My style is a distillation of classic cosmopolitan chic and years of shy adolescent fumblings that no movie better epitomizes than The Graduate. The trajectory of Elaine’s style throughout the film is something that has always stuck with me, especially amidst some of the more iconic looks that surround her. The Graduate is so much about the familial and societal influences we choose to either abide by or reject. Generational ideas of taste, style and appropriate dress are an undercurrent of this film.
Elaine starts out the film as the perfect girl-next-door in a pink shift dress and a cream peacoat (set against her mother’s shiny and sheer party dress). Having had, myself, a mother whose style was one to be looked at, the choice to be understated has always felt more my own. Elaine’s look in the earlier part of the film echoes this common misunderstanding between mother and daughter, one of age and generational difference. The outfit she wears on her date with Benjamin seems to be the product of what had been advertised to young women in magazines and in shop windows, a direction I most certainly defaulted to at that age.
Later in the film, during Elaine’s collegiate years, she has finally seemed to come into her own (truthfully something that took me far beyond college to figure out). She’s found pieces, fabrics, colors, and hairstyles that suit her. When Benjamin goes to visit her at college, she wears a knee-length brown suede coat, a chunky wool sweater, knee-high leather boots, and a turtle neck. With muted olives, browns & her hair in a low ponytail, she is understated, smart, collegiate, and grown-up. These pieces are an investment, a more mature way to grow one’s wardrobe. She retains many of these polished, semi-professional and conservative undertones from her youth, while still looking cool, in-the-know and handsome (unisex, in the way Katharine Hepburn is described). Elaine’s clothes are rarely sexual or seductive; they don’t show much of her shape. There is always something practical and almost obvious about them, and yet they are a seamless part of the undeniable cool of The Graduate.
The Graduate is a film that I’ve always felt spoke to me. It’s a film that best describes the moments in life when you feel like you’re living in a movie. To me, this feels like moments of reflection and a newfound perspective, where development is palpable instead of sudden. My style has been a gradual progression based on familial, cultural and environmental influences that have brought me towards a place that feels chicly like Elaine.
