Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

by CHRIS SCHMIDT

Novelist, modernist, feminist, socialist: Virginia Woolf has been labeled many things in her time, but style icon has never been one of them. But with clotheshorse Nicole Kidman playing the writer in the recent film adaptation of ÒThe HoursÓ Ñ Michael CunninghamÕs Pulitzer Prize-winning meditation on WoolfÕs ÒMrs. DallowayÓ Ñ that may be changing.

The movie, which recently garnered Golden Globes for best drama and best actress for Ms. Kidman, is auguring a whole new era of visibility for the look favored by Woolf and her set, a style which André Leon Talley described in this monthÕs Vogue as an ÒEnglish country-drowsy wardrobe É drab prints, outsize coats, earthy tweed, big-brimmed hats, and low, sensible shoes.Ó

Mr. Talley predicted that the looks depicted in ÒThe Hours,Ó created by costume designer Ann Roth, would be a touchstone for fashion designers working on the collections for the fall 2003 season. Nicole Lammann, of the Chelsea vintage clothing store The Family Jewels, which is frequented by members of the fashion industry, agreed that stylists and designers Òhave been coming in recently to look at Õ20s and Õ30s clothing for inspiration. ItÕs going to be the next big thing.Ó

In fact, designs reminiscent of WoolfÕs wardrobe are already appearing on the runways. For his Chanel Couture collection, shown in Paris last week, Karl Lagerfeld sent out models wearing brogues, WoolfÕs signature strap-and-buckle shoes. Gianfranco Ferré and Sonia Rykiel both peppered their spring collections with dropped-waist frocks in Bloomsbury-esque patterns, paired with sturdy, low-heeled shoes. And, for the recent Golden Globe award ceremony,Valentino dressed Cate Blanchett and Kate Hudson in billowing swaths of Arts and Crafts-inspired floral chiffon.

Designers seem to be recognizing what bookish sorts have known for years: ÒBloomsberriesÓ Ñ members of WoolfÕs Bloomsbury collective such as biographer Lytton Strachey, painter Duncan Grant, and economist Maynard Keynes Ñ were no slouches when creating a look to match their bohemian lifestyles.

Some even argue that the movie does Woolf wrong by making her look too much the frump: ÒShe would never have looked so dowdy,Ó said Woolf scholar Jane Marcus, a professor of English at City College. Many of WoolfÕs clothes were designed by her sister, the painter and interior designer Vanessa Bell, who was known for her bright, fauvist, and often clashing color palette.

Woolf herself had a complex and ambivalent relationship to clothing. ÒShe did very much care about fashion but mostly couldnÕt carry it off,Ó said Ms. Marcus. ÒI imagine her from her own descriptions as kind of scattered: hairpins falling in the soups, safety pins holding up her skirt.Ó

Yet Woolf also craved luxury: According to Ms. Roth, the costume designer for ÒThe Hours,Ó WoolfÕs undergarments were held up by jeweled brooches. Ms. Marcus also noted that Woolf set aside a Òdress allowanceÓ for herself and her niece, Angelica.

As for the present moment, those looking to jump on the Bloomsbury fashion train will find a number of stores offering styles that approximate Ñ and thankfully, update Ñ WoolfÕs signature looks.

At Mayle (252 Elizabeth St., 212-625-0406), the Nolita boutique favored by Natalie Portman and Sofia Coppola, designer Jane Mayle creates a ÒcharacterÓ each season to serve as the inspiration for her clothing collection Ñ a fictional type who might wear the clothes she designs. (Ms. Mayle herself holds a masterÕs degree in literature from Columbia.) The inspiration for her current collection: ÒA woman who would have had tea with Sigmund Freud.Ó (As it happens, WoolfÕs Hogarth Press published the first English translations of FreudÕs works.)

Particularly Woolfian items at Mayle are a dropped-waist, pleated cap-sleeve gray silk dress (currently on sale for $369, from $738), and a cream, yellow, and brown tweed coat with cuffs and collar of faux-lambswool (on sale for $674, from $1,348).

Bloomsbury jewelry moved away from precious stones toward the more natural-looking jade, amber, and coral. Calypso Bijoux (252 Mott St., 212-334-9730), the latest outpost of designer Christiane CelleÕs ever-expanding Calypso empire, is an excellent place to snap up such accessories. Besides coral and jade, youÕll also find necklaces, earrings, and rings made from agate and carnelium ($200 to $500).

For headgear, milliner Eugenia Kim (203 East 4th St., 212-353-9141) sells a brown floppy hat that approximates the one Ms. Kidman wears in the film ($275 to $350). The store also carries a more classically 1920s-identified cloche (think Louise Brooks) for $235 to $325.

Shoes are a trickier proposition. For original 1920s shoes (as well as frocks), try Flood (26 First Ave., 212-260-2269), a vintage store that sells never-worn black pumps, circa 1920, rescued from warehouses in the Midwest. The Family Jewels (130 West 23rd St., 212-633-6020) also has a good selection of fashions from the 1920s and Õ30s.

But for an honest-to-goodness brogue, you may have to save your pennies for Mr. LagerfeldÕs Chanel Couture model. Of course, Mr. LagerfeldÕs version was of the three-inch stiletto variety Ñ a bit more heel than Virginia might have cared for.