Bonnie & Clyde: robbing banks and making trends
The costume design that changed the late 60s fashion
To my English speaking readers: since my native language is Spanish, I apologise in advanced for any mistakes that you can find in the English version of this post. Thanks for your support! 😊
Towards the end of August of 1967 Warner Bros. released, in small theatres and with big hesitation, Bonnie & Clyde, directed by Arthur Penn with Faye Dunaway and Warren Beaty in the lead roles. The following months, beret sales went trough the roof, so much that Life magazine proclaimed “Faye Dunaway has already done for the beret what Bardot did for the bikini”. But it wasn’t Dunaway, but Theadora Van Runkle, who proved the power of a good costume design.
The film, which adapted the story of the legendary bank-robbing couple in the 1930s, wasn’t easy to make. Warren Beaty (who had been fighting for this project for years) and Arthur Penn were often fighting on set. And even when it was finished, Warner Bros. was hesitant to release it, as they thought it was too long, too violent and too influenced by European cinema to succeed in America. They decided to release it at the end of the Summer (which pretty much means that the movie was doomed) and only in small theatres, to prevent it from having a big impact.
However, the movie became considerably popular amongst the young audience, who enjoyed the romantization of the 1930s and the modernness of the characters. The positive reviews it got (including the article in The New Yorker by the legendary Pauline Kael, in October of 1967) and the strong influence that the movie’s costume design had on fashion trends almost right away, made Warner Bros. reconsider and re-release the movie. It was a huge box office hit, making 70 million dollars and got ten Oscar nominations. Including, of course, a nomination for Best Costume Design.
Theadora Van Runkle started her career as a fashion illustrator for press adverts and department stores. After meeting the legendary costume designer Dorothy Jeakins, she left her job to work with her in the costume designs for Hawaii. Jeakins was so impressed that she personally recommended Van Runkle for Bonnie & Clyde’s costume design (where she met another debutant, Dean Tavoularis, who was in charge of the production design. They would work together again in The Godfather Part II).
Van Runkle developed a costume design that reflected the trends of the 1930s yet was contemporary enough to look appealing for the young audience of 1967, who were already a bit tired of the 60s fashion trends (which usually meant bold coloured geometric prints and miniskirts). Most of the designs were simple enough to be emulated by the audience, yet maintaining that glamour of the big screen. For that, she combined real 1930s vintage pieces with custom made designs. The characters wore some garments more than once, which added certain realism considering they were living on the run, but also made easier for the viewers to imagine themselves adapting those outfits to their day to day life.
Van Runkle also considered the characters’ evolution and their financial state throughout the film, making their clothes more sophisticated as the plot moves forward, as if Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were setting up their bank robber uniforms. In one of her sketches, the designer even wrote “they have $ for clothes at last”.
Although the costumes for every character are important, is the portrait that Van Runkle, alongside Faye Dunaway (who was also fairly new to the film business, being this one only her second film), made of Bonnie Parker through her clothes which turned the character into a fashion icon.
Warren Beaty (who produced the film) and Arthur Penn had a pretty clear idea of how they wanted Dunaway to look like: wearing dresses that were similar to the ones the real Bonnie Parker used but a bit more sophisticated. But they were Dunaway’s and Van Runkle’s ideas which took the designs to the next level. They wanted Bonnie to look elegant yet tomboyish, so they combined flowy dresses and skirts with more fitted jumpers and jackets and flat mary janes, giving her a more masculine yet effortless look. For the dresses and skirts, Van Runkle opted for a bias cut, to give Dunaway’s silhouette some movement, and a longer length (starting surprisingly the maxi skirt trend on the streets, proving that people was starting to get tired of miniskirts).
But the touch that definitely defined the character was the beret. It started as a nod to the real Bonnie Parker, who was wearing one in some of the pictures that exist of the couple, but it quickly became Dunaway’s signature look. It became such a popular accessory that the french town that provided them for the movie had to increase the production from 5000 to 12000 units a week, alongside the (few thousands) ones that were also being made in America.
Dunaway’s and Van Runkle’s collaboration was so productive that they kept working together for the designs the actress wore in the promotion tour, including the dress she wore to the Oscars that year, also designed by Van Runkle. They would work together later in two more films: The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) and The Arrangement (1969).
Theadora Van Runkle kept working in costume design for films that we all know and love, such as Bullit or New York, New York. She was nominated for the Oscars in three occasions (never won): for Bonnie & Clyde, The Godfather Part II and Peggy Sue got married.
Although she never got the Oscar, Theodora Van Runkle got something way more relevant as a costume designer: her work influenced real life. The designs for Bonnie & Clyde redefined the fashion trends of the late 60s, made a fashion icon out of Faye Dunaway and influenced thousands of young women around the world. Not bad for a young designer in a gangsters movie that almost didn’t happen.