'Dragon' ladies: Movie fashion goes tough
Costume designer Trish Summerville fits right in amongst the Lisbeth lookalikes wearing outfits from her new, 30-piece Dragon Tattoo line designed for H&M. Credit: Handout
Lisbeth Salander may be the most memorable Swede since Greta Garbo and Ingrid Bergman.
Not bad for a fictional character. Salander, a computer hacker and loner, is the heroine of "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," the first book in Stieg Larsson's bestselling trilogy, and soon of a new film, starring newcomer Rooney Mara. She also inspired H&M's Dragon Tattoo Collection by Trish Summerville, a hotly anticipated line hitting stores in Manhattan Wednesday.
Call it nocturnal style, says Summerville, who designed the film's costumes and the H&M line. "Sweden in winter has, like, two hours of daylight, so as a computer hacker she's up all night. She's not trying to be stylish."
Her film wardrobe, in fact, features dirty and distressed skinny jeans, leather jackets and torn tees. For H&M, Summerville cleaned things up. Yet she's right on trend. Tough-girl chic was a major fall look from lines like Louis Vuitton, Givenchy and Alexander McQueen. As fashion editor and Italian style icon Anna dello Russo said earlier this year, "This season it's all about feta cheese."
Huh?
About "fetishes," she clarified, through a thick Italian accent.
Swell -- but you're not that wild, you say?
"I didn't want to do crazy goth clothes," Summerville says. "I wanted to show how you can take a few key pieces and make them your own."
Like a denim jacket with faux leather sleeves that Summerville pictures atop a dress. Or Army pants with calf zippers -- perfect with high heels and a blazer, she says.
"We all wish we had a little piece of Salander, whether it's her ferociousness, her drive or moral code," Summerville says. Or, at least, her denim. And maybe her leather.
Where to buy
H&M's Dragon Tattoo Collection by Trish Summerville will be sold at shops in only four U.S. cities. Lucky for us, Manhattan is one of them, including shops on 34th Street (near Penn Station), Fifth Avenue (at 51st Street), Prince Street and a special Meatpacking District pop-up shop and cyber cafe (at 72 Gansevoort St., open Wednesday through Dec. 16, noon to 10 p.m.).
