The French Dispatch: Fashion Flop Quarter

Words by Fiona Golden, Stylist

 I would like to start off by saying that Wes Anderson is one of my favorite directors and it is for this very reason that I am so critical of the fashion in his latest work, The French Dispatch. I saw this in Madrid, so maybe the Spanish subtitles on the bottom of the screen were covering up the silly little accessories every Anderson character seems to have, but I sincerely doubt it. In terms of gaudy, twee little outfits, I was left high and dry. The plot itself is comprised of three separate vignettes, each from the perspective of a reporter for an American-run newspaper in the fictional French village of Ennui-sur-Blasé, which is coincidentally exactly how I felt seeing the wardrobe of this movie. Let’s begin with one of the first scenes, in which Wes Anderson’s very finest, Owen Wilson, gives us a tour of the town on bicycle.

On the surface, we have all the elements of the Wes Wardrobe: an explicit colour palette that emulates its surroundings, a charming little jumper, and a beret. Specifically the beret. See Max Fischer in Rushmore (1998) and Suzy Bishop in Moonrise Kingdom (2012), who both distinctively sport a red beret. This is such a hallmark that I wrote about it a year before in the art magazine, so clearly it is very important. Why Owen Wilson’s Herbsaint Sazerac is wearing a traditional black beret I cannot say. In fact, I’d imagine a red one would suit the frames a lot better and add a nice contrast to the bleak backdrop of Ennui-sur-Blasé, but perhaps he is trying to fit in. I also am giving this character too much attention- he is there to set the stage, not serve as some quirky outcast, of which there are many throughout the rest of the film.

 The first story starring Benicio del Toro as Moses Rosenthaler, an abstract artist, was my favorite out of the three. The plot was the most Wes-like one I believe, but the wardrobe options for Benicio were limited, seeing as his character is a prisoner in a straitjacket. Tilda Swinton, however, who plays the reporter, served Orange Julius realness in a striking, flowy caftan. This dress was a big deal for some folks- I found an entire article dedicated to it. To quote the ever-imitable Shawn Mendes, it’s giving Cher.

 Timothée Chalamet, you were made to be in a Wes Anderson film. Or at least that’s what I thought before I saw him in action. Now, like the all the other stories, this chapter was mainly shot in black and white, which is devastating to colour palette enthusiasts such as myself. But we will have to make do with what we were given. Let’s start with the hair: it’s very… prophetic of his fate atop a radio tower one stormy night. One might even say that was a deliberate choice by the big man himself, which wouldn’t surprise me. Timothée’s most distinguished style moment, however, seems to be a scene in which he composes a revolutionary manifesto in the bathtub, complete with a towel tied atop his head. That was your typical Wes Anderson hat moment, yet it was incidental to the scene. So I’m hesitant to give it any merit of uniqueness.

I will say I am very pleased with the style of Lyna Khoudri’s character, Juliette, an opposing student revolutionary, who doesn’t think Timothée is radical enough. She upstages him both on the moral and fashion fronts, wearing an endearing motorcycle helmet indoors.

 Let us now discuss the third and final story, featuring Jeffrey Wright as Roebuck Wright, the French Dispatch’s food journalist. I won’t even try to summarize this one because, well, there’s a lot to it. I do however, in the brief lapses into colour film, appreciate the character’s boots and jacket in the interview scene pictured below. But otherwise, this wardrobe was so drab I couldn’t find any images of it online. That’s how you know they dropped the ball on this film, because typically we would find a plethora of Pinterest boards heralding the outfits as they once did with Moonrise Kingdom and The Royal Tenenbaums.

Boots the house down! But only in this one specific frame do they appear so prominent. Let’s just say this movie did not give me as much to work with as I had hoped. I suppose I expected a bit too much from the director but seeing as he’s never failed to make a consistent style effort in his previous films, I don’t think my anticipation was too unreasonable. Where were the colour palettes? Certainly not on anyone’s clothes, but maybe in the background from time to time. My main takeaway was that this movie needed more in the outfit department, if not to match the thoughtful, wistful temperaments of the characters throughout. It’s hard to hear of revolutions from Timothée, whose cadence didn’t quite emulate the blunt yet pensive pattern of speech his predecessor Jason Schwartzman mastered. The three vignettes? They served, undeniably. But it’s so much easier to serve in signature items such as a raccoon hat or a matching tracksuit. Less isn’t always more, and I hope that Asteroid City, his upcoming film, will fully echo that mantra.