Set in Copenhagen, Denmark during 1926, the film explores themes of gender identity, love, marriage, art and culture as we follow the complicated marriage of Einer and Gerda Wegener (two Danish painters) which slowly falls apart leading up to the transgender operation of Einer, as he becomes more and more associated with embodying the feminine character,'Lili'. What makes the movie even more fascinating is that it captures the story of the first ever sex reassignment surgery to take place in Europe (Germany to be precise) during the 20th century which Einer/Lili under go's.
However, since the film has just been created within the past year and is nominated for many awards, this demonstrates that by presenting such a ground-breaking and moving topic in the film industry in the 21st century concerning the transformation of a man to a woman, the values and attitudes of individuals within society have changed drastically and people are more welcoming to this sort of diversity. Furthermore, the idea of gender transformation is not as condemned anymore in comparison to the 20s and 30's (a period just before the Nazi's occupied Denmark implementing their homogenise beliefs on traditional men) when transgender was seen as unacceptable and society was a lot more conservative.
Furthermore, this type of surgery is not as frowned upon today as it was in the 20th century, adding to the great reception of the film, because of how successful this type of operation has been in the 21st century. Einer Wegener's transgender surgery was the first real action taken towards embarking upon a permanent sex change in the 30's. Therefore, people were clueless about the procedure as they had not seen anything like it before. However, now that it has been established for nearly eighty-five years, people are a lot more understanding and supportive of the diversity of an individual's identity. Therefore, when a film like this hits our cinema screens, outrage is replaced with acceptance in the 21st century. Obviously, to this day many people may still not agree with the sort of operation but technology has grown so much that operations like this are able to go ahead.
Besides the moving concepts, even the fashion in the film is something worth mentioning. The costume designer of the film, Paco Delgado has truly communicated a vision of feminine European elegance through his distinctive design of garments for Lili, Gerda and Ulla, portraying their alternative personalities in a society that was filled with high morals and restrictions.
(Ulla, played by Amber Heard, is a supporting role throughout the film and was a friend and muse for Gerda.)
At the beginning of the film, Lili's first look for the Artist's Ball is rather restricted, dark and of an Edwardian silhouette to communicate her unsureness about dressing as a woman during the traditional period. Delgado intended to respect the style of the period thoroughly throughout the film. However, as Lili and Gerda move to Paris and Einer begins to explore Lili's identity more frequently, Lili's fashion becomes a lot freer and individual as the colours of her attires become warmer and richer, demonstrated through the silk fabrics and chiffon used by Delgado to depict an image of confidence and bravery. Furthermore, in an interview with Harper's Bazaar, Delgado even expressed that a lot of Lili's outfits were inspired by the style of clothes created by the designer house, Lanvin, during this period, as they were quite theatrical and provided emphasis on the waist to create 'an ideal of a woman' just like the true Lili had tried to achieve.
Even though in the 20's fashion was beginning to orientate around shapeless silhouettes and corsets were beginning to disappear, Delgado still wanted to present Lili in a garment that shaped her like a female. We also see the character of Lili wear scarves throughout the film which was used as a fashion code to hide Einer's physical and emotional insecurities. One of the physical insecurities was his Adam's apple.
In terms of Gerda's style, although it is still rather Edwardian, tailored and offers a muted colour palette of blue, grey and black in areas, Delgado also expressed that he felt the wife of Einer's dress sense should have channelled an essence of the fashion of Coco Chanel. He wanted to do this to mix Gerda's womanly style with a sense of liberation, freedom and to experiment to a certain extent. Therefore, Delgado combines traditional and modern qualities of fashion to create Gerda's female attire.
As for the style of Ulla, who wears my favourite costume throughout the whole film which can be seen in the film still below, her style is arguably exotic, bohemian and resurrects the values of Paul Poiret's couture house during the early 1900's. Ulla, who was a dancer, channel's a vision of Poiret's work with her headscarves and loose decorated clothing as it was known that the designer was arguably transfixed with Sergei Diaghilev Ballet Russes and the brightly coloured, cultural experimentation of attires that were showcased during the ballet impresario's shows. Therefore, Delgado wanted to represent this through his costumes and communicate a style that contrasted to the rest of Denmark's dull unornamented attires by bringing something crazy, fashionable and full of movement to the film, just like the ballet.
To read more about Paul Poiret's admiration of Sergei Diaghilev Ballet Russes and the designer himself, you can go to my blog post, 'Icons of Fashion: Comme De Garcon and Paul Poiret'.
http://kateemilyferguson.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/icons-of-fashioncomme-des-garcons-and.html
Regardless of the female fashion in the film, Delgado still presents the character of Einer in a very traditional and stylish way to fit male fashion in the 20s. However, one outfit of Einer's that really stands out for me is the suit that he wears during one of the final scenes before his transformation. This suit is so important in the film because it is the first time that Einer steps out as himself but wearing something that did not conform to the expectations of male attire in society and instead, was a very feminine approach to a suit, with wider legs and softer fabrics. Therefore, he makes a brave choice for the character of Einer, not Lili and this is something revolutionary in itself during the film as Einer breaks free from his duplicated life and starts to dress in a way that he truly feels comfortable in; instead of a way he 'supposed' to feel comfortable in to fit the restrictions of fashion in the 1920's.
Overall, I really enjoyed the film although it was emotional and covered a revolutionary subject which was based on a true story and realistic situations that continue to effect the lives of many today. I would definitely recommend watching this film but beware, you may not be able to hold back the tears after watching Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander's heart wrenching performances!
http://kateemilyfergusong.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/trend-rebellion-feminization-of-mens.html
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