Style Stalking: Sofia Coppola

By Chris Frey
February 2, 2011

Sophia Coppola

Director Sofia Coppola, wearing Louis Vuitton, receives the 'Gold Lion' for the Best Movie during the 67th Venice Film Festival (Photo by Elisabetta Villa/WireImage)

Sweet, beautiful and innocent are all words designer Marc Jacobs has used to describe his close friend and frequent muse, the film director Sofia Coppola, who he has tapped, among other collaborations, to be the face of his signature fragrance and to design accessories for Louis Vuitton. Sofia is "the epitome of the girl I fantasize of" he told Style.com. Designer Marc Jacobs isn't alone in his sentiments. A fashion industry favorite, film director Sofia Coppola consistently graces the best dressed lists.

Right now, she is making headlines for "Somewhere," a film Sofia Coppola wrote and directed about a "bad boy" actor played by Steven Dorff, who, while staying at the famed hotel Chateau Marmont to recuperate after a minor injury, is forced to rethink his life when his daughter, played by Elle Fanning, shows up unexpectedly. The film won Sofia Coppola the highest honors at the Venice Film Festival, where it premiered. Sofia Coppola also directed an upcoming—and much buzzed-about—series of TV and print ads for Dior starring Golden Globe winner Natalie Portman.

Director Sofia Coppola at the 67th Venice Film Festival (via YouTube)

In recognition of Sofia Coppola's recent creative accomplishments—and the stunning ensembles she's worn to promote them—we decided a sartorial salute was in order.

Sofia Coppola's fashion personal sense of style, like her films ("The Virgin Suicides," "Lost in Translation," "Marie Antoinette" and "Somewhere"), is meticulously edited so that only the most essential—and visually sumptuous—elements are left. Stylistically, Sofia Coppola's style is a combination of the elegant ease of Jackie Onassis and the tomboyish chic of rocker Patti Smith. She effortlessly infuses classic fashions with just enough twist to keep them interesting. She has a penchant for prep school basics, Swiss dots, nautical stripes and black that’s never boring. On her, deceptively simple pieces become less so with details like a marabou collar, a sprinkle of sequins or an understated sheen. Sofia Coppola's fashion accessories are minimal: a diamond solitaire pendant or tennis bracelet, red lipstick, delicate but sexy ankle strap shoes, and most recently, while on the “Somewhere” film press tour, she’s taken to wearing matching black bangle bracelets worn on each wrist. Although she’s often head-to-toe in Marc Jacobs or Louis Vuitton, she’s been photographed of late in a sheer lingerie-inspired silk dress from Valentino and in a slim cut sable fur coat from the Celine Resort collection.

By Hollywood standards, Sofia Coppola's style maintains an incredibly low profile, living in New York with her partner Thomas Mars, singer of French band Phoenix, and their two young daughters, Romy and Cosima. Despite juggling motherhood, scriptwriting and directing, she is there when the red carpet calls, impeccably polished but never fussy. You won’t witness Sofia Coppola spray tanned or fashion trend obsessed.

Sophia Coppola

Coppola at the 67th Venice Film Festival (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images); again in Venice (Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images); and at the launch Of Lanvin For H&M (Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images)

The only daughter of iconic film director Francis Ford Coppola, Sofia Coppola has often been dubbed “Hollywood royalty” by the media. Ironically, she didn’t spend time in Hollywood until her early twenties when she moved there to attend art school She was raised in Northern California on the family vineyard and spent lengthy periods of time on location with her father, including two years in the Philippines throughout the production of “Apocalypse Now.” Sofia Coppola's mother, Eleanor Coppola, traveled with the family, documenting the productions and grounding the family. Sofia Coppola told Bust magazine recently that her mother “was not glamorous; she was earthy.” It’s perhaps Eleanor’s influence that still resonates with Coppola today.

Anne Johnston Albert, fashion designer of New York cult label Martin and co-owner of Germain, a boutique in Great Barrington, MA) who designed for Milkfed, a fashion line Coppola launched in the early 1990s that is still sold in Japan. "Sofia has a very clear defined vision of her style. For Milkfed it was very California clean, slim fitting, simple shapes. But Sofia has grown up... She's still a gamine, but now a bit more European and sexy, like a French fashion editor,” Johnson Albert said. Perhaps it was her inner French fashion editor that led Coppola her to the strapless, puffy-skirted, floral print Louis Vuitton Resort dress that she wore to accept her Golden Lion in Venice. Although Sofia Coppola's dress surprised many fans and fashion critics for its atypically maximalist vibe, the bare neckline, delicate shoes and trademark side-parted hair were entirely Sofia.