The silver screen influences fashion, designers and brides-to-be every year. Sometimes this is just a subliminal process. You pick up on costumes, dress shapes and fabrics. You try to inject the drama and character of intriguing film narratives or by-gone settings into your wedding themes. For the most part, most movies have little to no influence at all but every year one or two movies have a disproportionate impact on the bridal psyche. Confetti looks at next year’s releases and attempts to pick the blockbuster trends from the destined-to-do-nothing flops.
It’s difficult to predict which movies will have that key ingredient that inspires couples getting married. The Great Gatsby, last summer’s inspiration for a thousand weddings, had the right combination of glamour, retro chic and sophistication to capture brides’ imaginations. But moving beyond the most unlikely films to affect wedding fashion (we can’t imagine a Mutant Ninja Turtle or Transformer’s wedding no matter how hard we try), which of the summer blockbusters could inspire couples getting hitched in 2014?
The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug & The Hobbit: There and Back Again
Fancy yourself as a Galadriel or Arwen Evenstar? An elvish princess about to marry your Aragon son of Arathorn. Peter Jackson’s original set of films won Oscar’s for Best Costume Design in part due to the spectacular dresses and flowing costumes worn by the female stars. Now Jackson is concentrating on Tolkien’s The Hobbit the prequel to The Lord of the Rings books. Separated into three films, (you may have already enjoyed the first one), the next two releases will run from December 2013 into January for the Desolation of Smaug and December 2014 for the There and Back Again. You could almost say 2014 will be a vintage year for Middle Earth. Whether it influences wedding trends remains to be seen but if we start seeing Elvish weddings we’ll let you know.
Pompeii, Noah, Exodus, 300:Rise of an Empire, Hercules The Legend Begins, Hercules The Thracian Wars
Ancient history, early religion and mythical narratives could influence brides this year: they certainly seem to have captured Hollywood’s imagination. This could be everything from tunic shaped wedding dresses to gold and silver embrodiery, flowing robe like material, simple bands in lieu of belts, plaited hair and even sandal style shoes. Dresses that mimic early traditional dresses could feature. Biblical feasts and food fit for the gods, floral arrangements akin to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon – these kinds of wedding could really fire the imagination.
I, Frankenstein, Dracula Untold
We’ve already seem more brides opting for dark or black dresses. Everything from full on vamp to understated gothic. Could this inspire the more daring of our brides? The vampire theme never seems to die on the silver screen and with brides growing up with Buffy and more recently Twilight these dark glamours could attract sensuous and sultry brides not afraid of ditching the white frills.
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For
A theme destined to influence wedding photography perhaps more than weddings themselves. Think dramatic poses, bold lighting contrasts, post production effects and photography that looks more like moody film stills. Try to tell a story with a single picture, use black and white imagery and produce your wedding photographs with comic book lettering arranged like a graphic novel. This theme is all about the attitude.
The Grand Budapest Hotel
This comedy, featuring the most star-studded cast of the year (Ralph Fiennes features with cameos from Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, William Defoe, Ed Norton, Jeff Goldbloom, Jude Law, Harvey Keitel), looks set to capture everyone’s heart over the summer period. It’s a period comedy set between the two world wars, so the jazz-styled art deco influences of The Great Gatsby could still be holding sway after all.
