Fashion With a Southern Accent
The movie: “Sweet Home Alabama”
The costume designer: Sophie de Rakoff Carbonell, who designed “Alabama” star Reese Witherspoon’s costumes in the hit movie “Legally Blonde” and also worked on music videos for Alanis Morrisette, Rod Stewart, Whitney Houston and Enrique Iglesias.
FYI: Witherspoon’s Melanie Carmichael is a New York fashion designer. (Her romantic dilemma: choosing between her hick Alabama husband, from whom she never officially divorced, and her slick New York fianceacute;.) Clothes in the fashion show segment of the movie are from Marc Jacobs’ Spring/Summer 2002 collection.
Inspiration: Carbonell pictured eclectic, British-born designer Jane Mayle while pulling Witherspoon’s New York look together. Mayle is “a little Victorian, like Miu Miu meets Marc Jacobs,” she points out, adding, “She wears jeans, interesting tops and good shoes. She’s fashionable without being too rock ’n’ roll or eccentric.” With that in mind, Carbonell chose dresses and separates—in size 2—by Marni, Tracy Feith, Nicole Fahri, Catherine Malandrino, Diane Von Furstenberg and Carolina Herrera. Her black boots are Richard Tyler. For Witherspoon’s Alabama transformation, Carbonell put her in Levi’s jeans, vintage cowboy boots and a Prada blouse, and, for another scene, she designed a smocked, floral peasant dress worn with a luscious, Alabama-made, hand-knit “bosom warmer,” or shawl.
You should know: Initially, the director wanted Witherspoon to wear severely tailored suits like Carolyn Bessette Kennedy’s. For the camera test, Carbonell dressed her in a Donna Karan couture fitted, silver-gray metallic suit with a slim pencil skirt. “But it was just too conservative. She didn’t look like a young fashion designer,” Carbonell attests.
Hemline watch: Witherspoon’s dresses and skirts just cover the knee, though some are mid-calf. “I don’t do really short on anybody. I don’t think it’s a fashionable length,” says Carbonell. Only Witherspoon’s Alabama peasant dress got the short hemline treatment because it was meant to look old.
Wedding bell whites and blues: In the wedding scene, Witherspoon is in a simple, fishtail-hemmed organza-and-silk-chiffon gown (Carbonell says she gave her sketches to Carolina Herrera to produce). Mother-in-law-to-be Candice Bergen, the mayor of New York, looks mighty spiffy too in a robin’s egg blue satin Richard Tyler coat over a matching sheath. The outfit happened this way: Bergen owned a similar Tyler dress that she liked, so Carbonell ordered one just like it, plus a coat. As for the splendid crystal-and-wire beaded choker she wears with it, it came directly from Bergen’s jewelry box. Carbonell found a conservative diamond necklace for the scene, but Bergen found it “kind of boring.”
Best shopping: Carbonell shops everywhere for clothes, but one of her No. 1 shopping resources is the Desert Hills Premium Outlets, a discount mall near Palm Springs, Calif.—and not because of budget constraints. It’s just full of great finds. “I shopped there today for ’Legally Blonde 2,’” she chirps. She also bought Witherspoon’s (unworn) Donna Karan suit there and a Prada chiffon blouse. —Betty Goodwin
