Margot Robbie's method dressing strikes again The Austalian actress is a modern Catherine Earnshaw even off screen

A film is also sold through a press tour. Timothée Chalamet proved it, moving from the scruffy look of Bob Dylan for A Complete Unknown to the flashy orange of Marty Supreme. What the actor did had already been experimented with by Margot Robbie in 2023, when she toured the world carrying the box office success of Barbie directed by Greta Gerwig. A careful attention to clothing, with a focus on the coherence between on-screen and off-screen identity, which became a book the following year with the release of Barbie: The World Tour. A collection retracing the looks worn by the actress, which she worked on herself together with her stylist Andrew Mukamal, where the most iconic creations inspired by the Mattel doll come back to life, showcased on red carpets and created with the contribution of the most important fashion houses from Donatella Versace to Giorgio Armani.

Method Dressing

Robbie did the same with “Wuthering Heights” by Emerald Fennell, once again accompanied by Mukamal. The adaptation of the novel by Emily Brontë published in 1847 blends lace and corsets from the era with a strong romantic taste, embraced by the actress both in the film and in real life. A constant reference to the work carried out by Jacqueline Durran, costume designer of “Wuthering Heights”, whose modern elements initially caused an uproar among fans of the novel who could not find historical accuracy between the book and the first images of the film. Yet they perfectly match the excessive and lustful aesthetic that Fennell wanted to express with her movie, also supported by the set design of Suzie Davies.

A true method dressing approach by the performer of Catherine Earnshaw, whose spirit infused the gothic-Victorian outfits worn from Paris to Australia, including the Taj Mahal Diamond displayed at the Los Angeles premiere of the film, a jewel once owned by Elizabeth Taylor as a gift from her then husband Richard Burton, whose creation dates back to the court of the Indian Empire. A way of bringing the film beyond the screen, as the actress managed to do by giving a passionate touch to her look from the very first appearance in Roberto Cavalli with a pendant choker and vertiginous Louboutin heels, whose red sole was continuously reintroduced almost as a leitmotif of the press tour.

The color ranges from the ruby python-pattern corset dress by Dilara Findikoglu, inspired by the novel’s line “I would rather be clasped by a serpent,” to the diva-like style of the Schiaparelli dress worn in California, whose red hem rises transforming the black skirt. Reaching the detail of the thigh-high stockings for the archival look by John Galliano, SS92, whose main piece is a redingote coat with raw pink wool on collar and cuffs, before exploding with the Chanel dress designed by Matthieu Blazy with which she enchanted everyone on the Paris red carpet, for a style that seems yet another reference to Gone with the Wind already cited by the film’s poster.

The Gothic Chic Aesthetic

Just as Fennell reinterpreted Wuthering Heights, so Robbie and Mukamal reinterpreted the film to return to the audience the taste expressed by the author in her work, whose emanation the protagonist carries around the world. Where gothic chic becomes the signature to respect and maintain to the very end. A way of communicating the film that does not rely on identification like Chalamet did, for instance with the viral Zoom reunion, although many have seen in the interactions between Robbie and co-star Jacob Elordi a search for the theme of obsession and overwhelming passion during interviews. Instead, it speaks of the title through clothes, accessories, and makeup.

As demonstrated by another Dilara Findikoglu outfit worn by the actress at the London premiere, a corseted dress covered by a transparent silk chiffon veil on which synthetic braids flow. Hair is in fact a visual reference to “Wuthering Heights”, with Robbie pairing the dress with a bracelet made of real hair, itself a reference to a mourning accessory from 175 years ago owned by Charlotte Brontë in memory of her sister Emily.

A way to convey closeness to the original text and to continue a discourse that is not limited to the cinema hall, for a world made of column dresses (the Thom Browne worn for a photocall again in the French capital) and moorland specters (the Ashi Studio dress for the Sydney stop). Who knows if this press tour, just like the one for Barbie, will also become a book. The potential is all there.