Few films are as ravishing and effortlessly stylish as Anthony Minghella’s The Talented Mr. Ripley, the glorious 1999 thriller which sees the likes of Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Cate Blanchett, and Philip Seymour Hoffman swanning around ’50s Italy. Friendships are forged through deception, obsessions develop, jealousies arise, and the net slowly closes in on our titular anti-hero—all while the fashion, courtesy of costume designers Ann Roth and Gary Jones, is sensational.
There’s exceptional menswear, of course—louche shirting, perfectly tailored suits, Gucci loafers, and signet rings, as worn by Law’s Dickie Greenleaf and then Damon’s Tom Ripley, as he adopts his former friend’s identity—but the two sartorial scene-stealers are, undoubtedly, Paltrow’s sweet-natured Marge Sherwood and Blanchett’s gregarious socialite Meredith Logue.
The former’s uniform of crisp white shirts, tortoiseshell headbands, and floral midi-skirts have since become synonymous with laidback summer holiday style, and symbolize her youthful exuberance and naïveté. Then, as the seasons change, the plot takes a darker turn and she grows suspicious of Tom, she begins covering up—firstly in sumptuous knits and then, as the story takes her from southern Italy to Rome and then to Venice, sleek trenches and a showstopping leopard-print number with a matching hat.
It’s in this portion of the story that we also see more of Meredith, resplendent in wasp-waisted wool coats, silk scarves, camel-colored capes, sequined ball gowns, and strings of pearls. Both women are distinct—Meredith more polished and refined, and Marge a little more undone and bohemian—but equally fashionable, and almost two and a half decades on from the film’s release, they still look wonderfully fresh and contemporary.
This incredible fashion legacy poses a challenge for Ripley, Netflix’s upcoming, Steven Zaillian-directed retelling of the Patricia Highsmith classic, this time starring Andrew Scott, Dakota Fanning, and Johnny Flynn. Filmed in luminous black and white, in place of Minghella’s sun-soaked palette of pastels, it, perhaps wisely, takes an entirely different approach, with costumers Giovanni Casalnuovo and Maurizio Millenotti dressing its stars in more subdued and pared-back ensembles—think artfully crumpled cotton shirts, dark tweed, Aran knits, and boatneck tops which, for Fanning’s take on Marge, are paired with a slicked back low bun and minimal make-up. It’s simple, certainly, but also impossibly chic.
As we wait to see how this new reimagining compares to the beloved original, we look back on the best costumes from The Talented Mr. Ripley, below.
Photo: Courtesy Everett Collection1/9Short-sleeved shirts and swimwear for sunning on the Amalfi coast.
Photo: Courtesy Everett Collection2/9A printed two-piece for lounging beachside.
Photo: Courtesy Everett Collection3/9Grocery shopping in a white shirt and floaty printed skirt, accessorized with a basket bag (and a pale blue scarf tied around the hair).
Photo: Courtesy Everett Collection4/9Dickie and Marge coordinate in a knitted shirt and delicately embroidered puff-sleeved blouse and printed skirt.
Photo: Courtesy Everett Collection5/9Dickie’s final look—a simple, slightly translucent black polo and white trousers rolled up carelessly at the ankles.
Photo: Courtesy Everett Collection6/9For coffee by the Spanish Steps, Meredith opts for a butter-soft cashmere cardigan and a matching fuzzy beret.
Photo: Courtesy Everett Collection7/9Marge hitches a ride with Tom in a belted blue dress, printed scarf, trench coat, top-handle bag, and sunglasses befitting an Italian movie star.
Photo: Courtesy Everett Collection8/9For a night at the opera, Marge opts for a strapless midnight blue number.
Photo: Courtesy Everett Collection9/9To confront Tom in Venice, Marge cuts a stylish figure in her coordinating leopard print—a predator finally approaching her prey.
