A look at the upcoming movies that give fashion designers--from Banana Republic to Dolce & Gabbana--starring roles.
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1 Double Jeopardy
Model: Ashley Judd
Designer: Giorgio Armani
Fashionable plot: After spending six years in the slammer for supposedly murdering her husband, jail-hardened Judd jumps parole to track her undead spouse to New Orleans, where he's reinvented himself as a high-society hotelier. In need of a gown so swank she can slip into a chichi fundraiser to nail her man, Judd picks out a knock-'em-dead black Armani and breezes right in sans invitation.
2 Return to Me
Models: David Duchovny, Minnie Driver
Designers: Banana Republic, Oilily
Fashionable plot: For reasons we won't go into here, a building contractor (Duchovny) sets out to win the affection of a waitress (Driver) who happens to be the transplant recipient of his beloved dead wife's--yes--heart. With this motivation, no wonder he shows up in upscale, clean-cut Banana Republic khakis. To distract us from the fact that she's pilfered from the expired, Driver wears pretty flower-print skirts from Oilily (Holland's answer to Laura Ashley).
3 I Dreamed of Africa
Model: Kim Basinger
Designers: Gap, Jigsaw, Calvin Klein, DKNY
Fashionable plot: When Italian socialite Kuki Gallmann (Basinger) heads to Africa to help save endangered species in this true-life tale, she leaves behind her Valentino gowns--they just don't work when there's elephant poop around. The budding preservationist nevertheless avoids becoming a blight on the landscape by wearing "safari" fare from the Gap, Calvin Klein, DKNY and Jigsaw (England's answer to Banana Republic).
4 Anywhere But Here
Models: Susan Sarandon, Natalie Portman
Designers: Emporio Armani, Todd Oldham
Fashionable plot: Hoping to get a slice of the good life for pretty daughter Portman, speech therapist Sarandon trades Wisconsin for Beverly Hills (home of such classy girls as Monica Lewinsky and Heidi Fleiss). Predictably, once in the 90210 area, the two go on a shopping spree. Portman chooses a little white Emporio Armani dress; as in real life, Sarandon goes for colorful blouses by Todd Oldham.
5 Boiler Room
Models: Ben Affleck, Giovanni Ribisi, Nicky Katt, Vin Diesel
Designer: Canali
Fashionable plot: Affleck, Diesel and Katt play young smooth-talking stockbrokers who run illegal stock-trading operations, quote Wall Street's Gordon Gekko with sincerity and dress exquisitely in perfectly tailored Canali. Wowed by such high-powered style, gambler-turned-broker Ribisi inevitably follows suit.
6 The Bachelor
Model: Renee Zellweger
Designer: Donna Karan
Fashionable plot: An ambitious, young San Francisco-based photographer (Zellweger) has the good sense to be suspicious when her longtime boyfriend (O'Donnell) suddenly wants to get engaged. As a style-conscious shutterbug, she also has the good sense to stick to a wardrobe comprised exclusively of Donna Karan designs.
7 The World Is Not Enough
Models: Pierce Brosnan, Sophie Marceau, Maria Grazia Cucinotta
Designers: Brioni, Salvatore Ferragamo, Calvin Klein, Omega, Gucci, Philip Somerville, Sam de Teran, Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla, Emanuel Ungaro
Fashionable plot: Bond, as played by Brosnan, has always been a Brioni man, and he sticks to Brioni here too, punching the look up with Ferragamo belts, Calvin Klein sunglasses and Omega watches (it's no coincidence that he appears in their ads, too). The spotlight is stolen, though, by his two female adversaries. Cucinotta wears a leather Gucci pantsuit to chase him down the Thames in a hot-air balloon in the film's opening sequence. Marceau wears Bond-girl garb ranging from a fur hat by Somerville (who designs hats for the British royal family) to a ski suit by Teran (who used to make skiwear for Princess Diana), with Persian embroidered scarves by Jani and Khosla and an Ungaro lace top.
8 American Psycho
Model: Christian Bale
Designer: Nino Cerruti
Fashionable plot: Based on the infamous novel by Bret Easton Ellis, this tale of a Harvard grad who is a hardworking yuppie by day and a homicidal psychopath by night, is steeped in '80s excess. Bale stars, but his '80s attire is likely to steal scenes. We'll see him perpetrate his evil in slick suits hauled from the vaults of Nino Cerruti, the Italian designer who was favored by the Masters of the Universe in the Reagan years and still specializes in suiting up market mavens who have to make an appearance on Wall Street instead of wearing whatever to trade at home on the Internet.
9 Hanging Up
Models: Meg Ryan, Diane Keaton, Lisa Kudrow
Designers: Yves Saint Laurent, Thierry Mugler, Moschino, Donna Karan, Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana
Fashionable plot: Anna Wintour-like fashion magazine editor Keaton would rather be boiled in lip wax than leave her house in anything but designer clothes, which is why in every scene she wears Thierry Mugler, Yves Saint Laurent, Moschino or Chanel (for the '80s flashbacks). The sister played by Ryan is a professional party planner who does her Martha Stewart thing in Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein and Donna Karan. Youngest sibling Kudrow, a dilettante who changes styles with careers, hits a fashion high, especially during her soap opera-star phase when she dons a leopard coat (made by costume designer Bobbie Read) Jackie Collins would kill for.
10 The Next Best Thing
Models: Madonna, Rupert Everett
Designers: Chloe, Hugo Boss
Fashionable plot: A powerful businesswoman nearing her 40s (Madonna) wants to have a child but has no romantic prospects in sight, so she turns to her gay best friend (Everett) who obliges her with helpful sperm. All's well until she belatedly finds the man of her dreams (Benjamin Bratt) and can't convince Everett to grant her custody of their tyke. In the court battle that ensues, the Material Girl makes a valiant attempt to look like freshly minted mommy material by wearing feminine print dresses from Chloe. Wanting to look like a proper parent, Everett dons Hugo Boss suits.
Influential fashion films
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A Place in the Sun (1951): When Elizabeth Taylor wore that pinch-waisted, daisy-patterned strapless gown to dance with Montgomery Clift at a swank summer party, every girl in America wanted an exact replica.
Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961): It took Givenchy and Edith Head to create the legendary shift dresses that are the height of fashion again right now, and to finish the look with saucer-shaped hats and pearls. It's a timeless look, but nobody'll ever do it the justice Audrey Hepburn did.
Bonnie and Clyde (1967): Costume designer Theodora Van Runkle's award-winning homage to '30s style--long skinny skirts, patterned silk scarves, saucy tams--sparked a Depression-era fashion revival in the prosperous '60s when lanky, gorgeous Faye Dunaway wore them to rob banks and vamp Warren Beatty in this gangster classic.
Annie Hall (1977): The world fell in love with Diane Keaton, and with her Katharine Hepburn-meets-secondhand-Rose sense of style. The combination of men's dress shirts, neckties, vests, retro '60s sunglasses and khakis looked fresh on Keaton--and went awry on many who lacked Keaton's touch.
Flashdance (1983): Even women with two left feet imitated the dance-studio gym-rat look that costume designer Michael Kaplan created for Jennifer Beals in this welder-by-day-dancer-by-night smash.
Out Of Africa (1985): When this piercingly intelligent romantic epic showed how beautiful Meryl Streep and Robert Redford could look in perfectly rumpled linen, earth-toned silk scarves and broad-brimmed hats, it was only a matter of time till Banana Republic invaded every mall.
Desperately Seeking Susan (1985): Madonna had already made wearing lacy undergarments as clothing a trend a year earlier when her Like a Virgin album debuted. Here she donned her naughty lingerie look again, but costume designer Santo Loquasto gave her more edge by adding vintage jackets and skirts.
Top Gun (1986): If underpants had actually needed any endorsement, the fly guys in this macho blockbuster would have boosted sales. As it happened, it was the bomber jackets worn by Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer and Kelly McGillis that set off a fashion trend.
Pulp Fiction (1994): Everything '70s was new again--pencil pants with flared legs, oversized white shirts, black suits, John Travolta--in Quentin Tarantino's opus, and everything '70s other than leisure suits has been in and around ever since.
Clueless (1995): It was good-bye grunge when rich girl Alicia Silverstone and her Beverly Hills crew sported brightly colored, playful little numbers that looked as if they'd been snatched from Barbie's closet. Short plaid skirts, kneesocks, strappy shoes, cool blazers and snug sweaters all made dressing like a "girly girl" fun again.
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