Influenced: Annie Hall, Menswear for Women in 2011 Spring RTW Collections

The standout trends this Spring are pants, suits, and menswear inspired looks. Women have always been influenced by what they see on the big screen, but I think it’s safe to say that in this case, film fashion was definitely the original stimulator for what made these looks normal today. It was unheard of for women to wear anything other than skirts until the 1930s when actresses Marlene Dietrich and Katharine Hepburn made menswear for women fashionable (think Blonde Venus, Woman of the Year, and Bringing up Baby). In 1977, Ruth Morley’s famous androgynous costumes for Diane Keaton in Annie Hall became a fad. Today I’ll be featuring looks from 25 different Spring 2011 Ready-to-Wear Collections (a lot I know, like I said, the trend). Here is an excerpt from Deborah Nadoolman Landis’ Dressed: A Century of Hollywood Costume Design on Annie Hall's influence of menswear for women:

Costume Designers working in contemporary films ignited entire fashion movements. Designer Joe Aulisi’s dashing leather jacket for Richard Roundtree in “Shaft” (1971), and Ruth Morley’s famous eclectic layered menswear for Diane Keaton in “Annie Hall” (1977), still resonate. “Annie Hall” defined an era, establishing a new vocabulary for alternative glamour. The suit vests, men’s shoes, baggy pleated pants, knotted ties, and floppy hats imbued Keaton’s character with a romantic, asexualized innocence: “She always seems a bit like a child playing dress-up,” Keaton mused. No sooner had the movie been release than the “Annie Hall look” became a fad, and Ruth Morley’s androgynous mix was coveted by women across the nation. One observer said that “Annie Hall” had done as much for pants in her time as Marlene Dietrich and Katharine Hepburn had before her.

Be it menswear or not menswear inspired, the big trend is the pants. Some looks are feminine, some are masculine, and some are even asexual. Just be sure to find whichever style inspires most and make the pants work for you this Spring.

So here the Spring 2011 Ready-to-Wear collections featuring menswear inspired looks, in alphabetical order.

Annie Hall (1977) MGM | Costume Designer, Ruth Morley | Director, Woody Allen.

Runway photos courtesy of Style.com

© 2011 - 2015, Louise Junker.