'Get Smart' Gets Fashion
At a time when fashion is heading toward traditional silhouettes — hourglass figures, belted coats, and knee-length hemlines — along comes "Get Smart," the film adaptation and update of the 1960s television series of the same name, which opens on Friday.
Karl Prouse/Catwalking / 2008 Catwalking
A model in a look from the Celine Fall 2008 collection.
Our heroine is Agent 99. She's quick, competent, and attractive. No matter what manner of royal mess Maxwell Smart makes, she's there to back him up — looking flawlessly elegant, yet modern all the while.
In the movie, Anne Hathaway wears a wardrobe of crisp sheath dresses, sharp jackets, and slim-cut pants. And in the original television series, the character — played by actress Barbara Feldon — was known to enjoy her fashion-forward wardrobe. As compared with other fictional female spies and sidekicks, Agent 99 doesn't have that come-hither gaze. Her style is more Miss Moneypenny than Bond girl. More Nancy Drew than Angelina Jolie-as-Mrs. Smith.
But it's a look that isn't too hard to find on runways in New York and Paris. For fall, Michael Kors showed a collection that was sexy without showing a lot of skin; dresses were fitted and chic, but by most measures quite modest. And for men, Kors gave the guys a strong dose of Hollywood detective. Carolina Herrera and Ralph Lauren both showed suits that were inspired by menswear but sexy in their form-fitting cuts. At Celine, designer Ivana Omazic emphasized an aggressively active look with bold colors and shapes that flatter — just right for gals in charge (or pretty agents in hot pursuit). For Yves Saint Laurent, Stefano Pilati created a futuristic collection, but the slick bobbed wigs that the models wore bear a similarity to one of Agent 99's disguises.
Whether she gets the guy or not, who cares? This girl gets the job done.
