Wallis’ painful sexiness
Madonna’s stylist says Wallis Simpson was “one of the best students of fashion”.
Arianne Phillips is an Oscar nominated costume designer for her work on films including the Johnny Cash biopic Walk The Line, and Tom Ford’s A Single Man.
She has also been Madonna’s stylist for years.
Madonna decided there was no one better to design the costumes for her new film W.E.
W.E. follows the life of Wallis Simpson, an American woman famous for causing Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor to abdicate the throne so he could marry her.
Arianne was inspired by Wallis’s style.
“She was sexy in a painful way; a painful sexiness,” she explained to British newspaper The Telegraph. “The clothes she wore were austere, but sensual. It was the movement of her body that made her attractive – she was like a perfume, or the way a veil moves – like a ghost almost. We use clothes to erase our mistakes and to highlight what we like; Wallis is one of the best students of fashion school in that way.”
Wallis was famous for her simple sophisticated style. She was also acutely aware of the power of fashion.
“I’m not a beautiful woman,” Wallis said. “I’m nothing to look at, so the only thing I can do is dress better than anyone else.”
Wallis died in 1986 but her fashion legacy still lives on. The wedding dress that Stella McCartney designed for her new stepmom Nancy Shevell was thought to be inspired by a Wallis Simpson garment.
“[Nancy’s wedding dress] looks like it was inspired by Wallis Simpson’s Mainbocher wedding dress, but in a different colour,” Arianne said.
Other collections exploring Wallis Simpson’s style include Miu Miu, Preen and Jonathan Saunders.
Fom the Belfast Telegraph.