Inside the Actor's Closet

When watching a movie, have you ever stopped to consider what an actor is wearing?  I mean, I think we all have envied Angelina Jolie's body in her Lara Croft get-up or Audrey Hepburn loveliness in virtually everything she wears in "My Fair Lady" or Sarah Jessica Parker's alter ego Carrie Bradshaw's slightly out-there-but-totally-kick-ass fashion awesomeness in Sex and the City.  We see actors'--actress' especially--clothing as merely another expression of their elite celebrity status and glamour.   

But legendary acting instructor Uta Hagen said that clothing meant more to actors worth their salt than just another opportunity to be stunning.  Clothing, as we have been talking about in class, is an expression of self.  What you wear says something about you--who you are, what you like, how you feel about yourself, what you do for fun or for a living--we wear these things on our sleeves.  Or, better put, they ARE our sleeves.  Slipping into another human being's jeans is crucial to slipping into their skin.  

Actress Maggie Gyllenhaal is particularly adament about the importance of clothing in her acting work.  Uber-educated (she has a degree from Columbia) and known for her edgy, indie work in little-seen critical darlings like "Secretary" and "Sherrybaby," Gylenhaal openly eschews the typical angular, anorexic Hollywood bombshell aesthetic that most young actresses feel immense pressure to conform to.  Rather, Gyllenhaal embraces her roles as mother, intellectual, gifted performer and sex symbol--all of these facets of her personality manifest themselves in her clothing both on camera and off.

"Clothing for me is expressive," she told Marie Claire.  "It's very important for me that I feel connected to what I'm wearing." 

Maggie in her many reincarnation.  Wearing a cozy brown sweater and favorite acccessory: daughter Ramona.  Totally sophisticated without being over-the-top or too promy looking as an Academy Awards presenter. As the knockout and surprising new face of Agent Provocateur lingerie. In her breakout role as a sad-and-lonely self-harmer turned confident, beautiful woman by the most unlikely of means in "Secretary."  And in "Sherrybaby," where she plays a misunderstood down-on-her luck exconvict and drug addict trying to turn her life around.

And next on Maggie's list: Batman.