It’s hard to overstate the impact that acclaimed French director Jean-Luc Godard’s 1960 film Breathless has had on the decades of fashion designers who have come after it.
Famously the first film of the French New Wave movement, it was also groundbreaking for its fusion of Italian neo-realism; using everyday street scenes and, rumour has it, encouraging the cast to wear their own clothes, abandoning the hyper-styled and fussiness of French films that preceded it.
If those rumours are true, the wardrobe of the gamine star, Jean Seberg, would be as covetable today as it was then. Jean, an American living in Paris, imbued her character, Patricia Franchini (also an American living in Paris) with a wardrobe that blended American preppy style with a certain French je ne sais quois.
Breton stripes, ballet flats, skinny jeans, oversize boyfriend shirts, lots of black eyeliner, cats eye glasses and of course the now iconic pixie cut all created a certain French chic since evident in countless collections from designers from Ralph Lauren to Jean Paul Gaultier.
The film also inspired legions of people in their early twenties to flock to Paris in search of this effortlessly stylish lifestyle. Among them, fashion designer Kate Sylvester and her partner Wayne Conway.
On November 30, Ensemble and Kate Sylvester are hosting a screening of Breathless at the Hollywood Avondale, as chosen by Kate. The film will be preceded by a short film directed by Wayne Conway and Kate Sylvester.
Tickets are $15 each or free for Ensemble Members. Click here for more information on the value-laden Ensemble Membership program, and here to purchase tickets to Breathless on November 30.
Of her selection, Kate explains that it is one of her all-time favourite films. “It inspired me to live in Paris. I had this idea that my partner Wayne and I would go there and wander around like the characters in Breathless, so we did. We lived there for a year and it was an absolute dream.
“Breathless is a tragic romance and hugely influential. It is the most iconic of the French New Wave films that revolutionised movie making in the 60s, jumpy, fast paced, intimate and laconic, it launched modern film making,” she says.
“I love how beautiful the movie is, and the main character Jean Seberg’s costumes have really shaped my aesthetic. You can see so much of Kate Sylvester in the film: from shrunken T-shirts to Breton tops and perfectly buttoned shirt dress.
Breathless is ranked as one of the greatest films ever made but for me it’s a beautiful, inspiring reference.”
