21st Century Style Icon: Anne Hathaway
21st Century Style Icon: Anne Hathaway
By: Briley Rakow
Red carpet looks from this year’s Met Gala and Cannes Film Festival have been dominating fashion headlines, and this year’s most talked about fashion star is somewhat surprising. Anne Hathaway has been a prominent name in film for two decades now, and the actress is proving that she is nowhere near finished turning heads through her elegant looks on red carpets the past few weeks. Hathaway may not be the first name to come to mind when you think “fashion icon,” but maybe she should be. We’re taking a look back at all of the star’s best looks over the years, from her time as the Princess of Genovia to today.
Nearly everyone is familiar with Mia Thermopolis’ dramatic transformation from a less-than-put-together high school student into a princess in the Princess Diaries. Hathaway herself has seen similar transformations over the years, but we cannot forget her iconic looks from when everything began. Similar to her Princess Diaries character, Hathaway wore more feminine gowns throughout the early 2000’s.
This continued into press for The Devil Wears Prada in 2006, though her character in the film opted for edgier, more high-fashion attire.
In the later 2000’s, Hathaway began wearing more form-fitting, elegant clothing that seemed to highlight her transition into life as an established actress. Likewise, the characters she portrayed were a bit more mature, with her film costumes moving out of the traditional feminine sphere.
As her career progressed, Hathaway was clearly defying any expectations that she would remain in a box when it came to the roles she took on. Films like the Dark Knight Rises, Les Miserables, and Interstellar defined much of the next few years for the star, and her fashion choices reflected the darker themes represented in her movies. Her looks were more subdued, often including monochromatic outfits, less dramatic silhouettes, and more “masculine” outlines.
In 2016, the actress faced another transition, this time into motherhood. Pregnancy, however, certainly did not stop her from looking fabulous on the red carpet. Hathaway wore much wider silhouettes in the next couple of years, with flowing dresses marking many of her red carpet appearances.
The time of form-fitting outfits did quickly return, this time with a bit of a modern edge. Hathaway sported trendy pant suits and layered outfits for much of 2019, incorporating a mix of materials to add depth to her looks.
This leads us, of course, to the present day, where Anne Hathaway has been the talk of the Cannes Film Festival. Her outfits were sleek, simplistic, and perfectly understated. Each look saw a new combination of pattern and structure to highlight Hathaway’s natural physique while calling back to different eras of style in every piece.
From rom-coms to Academy Award-winning films, Anne Hathaway has really done it all in Hollywood. Her characters have grown and changed over the years, and her style has moved right along with them. Whether it be the more feminine gowns of the early 2000’s, the edgier looks of the 2010’s, or her modern takes on vintage fashion this year, there is no question that Hathaway has earned icon status in the fashion world.
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