the PIPELINE: Style on Tap

• June 3, 2008 9:46 AM
• Screen Shot

Child-Bride of Nature or West Village Aesthete?

By Sarah Maher

Miranda, the young heroine of Picnic At Hanging Rock, embodies that dewy-cheeked, doe-eyed, dreamily detached quality of the Belle Epoque. A snaggle-toothed child bride of nature, her classic aesthetic—provided by costume designer Judith Dorsman—in soft muslin and gauze is so superlative, it can now be seen most Saturday afternoons on Bedford Street.




In Peter Weir's Australian film about privileged, yet doomed Edwardian-era schoolgirls, a Botticelli angel-like Miranda starts her day quoting Edgar Allen Poe and bathing her porcelain skin in fresh flowers. She continues on, accessorizing a magnifying glass with soft, golden braids, printed parasols, and a pan-flute soundtrack until she meets her fate within the mysterious caves of Hanging Rock.




On her last barefoot stroll, Miranda dons a virginal-white lawn dress clasped at the waist by a delicate silver butterfly on a belt of lavender ribbon, her swan-like neck elongated by a high broderie anglaise trim and rolled black silk stockings slung low on the hip carry her oxford lace-ups.



For a new take on doomed and dreamy lawn dressing, we love the organic cotton gauze Patty dress from Eventide worn with knee-hi socks, Rachel Comey sandals, and a Philip Crangi locket.

Look out for more "Earth-liberation fashion fantasy" and mesmerizing caves in the band Lavender Diamond's upcoming music film Imagine our Love (a companion to the album of the same name) directed by Maximillia Lukacs and starring Lavender Diamond singer Becky Stark.