Film has the unique power to shape aesthetics. A well-cut suit, a cinematic apartment, the colour of a lipstick on screen—these details ripple outward into fashion, interiors, even identity. These five films show how style can define an entire cinematic experience.

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Casablanca (1942) – Michael Curtiz

Humphrey Bogart’s trench coat and fedora, Ingrid Bergman’s tailored suits: wartime Casablanca was draped in elegance. The film crystallised the look of 1940s romance and espionage, with fashion echoing the mood of smoky nightclubs and whispered goodbyes.

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Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961) – Blake Edwards

Audrey Hepburn’s Givenchy little black dress, oversized sunglasses, and pearls created perhaps the most recognisable fashion moment in cinema history. The film set a template for sophisticated urban femininity that still resonates today.

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Chinatown (1974) – Roman Polanski

Jack Nicholson’s suits and Faye Dunaway’s sculpted 1930s silhouettes reimagined Depression-era Los Angeles as a place of corruption, sun-bleached glamour, and dark intrigue. The wardrobe became as much a character as the plot twists.

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A Single Man (2009) – Tom Ford

Directed by a fashion designer, the film is a masterclass in style. Colin Firth’s sharp suits, Julianne Moore’s lacquered eyeliner, the mid-century California interiors: every frame is couture. Tom Ford proved that fashion and cinema could merge seamlessly into one aesthetic statement.

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Call Me by Your Name (2017) – Luca Guadagnino

Pastel polos, loose shirts, high-waisted shorts: the summer of 1983 in northern Italy, shot like a languid memory. Costume designer Giulia Piersanti rooted the look in authenticity, yet the result became globally iconic—a new shorthand for youthful, intellectual sensuality.

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Lasting Impressions

From Bogart’s trench coat to Timothée Chalamet’s languid shorts, these films remind us that cinema’s language is not only words and images—it is fabric, light, silhouette, and gesture. Style on screen is never just costume; it is character, atmosphere, and history all at once.