The Kids Are All (Dressed) Right

 Mademoiselle Paloma - Gabriel Yared

Last week while I was watching The Hedgehog or by its original French title,  Le Herisson (2009) I couldn't help but notice, aside from the beautiful soundtrack (ugh you folks must know that was coming) and warm charming characters, the way Paloma dressed. She wears a uniform of lose denim overalls over a variation of Breton shirts à la St James. The look is classically French French, which is kind of precisely the point when much of the film is about how Madame Michel and Paloma's quiet rebellion against French social norms and expectations. Everything she wears is simple and adorable while also thoroughly age appropriate. What makes me swoon even more is how much I want to wear everything she wears in this film. Function is not sacrificed over form as Paloma looks comfortable but chic en même temps.  I highly suggest both reading the book (The Elegance of a Hedgehog) and watching the film.

Briony - Dario Marianelli

While thinking about the way children preadolescents dressed, I also suddenly remembered Briony from Atonement (2007) and what she wore in the film. Though the film was set in a wholly different time period, they share similar qualities in being rather bare with the devil in the details. She manages to look sophisticated enough to denote the upper class status of the character, yet isn't too much that she loses all innocent childish appeal. The silhouette is particularly beautiful and also suitable to the time period, and small touches like the little necklaces and the pair of Mary Janes don't go unnoticed. Although it is the green dress Keira Knightley wore that became most iconic, the basic, enchantingly sweet wardrobe of young Briony Tallis is still most memorable to me. Again both the book and the film is much recommended.