cinemaspiration: Love and Other Disasters

This is the first of I hope many posts about strictly film-inspired fashion. I know I have done posts like this in the past, but I've thought of a word for it now so it's quite different now (the word being 'cinemaspiration,' as in aspirations brought on by cinema - if this word already exists and is in use, I don't want to know).

Love and Other Disasters, a perfectly charming romantic comedy, inspired by equal parts Breakfast at Tiffany's (characters are seen at various points watching and/or discussing the classic, and Murphy's character is stylistically inspired by Holly Golightly) and Sex and the City (the films shares the same atmosphere of the young and fabulous looking for love in a big city, only imagine Carrie Bardshaw if she were a Brit-Spaniard raised in America and employed at UK Vogue). Brittany Murphy plays Emily 'Jacks' Jackson, a hyperactive talkative gal with a fantastic wardrobe and even more fantastic friends. Tallulah, an emotional poet who is partial to hash brownies and impractical relationships, is Jacks' best girl friend and keeps the story entertaining with her bizarre and rather inappropriate comments. Jacks' other best friend is her roommate Peter Simon (the adorable Matthew Rhys), a gay screenwriter consumed with the romantic fantasies occurring in his head rather than looking for love in reality. His constant struggle to meet the elusive David Williams, an art curator at Sotheby's he has never actually met, is only equalled by his struggle to write a screenplay that represents the truth of his daily life. The main romantic triangle in Jacks' life is between her ex-boyfriend James, who she sleeps with regularly mostly out of pity but demands no relationship form between them, and Paolo, a gorgeous Argentinian who interns for a photographer at Vogue and who Jacks mistakes throughout the entire film as gay. For the girl who claims to have a remarkable 'gaydar', she misses every single sign that the boy throws her way.

Jacks possesses the kind of wardrobe that every young cosmopolitan-minded girl desires to have. Whether she is running around her apartment in fantastic silk and lace lingerie, or running around town in sparkly dresses and little jackets, she is never without a thick swipe of eyeliner or five-inch red-soled heels (you know the ones, wink wink). She sports Bardot eye makeup and wispy Audrey Hepburn bangs on even the most casual occasions. She mixes denim and sequins, and wears bubblegum pink in the most serious way - even on her eyelids.

It's a completely worthy film for anyone looking to laugh, love, and be inspired. A special treat is when Gwyneth Paltrow and Orlando Bloom pop up at the end of the film. Catch it on Showtime now, or add it to your Netflix queue pronto.