Vogue Staffers Pick Their Under-the-Radar Summer Style Movies

Reported by Vogue.

Summer dressing has a reputation problem. Between the sweat and the humidity and the sheer exhaustion of trying to look like a person, it's easy to lose the plot entirely. But cinema — specifically the kind of summer cinema no one's quoting in their Instagram captions — has always known something the rest of us forget: heat is a mood, and mood has an aesthetic.

According to Vogue, the real style inspo isn't hiding in the usual suspects. Yes, The Talented Mr. Ripley and Call Me By Your Name are gorgeous — but they've been moodboarded to death. The deeper cuts are where things get interesting. Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) offers Victorian girls in gauzy white frocks dissolving into an Australian landscape — creamy, layered, and deeply strange. Only Lovers Left Alive (2013) makes the case, via Tilda Swinton in indoor-outdoor robes and slim leather, that vampiric dressing is actually a summer survival strategy. A Bigger Splash (2015), Luca Guadagnino's chaotic precursor to CMBYN, delivers the platonic ideal of Italian-island off-duty: stretched-out tees, flowing linen, bikinis, and that specifically luxurious "oh, this?" energy.

The Politics of Getting Dressed in the Heat

Some of the best picks double as something sharper than fashion porn. Do the Right Thing (1989) is Spike Lee capturing a sweltering New York summer in full — dewy skin, damp hair, deflated demeanor — and somehow, still, great menswear. Printed shirts, tank tops, athletic memorabilia: proof that New Yorkers will dress with intention even when the city is actively trying to kill them. Then there's Thelma & Louise (1991), where the real transformation isn't the road trip — it's watching two women shed their structured lives for cutoffs, tees, and wind-blown hair. By the time Thelma's wearing Brad Pitt's chambray shirt with the sleeves cut off, biceps out, it reads less like a costume change and more like a liberation.

For quieter, more wearable inspiration: The Worst Person in the World (2021) — Joachim Trier's gut-punch of a film — features costume design by Ellen Ystehede that deliberately sidesteps Scandi minimalism in favor of effortless neutral staples. A black linen button-up reportedly sent at least one Vogue staffer straight to checkout. And Then We Danced (2019) builds a case for barely-there knits and fluid silhouettes as peak hot-weather dressing. And Smoke Signals (1998) — described as possibly the best Indigenous comedy ever made — brings tie-dye, worn-in denim, and beaded jewelry into the conversation as a reminder that summer style, at its best, is joyful and unfussy.

The through line across all of it: the most compelling summer dressing has nothing to do with trends and everything to do with conviction — wear the robes, cut the sleeves, let the linen wrinkle.

Read the original at Vogue.