Lust Caution

"Lust Caution" is one of my favorite movies of all time. I'm so inspired by the story, the characters, the staging art, and the fashion. It's a dark romance story between two people who are enemies and thus forbidden to have feelings for each other. At the end, it was the ultimate struggle between lust & love, life & death, selfishness & selfless, patriotism & romance. The more I watch it, the more I appreciate all the intricate details of the film : carefully chosen words, small looks exchanged in a game of mah-jong and even the tiniest hand movement.

As beautiful as the story-line was, I thought the color palette and the fashion in it was just as good. For example, the actress' pale matte face and blood red lips made her look like a dead person in contrast to the rich wives' rosy cheeks, and that's exactly who she was: someone who had already dedicated her life to her country and ready to sacrifice her life at anytime. Her curve hugging qi-pao is anything but conservative in seducing her enemy. In a closer look, her qi-pao is actually made out of dark sheer floral fabric worn over a slip dress, much like what we see on the runway today but with lace. And then all that is simply concealed with a man's trench coat, difficult to concur on the outside, but extremely lustful on the inside. It could not be more fitting for the film.

I'm so intrigued and mesmerized by the film that I wish I could make a whole line of clothing inspired by 1940s Shanghai fashion.











Lust Caution by thegoldfishmafia featuring Balenciaga dresses