French New Wave fashion has never gone out of style. Rodarte’s Laura Mulleavy has dubbed Jean Seberg’s Herald Tribune tee in Breathless “[the shirt] which everyone that I’ve ever known has always wanted.” Anna Karina’s sophisticated cat-eye is still enviable more than 50 years later. And it’s impossible to see Breton stripes without thinking of the Nouvelle Vague. The style icons of French New Wave cinema made outerwear cool, gave a wide headband the chic edge it was missing, and proved menswear often looked better on women.
Through December 24, Film Forum is screening Jean-Luc Godard’s 1965 film Pierrot le fou , starring Anna Karina and Jean-Paul Belmondo as a couple on the run. “Raoul Coutard’s sun-splashed color and Scope photography — done in the style of pop art, comic strips, and inspired improvisation” has been restored. To celebrate, we’re revisiting the genre’s fashionable past with a gallery of French New Wave cinema’s most iconic style moments.
