La La Land
I love color, especially when it adds to the visual narrative. In a litany of stand out moments when it comes to costuming, my person favorite in La La Land is Mia (Emma Stone) and her three friends dancing in the street and each one is wearing a pastel shade — Mia in the midnight blue, and her friends in cherry red, canary yellow, and lime green. One of La La Land’s main storytelling elements is that it’s a homage to the old days of Hollywood, like Debbie Reynolds and Audrey Hepburn. Mary Zophres’ costume design does a beautiful job of accentuating that point, associating Emma Stone with legends of Hollywood’s past. Mia’s vivid yellow dress feels like the hue was plucked straight out of the Yellow Brick Road, while Sebastian’s skinny tie, open collar, and tap shoes perfectly describe a man living in the days of Fred Astaire. It’s also fascinating to track the progression of Mia’s dresses. She starts the film with a classic look from the Golden Age of Hollywood, and by the end, she wears a dark blue contemporary dress, metaphorically signifying the end of a bygone era of cinema.