cinematic fashion: Inglorious Basterds

Inglourious Basterds is a dynamic and offbeat war film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino released in 2009. This film is extremely critically acclaimed with an all star cast including Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Diane Kruger and Mélanie Laurent. The film tells the fictional story of two plots to assassinate the Nazi Germany political leadership, one planned by a young FrenchJewish cinema proprietor (Laurent), and the other by a team of Jewish Allied soldiers led by First Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Pitt).

The overall styling of Inglorious Basterds is done extremely well for depicting the era and also respects the circumstance. It's an action film! There is so much going on. Violence, humor, interesting dialogue! This film isn't known specifically for it's brilliant use of fashion but as always, it's important to look at the big picture. Would this movie be as believable and well done without the impeccable styling of the uniforms and costumes of that time? The answer is most likely "no".

Diane Kruger, who is an extremely fashionable and classic movie star in real life, plays Bridget von Hammersmark who is both a German actress and secret agent. This character specifically is interesting as far as fashion is concerned because Kruger is a beautiful and stylish woman, however she's playing a tough lady.

Bridget von Hammersmark is no delicate flower but reminiscent of old time female movie stars playing a dark role with absolute glamour. She's living a double life and her styling depicts that. Her look is very 1940's simple and utilitarian but with beautiful detailing in her perfectly tailored suits made of the most luxurious looking fabrics. Feminine when she needs to be and tough when she needs to be. Nothing looks better than a gorgeous woman in a well made tweed suit holding a gun at you threatening to kill you, huh? Oh, Hollywood.