On-screen style: the best dressed TV & film characters of the year

By Poppy Cory-Wright on 2/8/2019

On screen is where many fictitious style icons are born, both in protagonists and antagonists, villains and heroes. It's where brands and trends are revived, imagined and immortalised, and where we've watched, learned and been inspired to reach new sartorial heights.
2019's film and television has been rich in style, and from cocktail hats and herringbone to swathes of silk and neon scrunchies, we've rounded up the best-dressed screen characters of the year

Elton John, Rocketman

Scenes of loneliness and substance abuse are juxtaposed with John’s ecstatic pizazz while Taron Egerton gives a career-best performance as Sir Elton. The kaleidoscope of costumes are a riot of imagination - and that of one man in particular - costume designer Julian Day.

Click here to read our interview with costume designer Julian Day

Villanelle, Killing Eve 2

Enigmatic, savage, and yet peculiarly likeable, the brutal assassin Villanelle of Killing Eve returned to our screens earlier this year. Once again she is as assertive in fashion as in the act of murder.

Jodie Comer's brilliant performance is punctuated with style moments dreamt up by costume designer Charlotte Mitchell. From ice cream coloured blouses and Chloé's horse print suit to boys' pyjamas and punkish purple hair, the series' costumes are to die for.

Morf Vandelwalt, Velvet Buzzsaw

Netflix's horror-parody, which made the LA art scene its subject, boasts serious style credentials thanks to costume designers Trish Summerville and Isis Mussenden.

Art critic Morf Vandewalt, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, has an eclectic uniform of thick-rimmed glasses, white sneakers and impeccably cut tailoring.

Read our review here

The Monterey Five, Big Little Lies 2

The much-anticipated second season of Big Little Lies has landed, bringing viewers back to the salt-worn shores and heady drama of Monterey Bay. With it, returned the stellar display of costumes - dreamed up by Emmy-winning costume designer Alix Friedberg - that had sparked a thousand articles exploring mum-tribes and their sartorial prowess in the previous season.

Season one saw each key character build-up her own unmistakable style, silhouette and colour palette. There was boho-babe Bonnie with her strings of beads, micro-tattoos and yoga pants, sugary-sweet Madeleine's bold prints and designer bags, Celeste's luxurious, tasteful fabrics, Renata's expensive CEO-realness and plain Jane's hoodies and combat boots.

Rue Bennett, Euphoria

Gen Z style comes to life in Euphoria, the trippy new Sky Atlantic show making serious waves across the globe, thanks to its scenes of drug-use, sex and violence that have garnered both praise and criticism.

Zendaya plays Rue Bennett, a troubled 17-year-old Rue, fresh from rehab, with a love of converse, tie-dye hoodies and button down shirts.

Nadia Vulvakov, Russian Doll

Natasha Lyonne is dark and hilarious in Russian Doll, lost in a deathly time warp in a provocative New York City. Costume Designer Jenn Rogien (who also worked with Lyonne on Orange Is The New Black) reverts to an all-black aesthetic for the protagonist, with punches of scarlet red and gold to accent. Mourning's favourite hue, over and over again.

Read our review here

Sarah Churchill, The Favourite

Yorgos Lanthimos's period masterpiece The Favourite - starring Olivia Coleman and Rachel Weisz - prompted critics to coin the phrase 'gout rich'. This was largely down to the costumes, replete with Baroque pearls, fur-linings and lush embroidery, along with scenes of in-palace duck racing and pineapple eating. Rachel Weisz's character, Lady in Waiting Sarah Churchill's shooting outfit is OUR Favourite.

Read our review here

Eleven, Stranger Things 3

Everyone's favourite Telekinetic, Eleven from Stranger Things, had her fashion-coming-of-age moment this series. With scrunchies, braces and ultra-graphic button down shirts aplenty, this girl's found her 80's themed sartorial bliss.

Read our review here

Gabrielle Colette, Colette

Quintessential English rose Keira Knightley plays the convention shattering Gabrielle Colette in a biopic about her life.

Costume designer Andrea Flesch has meticulously created reproductions of Colette's androgynous and subversive wardrobe, and you can expect an array of impressive ensembles.

Click here to read our review

Tish, If Beale Street Could Talk

Director Barry Jenkins and costume designer Caroline Eselin's (also responsible for the clothing in masterpiece Moonlight) work with palette of blues, greens and yellows in If Beale Street Could Talk.

Sumptuous, vintage and vibrant, the outfits and colour scheme place 1970s Harlem as a glowing backdrop for a tale of loyalty and love.

Read our review here