Last week I went and saw the new play in London starring Keira Knightley, The Children’s Hour. My friends and I got cheap(er) tickets because there was a pole in our line of vision – I was scared it was going to be a huge column blocking half the stage but in reality it was just a small bar – woot.
And it was surprisingly good! I say surprisingly, because artsy plays/ films, much as I love them, can end up trying too hard to be deep and cerebral whilst being very thin on plot and emotion. I thought Keira Knightley and her main co-star Elizabeth Moss (that one from Mad Men) did an amazing job playing two school teachers caught up in a web of lies spun by a spoilt, troubled schoolgirl under their care.
Okay so time to sound pretentious - I thought the costumes complimented the dry, repressed atmosphere – the colours were muted and drab, almost colourless, they seemed to fit in with what a 1930s schoolteacher would genuinely have worn instead of a costume-designer’s 30s pin-up fantasy.
Of course Keira would look good in a paper bag but I liked the simple clean lines of her costumes and couldn’t help thinking how with a shorter skirt or some skinnies she could easily get away with wearing it in “real life”. I want that scarf so much.
It actually is quite similar to her day to day look which also seems to centre on simplicity and minimal colour.
Just goes to show, even if you don’t have a face like Keira Knightly, clothes don’t always have to shout “LOOK AT ME!” to be elegant and the old cliché “less is more” is worth bearing in mind once in a while.
What is your favourite simple article of clothing?
