Fashion between the panels : Boomerang
Hello everyone out there, as always it’s good to see you. I AM JMADDD STYLES , and I would like to welcome you to another installment of Fashion between the panels. Fashion between the panels: BOOMERANG , to be exact. This time I will be taking you between the panels of yet another movie classic ( BOOMERANG ) and breaking down the fashion to come up with new inspired looks , based around and inspired by the looks in the movie. Showing you the timelessness of good fashion and how fashionably relevant this classic piece of cinema really is. I’m going to take a look at five of the major characters in the film , ( Jackie / Robin Givens ), ( Marcus Graham/ Eddie Murphy) , ( Christie / Lela Rochon ) , ( Angela / Halle Berry ) ,( Mr Jackson /John Witherspoon) , and ( Strange’/ Grace Jones ). Each of these characters were very much fashionably noteworthy in their own way in the movie. With that said let’s get started.
Let’s start right here with Christie/ Lela Rochon , when you looked at her character, you got a vibe of pure sexy but effortless, basically she had great date night style. With the halter neck body-con dress that she wore in this scene. This look is very much timeless as in it could still be worn today. But let’s take a look at how this look would translate today to really make it on trend for right now.
To translate this look for today , I kept the basic color of the dress being purple , with a slight pink hew. But I changed the details. The first option being a little closer to the look that was actually worn in the movie. A more sexy cocktail halter neck dress , but I added a long gold chain, a floral summer bag , a bangle bracelet with multi colored stones to highlight the dress color and the look is finished with a perfect opened toe sandal in a contrasting pink with hints of purple. The second look is also a halter neck dress , but a little more on the elegant side as the length is longer. I kept most of the accessories the same , but changed the shoes to a more elegant gold sandal to better suit the dress.
Throughout this blog post , we are going to come back to Jackie and Marcus a few times , here I’m going to start breaking down their looks. Now keep in mind that this movie came out in the 90’s but once again the looks still translate well today.
This is truly a timeless look , navy blue suit with a grey mock neck , this look can go a long way. To translate this look better for now , I gave you more of a tailored suit look , as the suit being worn in this scene is a little more on the unconstructed side , as a lot of clothing in the 90’s was. To complete the look I went with a blue cap-toe shoe and a matching belt. The look easily goes from the boardroom to a night out.
This look being worn by Jackie / Robin Givens , like most of the looks that she wore in the movie or all the looks she wore in the movie are truly timeless. She for the most part wore classic women’s suits , that took on the appearance of the ever on trend Channel suit. But let’s see how this look would translate today.
Now for this look I made a few changes but still managed to keep the timelessness of the original look. I kept the look in green , but did not go with a check pattern. Instead I went with a solid patternless look. That almost has the same feel as the original. also instead of a overtly sexy shoe, I went with a more subdued pump in a neutral color and a contrasting brown cross body bag.
The looks being captured above that are being worn by Eddie Murphy & Robin Givens, are evening wear looks. Once again when it came to the fashion that Jackie / Robin wore throughout this movie was truly timeless, it doesn’t take much tweaking, just small changes to give the looks a more fresher appeal. In this case , she’s wearing a black evening gown , that was done in a more velvety material with just a few accompanying jewelry pieces. I took this look and put it in more of a silk blend evening gown , changed up the shoes to a strappy evening sandal and kept the look of the pearl bracelet and necklace that always looks classy with a black evening wear look. Now to look at the evening wear look that Marcus / Eddie is wearing, of course being that it’s menswear from another era, that was fitted like it’s from another era , I gave you the more tailored tux with the more wide peek lapel in satin. The idea of the look is classic but not the styling or the fit. I also gave the look a shoe change and kept the bow tie in gold.
We couldn’t leave this classic scene of this movie without, styling a more updated version of the Strange’/ Grace Jones look. If you take a good look at this outfit , it’s to far off by today’s standards. The tights , or hot pants of yesterday are still fashion forward today just a slightly different cut. But I changed the waistcoat to a more straight styled vest of mid thigh length instead of the fishnet looking one she wore in the movie giving the look a little more of a regal appearance. I kept the black and red ankle boot but switched up the style of the boot for update purposes. I also added a gold choker to complement the cut away sleeve top , slightly changing the whole look.
Taking it back to Marcus Graham/ Eddie Murphy, The two looks that you are seeing above are not actually different looks. The top look is heading into the office with an overcoat, the second look is what is being worn under the overcoat once in the office. For the top look , I added a more trendy black jean. To play off the black overcoat, kept the paisley scarf slight color change , added a designer belt and a dress boot that could go a long way. The second look is the full office business casual look without the coat. The full look definitely required updating. Changed the lapeless blazer to a different version almost the same jacket with a smaller more sleeker lapel , to modernize the look , but still kept it classic with the turtleneck.
Interesting observation about this movie , Halle Berry is easily one of the best looking women in Hollywood. But in this movie they down played her character up against Robin Givens character, making Jackie come across twice as sexy , while Angela came across more cute , fashionably speaking until the end. If you never noticed , you will see what I mean. Angela’s style in the movie was not as classic and timeless as Jackie’s, so a lot of her looks were truly 90’s. So to capture her looks , I made a few modifications. Starting with this look. I went with a classic button down dress shirt in black with a more traditional collar. For the pants , I went with a more tailored fit dress pant to play up against the shirt, and for authenticity I still added in a Kufi ( hat ) that can be pulled off if that’s the style you project. Also for authenticity added a necklace almost identical to the one Jackie had on in the original look.
This look on Angela could have very well been a sexy look , but it was still down played coming across as cute. But when I decided to make the look over , I went with a more sexy appeal. The dress is still made of the same type material, but it’s a little longer and a bit more form fitted. The jacket I added gives you the feel of a cropped blazer instead of looking as lounge like. Then to really add more sex appeal to the look I added in a high healed open toe sandal , to add more to the dress and jacket , then finished off the look with a noticeable yet not overwhelming bracelet.
The Marcus Graham look for this scene could have almost been classified as a new age 90’s leisure suit , I often debated was it a one piece, sweater pants combo done like a lounge jumpsuit. Either way you look at it , the look had to be changed. I still went with a pull over sweater, but opted for the zipper collar instead of the one button on the inside of the sweater. Then went with a casual black denim styled chino in black , a loafer for true Marcus Graham style , then a designer silver chain with onyx piece for a good jewelry accent and finished the look with a designer belt. Although changed still capturing the Marcus Graham look.
I could not leave this classic scene in the movie without showing you that I knew how to capture the look of Mr. you have to coordinate, an authentic 60’s / 70’s leisure suit look. The interesting part about capturing this look , you have vintage clothing wearers that search high and low for a leisure suit such as this one with the fly collar shirt and vintage dress boots. Giving you a touch of what is known as Geezer Style.
I know that I have already said this but , every look that Jackie wore translates almost seamlessly from then to now. The major changes that I made to this look , really were not major. The cut of the jacket for this suit is slightly different as it has a zipper closure instead of a double breasted button front. Also added a cream or egg shell colored hand bag with contrasting pump in the same color way. This look just screams Jackie . Wouldn’t you say ? As always I LET YOU TELL IT.
A little earlier I made reference to the fact that throughout this movie , Angela had a more cute style as opposed to Jackie being more fashionably bold and sexy. But by the end of the film this would change and the Angela character would become more like Jackie fashionably speaking. The look here all business, from the Black dress to the gold heels , then finished off with a gold necklace to fill the open space at the cleavage line of the dress and finished off with a subtle gold earring. Taking Angela’s style to a whole different fashionable Plato , or level. Well there it is , just like that , we have reached the end of yet another blog post. I hope you have enjoyed reading it, just as much as I enjoyed presenting it. I AM JMADDD STYLES , and this has been Fashion between the panels : BOOMERANG. That’s it for now, so until the next time…IM GONE…!!!..
