“You work on commission, right? Big mistake. Big! Huge!”
35 years later, that iconic Pretty Woman scene is still talked about today. When Vivian Ward (Julia Roberts) walks into an upscale store, to get her revenge on two snobby sales associates who had refused to work with her, we all collectively cheered. I still get chills when she saunters in wearing her polished buttoned dress, white gloves, and dramatic black brimmed chapeau; just a few days prior the L.A. prostitute had worn her more casual clothes—a slinky cut-out dress and thigh-high boots, a sweater tied around her waist—and was swiftly chased out the store. But now, in her snazzy new movie-makeover outfit, financed by her new wealthy businessman client Edward Lewis (Richard Grant), Vivian holds power. The film’s costume designer, Marilyn Vance, is to thank.
Photo: Courtesy of Everett Collection
In the three decades since the film came out, many Hollywood rom-coms have tried to replicate the magic of the Pretty Woman fashion transformation. When Vivian begins dressing more elegantly to fit into Edward’s world, we see her slowly start to receive the respect she deserves; clothes are used as a metaphor for her transformative character arch. “In each successive look, you begin to see her take his `less is more’ direction,” Vance said in an interview. “By the end, she’s very simply put together—pure sophistication.” The effective use of fashion to drive the story forward in such a way has been endlessly replicated by countless films since—including in 1999’s She’s All That, 2001’s The Princess Diaries, and 2006’s The Devil Wears Prada, among many others.
