Boardwalk Empire: the fashion verdict
Well, there it is. The much-hyped and eagerly anticipated opening episode of the award-winning Boardwalk Empire made its debut on new TV channel Sky Atlantic last night. And while I know American film legend Martin Scorsese directed it, I know there are great stories just starting to bubble under, and I know that the cast is genius - bug-eyed Steve Buscemi as corrupt treasurer Enoch “Nucky” Thompson, the smouldering Michael Pitt, the unequivocally sexy Paz de la Huerta and the brilliant Michael K. Williams (The Wire’s Omar) - what really interested me was the look and feel of the drama.
No wonder the show reportedly cost a whopping £11m to make the first episode alone - the programme is glossy, stylish and with an acute attention to detail. In 1920s Prohibition-era Atlantic City, where the story is set, the men wear pinstripe suits, cashmere coats and shiny brogues, while the women wear fur stoles, bejewelled hats and floaty silk dresses with lashings of chiffon, beading and fringing, or androgynous tuxedo suits and top hats for the cabaret hostesses.
But can we assume that the show will have an effect on the fashion industry and thus our personal dressing à la Mad Men? The early ‘60s drama centred around a group of advertising execs was claimed to have had a direct influence on Miuccia Prada’s autumn/winter 2010 collection - all ultra-feminine pieces and hourglass silhouettes - although she insists that she’s never seen the show. Such is the influence of Prada herself, this look, whether inspired by Mad Men or not, inevitably trickled down to the high street with pencil skirts, pussy bow blouses, stiletto heels and Betty Draper handbags taking pride of place in our wardrobes.
Will Boardwalk’s Lucy Danziger now replace Joan Holloway as our new style muse? Will the flapper girl get a revival? And will we now see women up and down the country channelling the Boardwalk Empire look in decadent fringed cocktail dresses, Mary-Jane shoes and feathered felt hats? Only time will tell.
Picture: Paz de la Huerta as Lucy Danziger in Boardwalk Empire.
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