"A Simple Favor" Fashion: Blake Lively Revitalizing Suits
Blake Lively just gave Hillary Clinton’s iconic pantsuit a makeover.
As top brands such as DVF, Armani and Frame create blazers, matching slacks and flattering blouses, women’s fashion has taken over the outfit historically geared towards men. This assimilation declares a proclamation of female ferocity and force through a method often twisted to demean women: fashion.
Suits connote power, success, leadership, and influence. However, society often instinctively associates the outfit with men since most men dominate such positions. Not to be a downer, but suits did normally work better for men due to their boxy fit and dull colors.
In Paul Feig’s newest movie “A Simple Favor,” Costume designer Renée Ehrlich Kalfus has reinvented menswear, and the results are simply drop-dead gorgeous. Kalfus and Lively decided together that Emily’s character, according to a New York Post article, should dress like Feig, who always wears a tailored suit on set. No surprise this choice was yet another success as Kalfus won the Costume Designers Guild Award for Best Costume Design for Hidden Figures. “A Simple Favor” has already made $49,014,356, according to Box Office Mojo and received 85% on Rotten Tomatoes.
New York Times film critic Manohla Dargis captures the essence of the film in her review, writing, “Sly and sweet with an acid finish, “A Simple Favor” is a female-friendship comedy with neo-noir ambitions.”
Kalfus’s outfits for Blake Lively, who plays the enigmatic, fearsome yet visionary Emily, embody the “sly and sweet with an acid finish” tone due to their fusion of sexy, smart, classic and unusual designs. Emily’s first appearance in the movie occurs at the elementary school when Emily steps out of her fancy car in stilettos, white cuffs, a three-piece navy pinstripe suit and matching fedora. A gold handkerchief effortlessly sits in her breast pocket, mirroring the effortless of her look as she pops open her umbrella to walk through the rain to her son. Kalfus found the outfit in Ralph Lauren’s archive closet, according to a Vanity Fair article by Julie Miller.
The outfit resembles the navy pinstripe blazer and hat that Jack Nicholson wears on a movie poster for the famous film noir movie “Chinatown” (1974). Lively’s first outfit in the movie directly ties back to menswear of the 1940s, specifically those as portrayed in the twisted, crime fictions of film noir. Thus begins Kalfus’ artistic way of conveying Emily as both badass and quick-witted.
“A Simple Favor” mirrors “Chinatown” in more than just its costume design. Put on a watch party of “Chinatown” before going to see “A Simple Favor” with your girl gang so that you get a better sense for how the film satires old detective movies.
As the next scene commences, Emily’s navy pinstripe suit takes a turn when she rips off the fake shirt-front while sipping over martinis with Stephanie, played by Anna Kendrick. With her blazer and ruffled dickey off, Emily’s pinstripe vest graces her chest, focusing the audience’s attention on her breast, turning the serious and funky suit into a mode for unleashing her womanhood. The seduction of moment defies the confining and masculine attributes of the suit. Kalfus takes inspiration from a scene of “Flashdance” for this moment, according to Miller in Vanity Fair.
There’s no doubt Kalfus and Feig hope to convey female empowerment through the costume design as Emily’s character has a high profile job, wears the pants in her marriage, and still manages to show devotion to her son. Throughout the movie, she advises her new friend Stephanie on the importance of not saying sorry (a “fucked up female habit” according to Emily) and encourages her to stand up to male bosses with crude language and criticism.
In a park outing with Stephanie and their two sons, Emily dons a black tuxedo with a white bow tie and hot pink leather gloves. The outfit is reminiscent of a playboy icon, classic in its straight fit and trendy with the glove accent all at the same time. The outfit revamps typical male oriented suits and its merging of contradicting looks communicates that women, or at least Emily, can do it all.
Another scene goes all the way to connect the suit to the female body: Emily wears a white suit with a black pinstripe and a deep V vest, no bra and a loose, short tie. She holds a cane to finish off the outfit. The cane actually belongs to Feig; Lively herself asked him to use it, according to the New York Post, which reveals Lively’s influence in her character’s wardrobe. One can not help but be in awe as Emily owns her womanliness and authority as a lofty business executive. The outfit unites these two attributes, showing that women can be still be a woman and in a position of power and influence— the two are not a clashing top an bottom, like stripes and polka dots, they are two complementary pieces which when coordinated right are fashion-forward.
In the last scene, Emily wears a bright blue dress with white flowers printed on it and a pink tulle layer underneath, contrasting the stiffness and edgy details of her suits. This decision was “a real ‘Rear Window’ moment,” said Kalfus in her interview with Vanity Fair. Spoiler alert: at this moment in the movie, Emily puts on a facade of the innocent housewife to seamlessly get away with her devious plot. Emily’s female counterpart, the timid, quirky and wholesome Stephanie, wears skirts and dresses the majority of the time. In pairing a frilly dress with innocence, Kalfus solidifies the artistic use of suits as a mode of empowerment. Then again, Stephanie ends up solving the mysteries of the movie; you do not need to wear a suit, or rather you do not need to try to simulate men, to be tenacious.
Before the movie came out, Lively’s Instagram gave us a sneak peak at the jaw-dropping costumes. On August 24, 2018, for example, Lively posted a slide of her in a maroon, dark green and navy large, checkered blazer and pant set. The look also includes a navy tie tucked in with a strawberry pin that adds a girly touch.
To Ralph Lauren’s 50th NYFW anniversary show, Lively posted in a black tuxedo with a white blouse and long suit jacket. She wears silver heels with a fuzzy black pom pom which makes the look fun. I didn't even know about the movie yet when I saw this picture, yet it the look and Lively’s intense confidence in the outfit completely awed me. I had never seen a suit look so chic.
I pieced together that Lively’s series of suit posts were a PR campaign for the movie when she posted a series of promotional videos. To top it off, to the London premiere she wore a petal pink suit with a satin light pink tie. The striking use of the color long associated with females in a traditionally male outfit reveals how fashion can aid women in their claim for equal respect by drawing off of visuals associated with the men and revising them to become symbols for women as well.
