It's not easy being green (clothing)
Undoing just latest series to make fashion a big attraction, Michael Hogan writes.
One of the most talked-about TV dramas at the moment is the psychological thriller The Undoing. It's the fiendishly gripping tale of a wealthy New York couple whose gilded life is rocked when the wife learns her husband has not only cheated on her but is prime suspect for the bloody murder of his illicit lover.
Much of the feverish fan discourse is about the show's scene-stealing star. I am not referring to its A-list leading pair, Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant. Nor even its impressive international supporting cast, which includes Canada's Donald Sutherland, England's Douglas Hodge, Venezuela's Edgar Ramirez and Denmark's Sofie Grabol. No, The Undoing's breakout star is Kidman's green coat.
It's a long, hooded, bohemian number in moss green velvet. Two U.S. fashion labels are already selling copies.
The Undoing is just the latest entry in a burgeoning TV trend: the designer supersoap. These glossy series are essentially pulpy potboilers — low culture masquerading as high art.
Kidman is currently the undisputed queen of the genre. Her previous small-screen outing was in school gates mystery Big Little Lies — like The Undoing, made by prestige powerhouse HBO. Next year comes Nine Perfect Strangers, in which Kidman plays an enigmatic woman who runs a luxury wellness retreat.
All three series — Big Little Lies, The Undoing, Nine Perfect Strangers — are written by prolific screenwriter David E. Kelley.
If Kidman is the genre's queen, then Kelley is its king. Together, the two have cornered the market in snapping up the rights to zeitgeisty book-club thrillers from female authors and turning them into must-see miniseries.
What do all these series have in common? Well, they're femaleled and family-focused, with grabby premises that hook viewers — betrayal or murder, sex or scandal, a dark secret or a deadly rivalry. Perhaps most crucially, they have the reassuring sheen of quality: big budgets, big names and the feel of a weighty box set, even if their storylines don't always deliver.
They've become catnip for midlifers wanting stylishly made but ultimately unchallenging binge-viewing at the end of a working day — essentially the screen equivalent of a page-turning beach read. Set the action in glassy houses with enviable kitchens and statement wallpaper. Have the impeccably coiffed characters drink wine from vast, vaselike glasses. Big Little Lies was set among the moneyed yummy mommies of Monterey, Calif. Ditto The Undoing, an East Coast equivalent in five-storey Manhattan town houses with mulberry walls, marble work surfaces and artfully distressed bare brickwork.
That coat isn't the only covetable item in its heroine's walk-in wardrobe, either. Kidman's burgundy wrap coat, embroidered cape and metallic Givenchy gown have also got fashionistas hot under the shearling collar.
Trash works best when it's high-end, with a heady blend of plush production values, pop psychology, Grand Guignol twists and literary allusions. What is The Crown, if not a blue-blood soap opera?