have since inspired Kiton’s own be

ile the Guardian deemed it, a primped and simpering folly, jackets wraps the turkey that dreamed it was a peacock.But even those who know only the Wikipedia entry version of the abdication crisis romance may still want to see the film because, if nothing else, it will have style.The many influential fashion insiders I talked to over TIFF’s first weekend agree that stylist and costumer Arianne Phillips’ work is not to be missed.As a stylist, Phillips’ multi-layered collaboration with Madonna spans years: concert tours, album covers, photo shoots, nearly 20 music videos and countless red carpet moments.the respected stylist does extensive biographical and geographical research and prepares meticulous visual reference flipbooks.Which should at least make for interesting wardrobe.After the abdication, the couple lived in virtual exile in the Bahamas, and then in France, and their life together became about the pursuit of aesthetic perfection.Remember all those Cartier trinkets?million at auction and Cartier reproduced many of them for Phillips in the film.In fact, given the absence of any real fashion film at TIFF this year, it would be smart of The Weinstein Co.which acquired the film pre-reviews, in June, presumably as a Rashomon-like companion piece to the company’s The King’s Speech hit of last year) to reposition it as something of a style romp.It’s not too late, Harvey!Actually, they may already have.American Vogue, which worshipped Wallis almost as much as the Duke did, could very well have an exclusive style special in the works for the film’s December release.Although the former Wallis Simpson was more pinched and hauty than beautiful, she became a fashion icon of her era.the Duchess told Vogue in 1943.from the severe centre part of her hair to the austere cut of her wardrobe, with its high necklines, slender long sleeves and simple silhouettes.That lissome silhouette has inspired many recent fashion moments, from Roland Mouret’s latest collection to Pippa Middleton’s Alexander McQueen maid of honour wedding gloves dress, with its slinky cowl and cap sleeves.and reserved exclusively for her wardrobe.s and Madeleine Vionnet’s draped and fluid asymmetrical dresses, it’s the Duchess’s Elsa Schiaparelli trousseau that is most remembered.When Schiaparelli opened a London salon in Upper Grosvenor street, a first showing of 38 styles attracted clients such as Wallis Simpson, the future Duchess of Windsor.In 1937, the following year and on the eve of her June wedding, Simpson purchased 18 ensembles from the designer’s spring collection, including pieces with enormous plastic butterflies along the front of a cardigan-style jacket.The butterfly motif was inspired by Man Ray’s transfer prints butterflies of the early 1930s and was laden with meaning: for both Schiap and the surrealist artists of her circle, it symbolized the metamorphosis, something beautiful born of something mundane.Scrapbook, Cecil Beaton’s journal, describes Simpson’s post-nuptial transformation from jolie laide into an elegant beauty in precisely those terms.Another memorable black Schiap ensemble, one that Phillips reproduces in the film, has a jacket adorned with curlicue swirls of white leather.s collaboration with Schiaparelli in that 1937 collection was based on his famous Lobster Telephone and both the socialite Daisy Fellowes and Simpson wore the collection’s showpiece organdy evening gown that summer.Simpson wears it in photographs by Beaton, their official engagement and wedding photographer.s on the eve of their nuptials.Alas, the spin backfired when it became known that the lobster was a symbol of potent sexuality.Nevertheless, it became an indelible six-page spread in Vogue.That now-infamous series also marked the beginning of celebrities rather than models presenting the season’s designer fashion in Vogue, a trend that quickly spread to other magazines.to say he was dapper is an understatement; he remains a sartorial hero to many men (including Ralph Lauren and cult Japanese label Bathing Ape’s Nigo).those ill-advised abbreviated pants for men of the 1920s, did not fare as wedding veils well and have been relegated to retro golf course attire).For evenings, he created the midnight blue tuxedo and jewel-tone dinner jacket still in vogue today.For sporty and country occasions, he favoured large-scale plaids and checks bold enough to make Don Cherry envious (from 1919 to 1959, these were made exclusively by Scholte of Savile Row).Then there’s the Windsor knot, a beefy triangular knot best worn with a formal criss-crossing cutaway collar that s now also called the Windsor collar style, since it was the Prince of Wales who popularized it in the 1930s.Despite the name, we cannot ascribe him Prince of Wales check; that was made famous by a previous Edward, the Duke’s grandfather King Edward VII.The Duke was particular about his suiting, as Neapolitan luxury bespoke tailor Kiton learned when they purchased nine of his suits (including his wedding ensemble) at the 1998 Sotheby’s auction of his wardrobe.He favoured piped slash pockets and an untapered trouser leg with a buttoned rather than sewn cuff, but he was even more fastidious about the inner engineering, details of which have since inspired Kiton’s own bespoke touches.He preferred zippered-fly trousers when button plackets were still the norm.He wore custom-fitted cotton boxer shorts that were buttoned right into the trousers, for a bunch-free silhouette.The left-hand pocket was cut larger, for his cigarette case.Elastic panels inside the waistband held trousers up in a just-so slouchy way (he despised suspenders as surely as Madonna loathes hydrangeas), which also provided a girdle-like effect on his stomach.The Duke of Windsor: the original inventor of Spanx shapewear!Roy Thomson Hall; Sept.Visa Screening Room.The dress, deconstructed Fashion was an important weapon for the Duchess of Windsor.To wit: Wallis Simpson topped her wedding ensemble with a straw hat styled to be both reminiscent of the Britis