals - an image that is still used in such circumstances.
Laconic top, trousers-pipes and white sneakers - it is in this outfit that she still goes to Phoebe Faylo’s bow after each Céline show. Here again, a clear example of the fact that modern designers did not invent the bicycle and simply rethought the simple and convenient minimalism of 16 years ago.
What the uniform looks like in a private, prestigious school in New York, we learn only at the end of the film: starched shirts, jackets and cardigans with stripes, boots and loafers, white socks and knee-highs. The main thing here - do not overdo it with accessories like pendants with a cross.
Sunglasses and the title of the coolest heroine of the film goes into the final Reese Witherspoon. Yes, glasses in the fashion of the 90s still make up a powerful combination with classic things, referring to high-school uniforms, such as a white shirt, cardigan, rim (with a smooth hairstyle) and a metal watch.