Somewhere Soft.

If the trailer for Sofia Coppola's latest film Somewhere is any indication, it's filled with the diminutive director's signature soft colors. Sofia's pale palate is the perfect embodiment of a femininity that isn't quite girlie (it's not frilly, not pink per se) and definitely isn't fierce. Her pretty protagonists, Elle Fanning included, have the most natural beauty. At the same time her male leads have that boyish-grown-man charm that makes them soft too, in the most beautiful way.

The movie poster for Somewhere (top); Sofia's Milkfed cuties (above).

Any film by Coppala is a fashion film. Her sense of clothing has been evident since her Milkfed days in the '90s. Yes--lest anyone forget--Coppola's pre-Oscar days were spent designing clothing. The girl's got a sartorial pedigree that includes having interned for Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel as a high schooler. When she launched Milkfed with a friend in '98, she'd already had top tier training. Sofia is that rare breed of style star that actually understands clothing construction, color choice, print, and pattern making, and it shows. Her personal wardrobe is always simple and chic, and her costume department is always impeccably run. Somewhere isn't the grand couture fete that was Marie Antoinette (although my favorite part of that movie doesn't really involve much clothing...le sigh), but the subtle side of Coppola's aesthetic a'la Lost in Translation is just as enjoyable. You'll have plenty of time to ponder whether the clothing will make the film, it's not released until December 22nd. Until then, you can shop Sofia's still-going Milkfed line out of its Japan store.

Cheap Thrill: Parisian Chic

When I think of Paris, I think of two things: how much I love everything about it, and This 2006 cover of T Magazine featuring Sofia Coppola and a pair of hot pink, plastic Eiffel Tower earrings:

In fact, this is one of my favorite magazine covers. The stark pop of pink dangling from Sofia's ear is such a great contrast to the subtle softness of the rest of the photo. See the faded Tour de Eiffel in the background? That serious icon gets a perfectly post-modern dunk in colorful, playful electric strawberry plastic. It's a great play on the tension between the Parisian preference for all things traditional and their constant dedication to stretching and molding the rules to find what's nouvelle, especially in fashion. Anyways, enough analysis. A recent Times article about a few proposed plans for possible architecture projects in and around Paris brought this image to mind. All it really does is make me want a pair of plastic eiffels of my own, so I went inter-hunting.

These super cute gold ones from Girl Props may do the trick.

They are 3-D danglers. If you don't mind a pancaked version, and are feeling crafty enough to string 'em yourself, you can get fantastic plastic tour charms in a few great colors.

You get a dozen charms for $4.50 from The Plastic Shop so you can do a bunch of Paris pairs for not a bunch of money. Like it? "Oui, oui," says moi.

The Virign Ressurections.

Jeffrey Eugenides' debut novel, The Virgin Suicides, is rising again with a beautifully covered reissue.

The book is a must read, with its darkly intriguing tale of the Lisbon girls- five perfectly unattainable and ethereal creatures that also happen to be sisters, and the fixed obsession of a group of fascinated, neighborhood boys who are on a mission to find out how to save the girls from themselves. The novel was made into a soft-lit, excellently soundtracked debut film by Sofia Coppola that deserves a re-view as well.

The film is dreamy, light, floaty, and also dark and urgent; it is so many things. When I first saw the film when it was new, I think I was a little too green behind the ears to appreciate its full delicate but indelible impact. Now I'm loving it. Here's part of the film:



Sofia's styling of the girls is a perfect match for the resurgence of soft, flowery things that have been floating down city streets this spring. Tea cozy worthy florals spun into dresses, skirts, light-as-air sheer tops. It's a little Lux Lisbon rebirth.

Remember That?: X-girl Clothing

When I was 13, my ever-the-coolest mother let my 16 year-old sister take me and my bestie Rosemarie into NYC to get actual X-Girl tees from the actual X-Girl store in Soho. She really understood that Romie and I could not go to Lollapalooza '95 unless we were in correct style. Remember X-Girl? It was the line co-designed by Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon and '90s stylist Daisy von Furth. Here's some vintage footage of the line's first fashion show to spark your memory.




Did you catch the show's producers? Sofia Coppola and Spike Jonze! X-Girl rocked my world when I was a pre-teen. I used to wear my long-sleeved, black t-shirt with a globe graphic on it at least twice a week in seventh grade. I'd pair it with my black bell bottom, thrifted cords and my vintage platform Mary Janes. That was also the year that I regularly cut my own hair and stayed up until 2am to watch 120 Minutes on MTV in hopes that I could tape videos like "Bull in the Heather" and watch em over and over again until they got fuzzy on the VHS. Wait a sec, does all of this nostalgia mean that I'm getting old? No, no, no. I just miss my punked out riot grrrl days. I'm feeling a little rebel awakening. Watch out.