It is confirmed that Nicole Kidman has arrived for the press tour for her most recent film, “Babygirl,” and she is dressed appropriately for conducting business. The actor, who portrays a high-powered executive in Halina Reijn’s film, which was released on Christmas Day in the United States, came at the Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Monday evening wearing a fitted black pinstriped suit with a double-breasted jacket. After the taping, Kidman made her case for employee of the month even stronger by exchanging her revealing blouse for an official “Babygirl” T-shirt that she purchased from the merchandising department of A24.
On the other hand, Kidman is hardly the only A-lister to have embraced the simple dress. Rihanna was seen doing errands in Los Angeles while wearing a striped Bottega Veneta ensemble, while Elle Fanning was seen attending a photocall in London for “A Complete Unknown” while wearing a Saint Laurent pinstripe shirt, which she teamed with beige wide-leg pants and a blue tie. This week has seen the emergence of a throughline.
It is possible to trace the origins of the famous pattern all the way back to the Medieval period, since Kidman’s suit is the way in which it is most skillfully shown. One of the oldest examples of pinstriping in literature may be found in Geoffrey Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales,” which was published in the 14th century. In this work, the English author describes a lawyer who is wearing a plain coat that is “girt with a silken belt of pin-stripe stuff.” The British banking elite had been accustomed to wearing suits that were ornamented with single-weft lines by the time the Victorian era rolled around; nonetheless, the style of stripes was less about design than it was about utility. According to reports, each bank had its own unique dye or fabric, and the dimensions of the stripes themselves, including their thickness and spacing, were used to determine a person’s position within the organization.
The fact that people on the celebrity circuit, who appear to be above the monotony and unhappiness of cubicle working and employee dress regulations, are adopting this steadfast sign of corporate professionalism is a certain irony. This is because they appear to be above the mundane and miserable aspects of working there. But they are not the only ones. In spite of the fact that the concept of working from home has significantly reduced the demand for traditional office attire, there is a growing desire for a more whimsical interpretation of the 9 to 5 style.
The word “office siren” has been tagged to 48,000 films on TikTok, with some of those movies racking up millions of views. This year, Gen Z has fetishized pinstripes, gray tailoring, and denier tights with the “office siren” microtrend. At the Saint Laurent show in September, the same collection that Fanning got her costume for Monday night, creative director Anthony Vaccarello concentrated emphasis on the power suit. He designed the power suits with enormous shoulders from the 1980s, pinstriped shirts, and jewel-toned ties. In a similar fashion, fashion labels such as LaQuan Smith, Nina Ricci, and Antonio Marras followed suit by presenting pinstripe suiting that was reinterpreted in either tiny dresses or exaggerated forms.
Kidman is fortunate in that she will not be required to submit an application for a genuine office job in the near future. However, when she is dressed in her pinstriped suit, she appears to be the stereotypical “Babygirl” boss.
