Move over “The Devil Wears Prada 2.” The most stylish film of the year is “I Love Boosters.” Costume designer Shirley Kurata chats about creating the brilliantly bonkers looks for Boots Riley’s high-fashion meets low-rent economics sci-fi caper. Plus, Cannes fashion winners, Gucci’s Times Square runway flex and luxury shopping on steroids at Catherine Bloom’s Bloom Room.
Boots Riley’s Brilliant Fashion Film Has Killer Costumes and a Rebel Heart
“I Love Boosters” is the indie style antidote to “The Devil Wears Prada 2’s” luxury brand bonanza – and with better costumes, thanks to the brilliance of director Boots Riley and costume designer Shirley Kurata, who was Oscar-nominated for “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”
Opening Friday, May 22, from Neon, Riley’s bonkers sci-fi meets social justice film is about a group of boosters (definition: people stealing goods from a store and selling them at a discount price) who conspire to take on a devilish fashion mogul.
To create the film’s color-pop maximalist world, Kurata drew inspiration from iconic Japanese street style book “Fruits,” the Oakland arts scene and the Instagram account UpNextDesigner, and platformed loads of up-and-coming fashion designers on the big screen in the process.
Highlights? A jumpsuit with Stegosaurus spikes specially made by L.A. casual wear brand Big Bud Press; a coat and dress with lenticular blinking eye balls by surrealist L.A. designer/artist Leeann Huang; an on-theme jacket covered in coin purses by London designer Alina Ispas; and a red water spout neckerchief by emerging London designer Selina Kwong.
“I’m a champion for any aspiring designer,” Kurata told WrapStyle. “Their work is so fun. You can’t always use them, but this movie I was able to.”
The stylishly surreal film follows aspiring designer Corvette (Keke Palmer) and her fellow boosters, Sade (Naomi Ackie) and Maria (Taylour Paige) as they steal their way from the storefronts of Oakland to the unethical clothing factories in China.
The story exposes fashion’s greed and hidden truths, and resonates particularly now in light of the real world news this week that sustainable fashion brand Everlane is being acquired by ultra fast-fashion giant Shein, a move that’s being perceived as a slap in the face by its idealistic Millennial customer base,
In the film, Corvette’s hero is Christie Smith, played to perfection by Demi Moore. She is fashion’s gatekeeper as the founder of trendy Metro Designer, which has its headquarters in a wacky slanted building, and dresses its shops (and beleaguered shopkeepers) according to a single monochromatic color scheme.
But as it turns out, Christie is more of a villain, a taker not a creator, and many of her ideas are cribbed from people on the street like Corvette, including one turquoise dress specifically, which when it is discovered touches off the boosters’ revenge plot to right the imbalance of power.
The boosters hatch a plan to empty out all Metro Designer stores, joined by Jianhu (Poppy Lu), who has arrived from a factory in China where Metro Designer clothes are made by exploited laborers, suffering from health problems because of the harmful effects of sand-blasting.
“Fashion that happens in our neighborhood is absorbed by the fashion industry, then sold back to us at very high prices – so people figure out how to get the stuff they want with much less money,” Riley said in the production notes. “I was thinking about the economy of that and how fashion and art manifests; how people make and consume art while they’re struggling and how communities work together.”
Indeed, the boosters revel in their personal style, which has a wholly creative DIY charm. To achieve that, Kurata sourced looks from well-known brands like Anna Sui, Rodarte, Thom Browne and Adidas, alongside up-and-comers, including fashion students from Savannah College of Art & Design. She also scoured thrift shops from L.A. to Atlanta for clothes to match the colors of the store sets.
“I had to do two closets, one for the character, and another that was all their disguises,” Kurata said of her approach. “It was important to separate that, and also to distinguish the styles of the boosters. For Corvette, because she’s an aspiring designer, I tried to find pieces that felt like she made them or had a creative twist. Maria is more edgy, more punk in vibe. And Sade being a single mom, I had her more streetwear infused.”
The group disguises, with all four boosters in coordinated outfits, are a joy.
“I had the most fun with those looks,” the designer said. “There were florals and animal prints and anime raver looks. We wanted to do an all polka-dotted theme but we ran out of time.”
Christie, the fashion mogul, is a contrast.
“Since she’s living in this slanted apartment, I wanted to reflect that world with things being asymmetrical and a bit off,” said Kurata of her deconstructed tailoring. “But I also thought it was fitting to have her devoid of color, when all of her designs were full of color. It’s a very fashion thing to do, to dress in black.”
Of course, there’s a runway show scene where hijinks ensue. I only wish it had gone on longer and featured more looks by the SCAD students. Still, there is so much eye candy throughout the film, I wanted to freeze every frame.
“In a time where they are trying to push AI on us, I hope this showcases human creativity and using real objects and just making it work. Boots even said it’s OK if it’s a little janky,” said Kurata, adding that the director gave her total freedom.
It helps that the filmmaker is a style aficionado.
“We even had a dress-like-Boots day,” Kurata said. “But you can’t compete with the legend himself.”
Cannes’ Best-Dressed
Cannes juror Ruth Negga and her stylist Karla Welch won Cannes this year, bringing awards season’s black-and-white color story into the now, surprising us with offbeat designer choices (Sacai at a Chopard gala!), retro and modern looks, and incredible hair styles every time.
I loved Negga’s range, from a playful, romantic black lace Saint Laurent peplum gown to the perfect Ami Paris tuxedo with a Gobstopper of Chopard statement ring.
(Ami Paris, the accessible luxury brand founded by French designer Alexandre Mattiussi in 2011, was a sponsor of Cannes’ Critics Week. It’s been in growth mode, priming the pump for U.S. expansion with lots of Hollywood red carpet dressing in recent months.)
Negga was also a great representative for Michael Rider’s Celine, choosing a chic all-white look at the jury photo call, and a white tank gown with retro round sunglasses for the “Paper Tiger” screening.
She dipped into vintage, too, with an Ossie Clark white dress and cape jacket from online vintage emporium Shrimpton Couture, whose founder Cherie Balch wrote on Instagram that Welch snatches up pieces here and there as they land in her shop. (Yes, she buys them.)
“I never know where or who they will land on, or when. Sometimes, it’s on herself and sometimes it’s months and months later on one of her fabulous clients,” Balch said. “Like this moment with Ruth. I have learned to just watch and wait for the magic that she creates.”
Hear, hear.
Chanel Finds Its Edge
Matthieu Blazy’s Chanel hit the Croisette for the first time, and not only did the brand have an edge, with several of its longtime ambassadors in competing films, it found its edge with younger, cooler looks.
To be fair, longtime Chanel ambassador Kristen Stewart has always worn the brand’s clothes with a certain eff-you insouciance. And that continued here when she paired a sheer whisper tweed two piece look fresh off the couture runway with Nike sneakers for the “Full Phil” photo call, and chose a wild-at-heart black-and-red sequin Chanel gown for the premiere.
Riley Keough put her own stamp on one of Blazy’s sheer takes on the iconic Chanel suit, while Sandra Hüller showcased his love of texture in a marvelously spiky feather bolero jacket. I also loved the sweet toughness to the black leather Chanel gown worn by Marion Cotillard, another longtime ambassador. Vive la difference.
John Travolta’s Dad Style
American treasure John Travolta served up what may have been the most talked-about style statement of the fest, debuting new headgear that agitated internet trolls who accused him of stealing Samuel L. Jackson’s look, among other inane things.
To me, it was dad cute to make the beret his red carpet signature, appearing alongside his daughter, Ella Bleu Travolta. When in France.
Gucci Takes Times Square
Saturday night in New York. An audacious runway set that turned all of Times Square into a giant Gucci ad. A star-packed cast including Tom Brady, Paris Hilton and Cindy Crawford. Demna pulled out all the stops for his Cruise 2027 Gucci show.
Anyone who has seen the film “House of Gucci” knows that New York played a key role in the rise of the fashion house in the 1980s, when private clients could use a special golden key to enter Gucci Galleria, the space hidden above the Fifth Avenue flagship.
A video montage on Times Square’s screens celebrated that legacy with a wink, combining found footage with advertisements for real and fake products including Gucci Underwear, Gucci Automobili, Gucci Businesswear, Gucci Gym, Gucci Pets and Gucci Life, reinforcing the idea of Gucci as an identity and a lifestyle.
On the asphalt runway, for his fourth collection, Demna continued to design into his cast of characters, re-envisioning them for the Big Apple. Gucci is an attitude and there was plenty of it here, with the leather daddy, the Upper East Side maven, the downtown It girl, the Wall Street banker and others coming to mind.
Low-slung and baggy denim, sharp tailoring, leather, fantasy furs and fur stoles, Flora patterns and flashes of skin continued to be key motifs, with the iconic Gucci Web stripe showing up as a bandeau top, and the horsebit as a stirrup on boots.
It was provocative, not to mention a spectacle – in Times Square – that doesn’t get much bigger. But clothes-wise, there wasn’t a lot that looked new to surprise and delight. Then again, maybe that’s Demna’s strategy … a steady drumbeat of similar to get customers used to it, loving it, buying it – hopefully?
Luxury Fashion on Steroids
Shopping has never been more competitive. To score the latest runway stunner, more and more, you have to know somebody. Enter Catherine Bloom, L.A. VIP shopper extraordinaire, who jumped ship from Neiman Marcus to Nordstrom last year, taking on the newly created position of Director of Luxury Styling.
Now, she has her own appointment-only studio on Melrose Place, designed by the famed L.A. interior designer Brigette Romanek, no less, with multiple rooms featuring the most fabulous, straight-from-the-runway Dior shoes and bags; boho-chic color-saturated Chloé, Missoni, Gabriela Hearst and Etro; party-ready, sculptural, feather-flocked and beaded looks from Givenchy, The Attico, Dries Van Noten and Alaia; the hottest accessories by Schiaparelli, Bottega Veneta, Roger Vivier and more.
Bloom does her own shopping, stocking merchandise that’s separate from what Nordstrom buys more widely, and takes requests if you’re trying to find something.
“I go with my gut, something that fits my client’s lifestyle, something that they don’t have or something that they do have but it’s a little different. Something that I’m still thinking about the next morning,” Bloom said of her philosophy for shopping for Hollywood execs, stylists and celebrities.
The L.A. fashion community came out to inaugurate the new space and lend their support last week.
“It’s the perfect L.A. boudoir,” said designer Brian Wolk of Wolk Morais, noting that Bloom’s power is such that she regularly sells through their coat deliveries in just a day or two – in L.A.
Designers Bibhu Mohapatra, Ace Harper and Sarah Weinstock were browsing the racks across the four, style-packed Bloom rooms, as was Decades founder Cameron Silver, Carolina Herrera president Emilie Rubinfeld and Air Mail editor Rickie De Sole.
The consensus was that Bloom’s sense of color and curation sets a new bar for L.A. retail, not to mention her love of a diva piece, like the cult favorite Olivier Theyskens feather sweater she was wearing herself.
“She just knows everyone,” said Wolk. “It’s full of the best of the best but feels like a hometown store.”
Catherine Bloom for Nordstrom is open by appointment only Monday-Saturday from 10am-6pm. Clients can make appointments via email or at (323) 602-2201.
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