August 2, 2014 |
Who wouldn’t want to be a witch? There was that time, thanks to Bella and Edward, Sookie and Eric, that made everyone want to be a vampire for a bit, but then True Blood became bloody awful, everyone got embarrassed for them and shuffled away silently. Witches however, have always had their moment in the sun (sorry), what with all their spells, potions, curses, killing, mindreading and magic. Plus, despite the odd Grotbags or Roald Dahl’s grotesque interpretations, witches are generally pretty fit.
However, there was always a question when it came to their personal style. All cloaks and hats, black and purple velvet, and cheap religious jewellery, it was a bit Camden Town. But then in strolled Jessica Lange in American Horror Story: Coven, wearing hot body-con skirt suits, sharp court high heels, and a Saint Laurent fedora. The fabulous reigning Supreme of the witches’ coven; all that power and Prada, too. Or as Fiona puts it: “All that power… I just took it, poured it back into myself and dressed it up in Chanel.” Again, who wouldn’t want to be a witch?
If AHS: Coven is new to you, here are the basics: set in modern-day New Orleans with flashbacks to the 1600s, 1800s and 1900s, Fiona Goode (Lange) is the almighty Supreme, whose powers are fading as the mysterious new Supreme rises, and there are 13 episodes to figure out which of the eight main characters it might be. But the plot, meandering through torture, slavery, voodoo, murder and threesomes, though brilliantly executed and performed, became secondary to the clothes almost instantly. AHS: Coven became a fashion phenomenon, with the industry obsessing over it, cancelling all Tuesday-evening plans, to watch an hour of camp witches throwing one-liners and spells at each other. And where it drew influence from the runway, it is coincidentally in line with the gothic undertones of SS14 and the overwhelming 1970s vibe of next season.
After two series – the first set in a haunted house, the second in an asylum – the American show had become known for its gruesome bloodshed, never its costumes. But with the third outing, the creator Ryan Murphy (of Glee fame) channelled all his fashion obsessions into it, paying grand tribute to both Diana Vreeland and Grace Coddington (more of which later), which proved to successfully heighten the sense of camp. “I want hats,” he told the costume designer Lou Eyrich right at the beginning. “Lots and lots of hats.” Though none high and pointed.
The series focuses on the old and the new. Literally. The older gaggle of witches: Fiona and her daughter Cordelia Foxx (Sarah Paulson); Myrtle Snow (Frances Conroy), the Head of the Witches Council; Delphine LaLaurie (Kathy Bates), an immortal and eternal racist; and an immortal voodoo priestess, Marie Laveau (Angela Bassett looking impossibly youthful). Obviously. And the significant young students: Zoe, the goody-goody; Madison, the Hollywood brat; Misty Day, the Fleetwood Mac-obsessed hippy; Nan the clairvoyant; and Queenie, the big attitude. Each and all vital to the storyline, but only Fiona, Marie, Myrtle, Madison and Misty are the true fashion inspirations, each with distinctive looks.
Let’s start with Fiona. The queen bee and therefore the biggest budget. Undoubtedly inspired by the best-looking witch ever, Kim Novak in Bell, Book and Candle, the Supreme is all knee-length fitted shift dresses – which she is constantly being zipped back into by her lover, The Axeman – as well as leather gloves, sheer inserts, veils, suspenders and high heels (never flats). Dressed like a terrifying CEO in Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, Ralph Lauren, Gucci and Lanvin, her power is immediately recognisable, and the silhouettes are as sharp as her tongue. Throughout the series she only wears black, aside from the scene where she murders the new suspected Supreme (she was wrong), for which she is dressed in red. Ah, the metaphors. It’s no wonder that Style.com described Hedi Slimane’s first Saint Laurent collection as having a “witchy seduction”, and then lots of it appeared in the show.
Then there is Marie Laveau, the Fiona equivalent over in the voodoo community. If you like. Initially her look is far more “costume department” than the others: elaborate tignons and voluminous skirts, a reminder that she’s centuries old. But as the series progresses her look becomes sleeker, with leopard-print kaftans and layers and layers of gold jewellery. Balmain with a smack of ghetto, though you would never say that to her face.
Madison, played by Emma Roberts, has been based on your typical Hollywood brat. A troubled starlet for whom rehab was the only other option. Basically a teenage girl’s fantasy. Miniskirts or shorts, fur coats and clumpy boots by day, smudged make-up and Hervé Léger bandage dresses for night. Then she adopts a choker signature to cover that unsightly throat-slit scar. She is the Saint Laurent girl in LA, with a spell of the old-school Olsen twins. She’ll sleep with your boyfriend and really not understand why you’re so upset by it. Your average nightmare, even before you realise she can burn you alive in a blink.
Misty Day is basically the muse of AW14. Obsessed with Stevie Nicks, who makes two guest appearances in the series (in the finale she sings Seven Wonders to set the scene), she lives in fringing, shawls and unexplained bits of chiffon, and she loves to twirl. Fingers covered in rings and bracelets stacked from wrist to elbow. She is the ethereal good witch to Fiona’s bad. The Etro to the Givenchy, Valentino to Rick Owens.
But really the true reason for the AHS: Coven infatuation can be summed up in two words: Myrtle Snow. A flame-haired witch dedicated to fashion, whose look was based on familiar legendary fashion figures. “Diana Vreeland, Grace Coddington, Peggy Guggenheim – those were the figures on the focus board,” Eyrich revealed as the series launched. “Also Iris Apfel, that wonderful fashionista in New York who mixes a lot of things that shouldn’t be put together, we did a lot of her stuff.” Conroy, the beloved actress who plays Myrtle, studied old footage of the famed Vogue editor Vreeland to perfect the voice.
Undeniably, Myrtle is the most camp of all the characters, though amazingly they never allow it to fall into caricature, even when delivering the most outrageous of monologues. “I had a love like that once, Egon von Fürstenberg. He dumped me, but everything worked out all right in the end. You know why? Because he went on to marry the divine Diane. And without Egon’s support, Diane von Furstenberg never would have created the greatest invention of the century – the wrap dress!” Which is an ode to Murphy’s fashion obsessions. Or, “You’re just like Halston when he sold his brand to JCPenney – you’ve forsaken your destiny.” As for her style, well, apart from the Coddington-esque hair and minimal make-up, it’s wing-tipped glasses, flashes of red, pussy-bow blouses, cashmere capes and plaid. “Look at you, developing a sense of style when no one was paying attention,” quips Fiona to her on her entrance. Apparently Murphy was very specific with her stylised look, down to her habits of always wearing gloves and smoking gold-tipped cigarettes. But her most memorable scene is when she is burned alive for the second time (it makes sense when you watch it), wearing a dramatic scarlet dress, as she is surrounded by a coven of black-clad witches. When asked if she has any last words, she replies, “Just one”, before screaming “Balenciaga” into the sky. You see: camp.
But it also is rumoured to be a clue as to where season four will take us, as Murphy likes to insert clues into his finales. He has already confirmed that it is set in the 1950s, and that Lange will be returning and she is said to be practising her German accent. Some internet folk suspect that she’ll be playing Brigitte Höss, the daughter of Rudolf Höss, the commandant of Auschwitz. Not so much space for fashion you may think, but actually Höss modelled for Balenciaga in the 1950s, before she moved to the States and worked in a fashion boutique serving the First Ladies. Who knows, but style born of evil? Sounds like the perfect next American Horror Story narrative.
By Kay Barron
