Costume Critique: Legally Blonde

Elle arriving at Harvard

Movie cover

More sleazy Warner

This past Friday, I decided to watch Legally Blonde with my roommate and her two friends. I, personally, love this movie because it's really funny. I also enjoy the really dated costuming and California girl references.

The woman responsible for the costume design of the movie (not the Broadway musical)is Sophie de Rakoff.  Sophie de Rakoff was born in June of 1969 in London. She is mostly known for Legally Blonde (2001), This Means War (2012), and Sweet Home Alabama (2002). She seems to work with Reese Witherspoon mostly, seeing in how Reese was in all three of these movies.

Sophie de Rakoff

I want to talk about three characters in Legally Blonde. These characters are Elle, Warner, and Paulette. Firstly, let's talk about Elle. Elle is one of my favorite chick flick characters of all time because she's a hilarious mixture what the United States sees as "California." She speaks with the stereotypical California valley girl accent, she's a "Gemini vegetarian," she's an animal rights activist, and she even looks like LA, bright and shiny. Rakoff did a great job of displaying stereotypes. When you look at how Elle dresses, she dresses in pink a lot. It's her "signature color." She stands out at Harvard. That's the point. She wears a lot of bold colors and fabrics while everyone else on the east coasts is wearing boring sweaters and colors.

Warner and his sleaziness

Paulette 

Next, I want to talk about Warner. Warner is the jerkiest jerk ever. He's shallow and spoiled and selfish. I feel that it was really important to dress him appropriately when he was introduced as a character. He's sleazy. Handsome, but sleazy. When he was introduced, he was wearing a tie-less suit. A shiny blazer with broad shoulders. His hair was slick, and he was chewing gum obnoxiously. Not to mention, he was wearing sunglasses at night. Who does that?! Ugh. I feel like it was a California twist on the boring east coast. Shiny, yet still grey and dull. It did a good job of showing that he had his fun with Elle in California, but that he's going back to the East Coast to go to Harvard.

Now, I want to talk about Paulette. Paulette is a funny character who is older, who dropped out of school, and does nails at a nail salon. I feel like her outfits reflect that really well.  She's wearing stylish 80's clothing (probably what she would have worn as a teenager in the 80's). She just looks like an aged teenager with glamour and love in her eyes. She's kind of like the 13 year old in 13 going on thirty, but a lot older. She's usually in pastel-like unthreatening colors as well. It reflects her passive personality well.

My favorite costumes would have to be Elle's. She's so bold and out there and it cracks me up to see what she wears. Her clothes are really dated and pink. It reflects her colorful and bubbly personality well. When her clothing changes (as an intern) it shows how she was trying to change temporarily. But then in the end, she brought pink to law.