Look of the Week: Florence Pugh assumes her villainous final form
A Dior brocade jacket worn as as a mini dress at a photocall for "East of Eden" in London
By Oscar Holland, CNN
(CNN) — If clothes tell a story, then Florence Pugh’s “East of Eden” press tour wardrobe has tantalizingly mirrored that of her character in John Steinbeck’s classic novel. And at the New York premiere of Netflix’s new adaptation, she assumed her villainous final form.
After more than two weeks of period-coded outfits, the British actor wrapped up her promotional campaign on Wednesday in a dramatic, luxuriant Vivienne Westwood gown. Its puff sleeves and plunging corset would surely have pleased Pugh’s character Cathy Ames, the beautiful but manipulative antagonist described by Steinbeck as possessing a “malformed soul.”
The choice of chartreuse — a borderline putrid shade of it, no less — walked an appropriate tightrope between glamorous and grotesque. The polished green tourmaline of her Bulgari choker shone like some kind of enchanted talisman. The wavy updo was fittingly severe.
Hollywood “method dressing” may have become tired and gimmicky (it is tedious to know we’re being advertised to via clothes) but with “East of Eden,” Pugh’s stylist Rebecca Corbin-Murray has crafted an intricate literary narrative through ruffles, gemstones and fine tailoring.
In mid-September, Pugh was the picture of period romance as she kicked off the promotional campaign in LA wearing a frilly, buttery yellow Rodarte blouse and skirt. Days later, during a panel appearance at the Atlantic Festival, she was prim and proper in a long-sleeved collared Shushu Tong maxi dress. She has also toyed with Edwardian menswear (“East of Eden” is set between 1862 and 1918, from the American Civil War to the end of World War I) by styling a Dior brocade jacket as a mini dress.
Yet, just as Cathy’s narrative arc transforms her from New England schoolgirl to — mild spoiler alert! — Monterey brothel madam, Pugh’s outfits increasingly traded soft elegance for bold glamour.
By the second week’s promotional events, pleats and ruffles came to the fore. Again turning to Rodarte, Pugh wore an elaborately pleated blouse and wide-legged pants to a photocall in London, before arriving at a BAFTA screening in a voluminous gothic-inspired look, also by the LA label.
A sea of black ruffles, the off-the-shoulder gown and vibrant red rubellite necklace signaled an ongoing transformation — just as Steinbeck’s Cathy eventually becomes Kate, her neat, youthful appearance growing more sophisticated and calculated in the process.
Then, just to keep us guessing, Pugh attended a press event at New York’s Paley Center in an ethereal all-white Erdem gown, a personification of symbolic innocence. The next evening, however, it was back to black with the polished Vivienne Westwood cocktail dress she wore for Jimmy Fallon’s “The Tonight Show,” before the tour culminated in the villainous chartreuse look.
Subtle and coded, this was method dressing done well. Or, at least, the messaging was not as painfully literal as we’ve grown accustomed to. After all, as Steinbeck’s novels are pains to remind us, appearances are poor evidence of character anyway.
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