Movies have the ability to squeeze out any and all emotions from us. They can confuse us, have us howling and leave our jaws on the floor. They can expand our minds, introduce us to new ideas and inspire us. The most memorable ones can do it all.
Directors can get their story across through dialogue, structure, music and a whole host of different techniques, but the clothes their characters wear are just as instrumental. A wardrobe can tell you something about a character’s status or how to predict how future generations will dress. At the least, they should help the story. At most, a film’s wardrobe has the power to change fashion itself.
If you have some spare time not dedicated to baking bread or fixing up the house, we have a handful of stylish movies to keep you occupied and just might inspire you to get dressed.
Dogtown and Z-Boys
Skateboarding and surf culture have dominated style for years, influencing scores of impressionable youth and fashion designers alike. Case in point: Supreme went from a New York City skate shop to a worldwide phenomenon with an evaluation of $1 billion as the fashion landscape shifted its gaze from the catwalk to the street along the way. Fashion heads may have gawked at the vintage skate tees and baggy jeans that overloaded Mid90s, but if you want to get to the heart of it all, Dogtown and Z-Boys is where you should start.
Directed by OG skater Stacy Peralta, the documentary catalogs skating in the 1970s and follows the story of the legendary Zephyr skate team. Skateboarding was on the decline, doomed for extinction before the Zephyr team — the Z Boys — changed the sport forever, bending the stiff riding style of the time and carving it with surf influences. The band of outsiders revolutionized skateboarding, turning heads at competitions and transforming backyard swimming pools into skating paradise, all while sporting long hair, slim jeans and dark blue Vans sneakers.
