Why Normal People has the makings of a fashion classic
Would it make a person really shallow if their favourite thing about the TV adaptation of Normal People was Marianne’s wardrobe? Asking for a friend.
Rumbled. I am obsessed with everything Daisy Edgar-Jones wears on screen for the whole, blissful 12 episodes. The spaghetti strap sundress she wears for an afternoon bike ride and an ice-cream in an Italian piazza is surely the most delicious ballerinalength black dress since the bare-shouldered satin cocktail dress with the bateau-neckline and the bow-tied shoulders Hubert de Givenchy made for Audrey Hepburn in the film Sabrina in 1954. (A dress so iconic that it is known as the “Sabrina dress”. )
Then there is the short A-line tunic in sun-faded gingham Marianne wears by the pool in another scene from that Trieste holiday. With her lush fringe and coltish beauty, the vibe is pure Jane Birkin circa 1969. And the yellow sleeveless blouse in which she bolts in late to the school exam hall, when everyone else is in uniform. And don’t get my started on the cream V-neck blouse with the black silk scarf and the dangling shell earrings.
Normal People is not about clothes. Indeed, lots of the very best bits of Normal People are the scenes where Marianne and Connell have no clothes on at all. But I think we all know by now that Marianne’s sweaty sex hair and Connell’s chain are iconic, so I will spare you more thigh-rubbing.
Maybe it is a marker of how good Normal People is that it not about clothes and yet the clothes are still brilliant. Or maybe it’s because Normal People is not about clothes that the clothes are brilliant. When television makes noise in fashion it is usually for cutting-edge, scene-stealing looks