I finally got the chance to watch 'Ocean's 8' after it came out for 2 months, but I had to say the plot was a bit cliché. What instead caught my eyes, are the character Lou's outfits, portrayed by Cate Blanchett.
Green velvet, tacky button-up vest, skinny leather jeans, and the signature loose tie from Avril Lavigne's emo stage, any of these can be a total disaster once parsed out individually. However bringing these all together to create one outfit, does open up a whole new world for me, also made this sidekick character more convincing.
In the movie, Lou (Cate Blanchett) owns a nightclub before joining this jewels heist. Once reunited with her partner in crime Debbie Ocean, starred by Sandra Bullock, these two wasted no time in assembling an expert heist crew and starting their mission.
Lou is supportive and reliable. My favourite scene is her riding off a motorcycle into the sunset at the end of the movie after walking away with a generous cash prize. In fact, Lou didn't even do too much talking throughout the movie. Her costumes definitely helped more in portraying the character's unique personalities.
The costume designer, Sarah Edwards was interviewed by Magazine Fashionista in which she explained the main idea she was going for when dressing up Lou.
'Lou owns a nightclub in New York. She's a very chic kind of character, coming from a rock 'n' roll past. It was important that she had a bit of a history — we wanted it to be a mix of old and new and vintage. We wanted her to have a lot of small detail items like jewelry, scarves, that she would have collected over time. A lot of those things she had were just pulled from all over. We worked with Burberry to make three-piece suits that were based loosely on Keith Richards in the early '70s. We took things from all over to create her character, but it was a cool, rock 'n' roll reference that we were taking from to do her character.'
Leopard print coat:
I have expressed my love for leopard print in a previous blog: 'Leopard print, the meow worthy wardrobe staple'
The reason I love leopard print so much is that it lies perfectly in the middle of the gender presentation spectrum meaning that either tomboyish or chic women can rock it.
Velvet Blazer:
Cate Blanchett has also embraced a couple of velvet suit looks in the movie. A few details such as layered necklaces, vintage print loose tie and layered rings have also been added to elevate the outfit. As a loyal fan of oversized blazers, for the first time in my life, I fell in love with fitted suits.
For similar velvet/suede blazer looks, try these brands:
&other stories:
theory:
more blazers can be found here:
Button-up:
Will loose tie be a trend replacing the choker hype brought by Mathilda from movie 'Léon: The Professional'?
Bomber jacket:
For similar Bomber jacket looks:
ASOS:
To me, 'Ocean's 8' is more of a film that promotes and celebrates the female empowerment. As gender equality becomes a hot-button issue in the global entertainment world, who still needs a prince Charming to save the day when you have a queer queen dressing up in suits like Cate Blanchett.
