On the commercial strength of Twisters alone, it would be easy to declare Glen Powell the biggest star of the year. Chef-turned-Calvin-Klein-model Jeremy Allen White is also in contention, for the third year running, despite his small-screen status (and the perceived weakness of the third season of The Bear). Zendaya and Timothée Chalamet both flexed indie and mainstream muscles this year. Jenna Ortega affirmed that she’s the young actress to beat.
And yet, if you were to ask who had the most impactful year as it pertains to screens big and small, you would be justified in pointing beyond the actor category. Not to the director class, although one could perhaps argue a case for Sean Baker, the creator of presumptive Best Picture winner Anora. Certainly not to the C-Suite — though Bob Iger has certainly orchestrated a turnaround at Disney. Instead, the finger lands on a much more unexpected category: costume design.
In particular, it was Loewe designer Jonathan Anderson and his work with director Luca Guadagnino on the film Challengers (and to a lesser extent, Queer) that captured our collective moviegoing imagination this past year. Offering an expertly curated mash of thrifted Nike Dri-FIT Stanford hoodies, Chanel espadrilles, stinky-looking shorts and, above all, a grey cotton tee plastered with the phrase “I TOLD YA,” the clothing was the key that helped the movie break through the cultural noise — even more than the throuple vibes.
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From the Oscars to the Olympics, this year was full of massive ‘fits. Here are the ones that really mattered.To be clear, a giant of fashion — Anderson’s Loewe and his eponymous JW Anderson brand have consistently been valued as some of the hottest apparel in the world over the past decade — dabbling in film isn’t particularly monumental. Giorgio Armani and Miuccia Prada are repeat offenders. And more to the point: people have idolized movie style for decades.
What seems distinctly new is the ability for costume design to have a significant impact on the culture at large. In the age of social media, clothes in film and TV are no longer just props that might, if they’re lucky, eventually end up on a mood board; they’ve become active trend fodder — and a new form of merchandise — for the vertical-scroll-conditioned viewing public in desperate need of content.
It’s exactly this factor that makes the Challengers example is so suitable: Anderson’s designs actually spawned a full and tangible tenniscore trend, complete with shoppable styles from the movie. Loewe released the “I TOLD YA” tees in conjunction with the movie’s launch, and they promptly sold out. (Don’t worry, Jennifer Lawrence was able to get her hands on one.) Levi’s did a similar release for the new Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown, replicating a pair of ’60s-era 501s that Dylan owned and that Timothée Chalamet wears in the movie.
These are the highlights but certainly not the only examples of film and TV interacting with the fashion industry in increasingly incestuous ways in 2024. The HBO hit Industry quite literally manifested a real Net-A-Porter capsule collection. The Merz b. Schwanen tees and NN07 jacket seen in The Bear continue to sell out every time they are restocked. Similarly, fashion industry names taking over Hollywood seems to be the new normal. Veteran stylist Michael Fisher outfitted John Mulaney’s vibey live Netflix show, Everybody’s in LA. Former GQ fashion director Madeline Weeks was the brains behind arguably the most fashionable show of the year, Mr. & Mrs. Smith.
Given the outsized impact and success of these crossovers, it’s hard to imagine this Pandora’s box of shoppable, high-fashion costume design will be resealed. We may no longer have physical DVDs and VHS tapes to show off our favorite films, but we’re replacing them with T-shirts that prove, yes, we’ve seen Challengers — or at least a photo of Zendaya on Instagram.
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