Faded Elegance

THE MOVIE: “Driving Miss Daisy”

THE SETUP: A period piece about an Atlanta matron (Jessica Tandy) and her chauffeur (Morgan Freeman) who form a deep friendship during the years that he works for her, from the late 1940s through the days of desegregation in the 1960s and into the early 1970s.

THE LOOK: Genteel for Miss Daisy (Tandy), with her delicate straw hats, white gloves, floral print dresses and small but costly jewelry; faded-elegant for her chauffeur, Hoke, with his small bow ties, crisply pressed but well-worn shirts and jackets.

THE LABELS: Costumer Elizabeth McBride, an Oscar nominee for this film, researched vintage Southern magazines and newspapers. Finding the clothes and accessories was another matter. She raided vintage clothing stores. Best finds came from Repeat Performance and American Rag in Los Angeles and Golyester in Venice. She also shopped from San Francisco to Dallas. McBride designed about half of Tandy’s wardrobe.

THE PLAN: As McBride points out, older women typically don’t buy new clothes every year. McBride dressed Daisy in clothes that were at least five years out of style, and her mink stole was 20 years old. The floral housedresses that Daisy wore early in the movie, set in 1948, were from the ‘30s. Her jewelry was even older. Like Daisy’s, Hoke’s clothes lagged time-wise. “His clothes were most likely hand-me-downs from people he worked for,” McBride said. At the other fashion extreme was Daisy’s daughter-in-law Florine (Patti LuPone), who “would read Vogue and dash out to Dallas to find the right dress.” Time progressed for Daisy’s son Boolie (Dan Aykroyd) through the size of his suit lapels, ending with the “soaring” lapels of the ‘70s and slightly flared suit legs.

THE PAYOFF: Period costumes that don’t come out and hit you on the head with their authenticity, but seamlessly blend into the action.