Yesterday I had the pleasure of seeing ‘Anna Karenina’. If you don’t know the story, then you should know it’s intense and dramatic in a epic Russian classic lit kind of way, and Keira was truly born to play this role. The movie is highly dramatically stylized, in a Baz Luhrmann kind of way- you have to see it to know what I am talking about. What was truly magical about this movie for me were (duh, this is a fashion blog) the costumes and the jewels. Keira is dripping in diamonds and pearls in literally every scene, and they are all contemporary Chanel from the fine jewelry line. Lucky Keira has a hookup being the face of Chanel’s Coco Mademoiselle perfume. Jacqueline Durran did the costumes- she also did the costumes in Keira and director Joe Wright’s other movies Pride & Prejudice and Atonement (2 of my favorite movies). The Genteel did an excellent interview with her here. Durran and director Wright chose not to make the costumes particularly period accurate (again, stylized version of the story), but instead took inspiration from both classic period costume (read: corsets and cage skirt undergarments and lots of opulent fabrics) and 1950s Dior, Balenciaga and Lanvin. The color palette is rich and dark, reflecting the inner emotions of the main characters (lots of virginal white contrasted with black). And there is fur fur and more fur along with some great hats and lacy veils. The costumes and jewelry add to the overall drama of the movie and despite not being completely historically accurate, give a good sense of what it was like to be a Princess in Imperial Russia in 1870. Girlfriend did well.

Banana Republic currently has a line of clothing in stores inspired by the film, an ode to the layered textures and opulence and drama, if you will. You can see it and shop it here.

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