So, as promised...the first version (of many, I hope) of the Nerd-Girl Style Icons. Presenting...
MARGOT TENENBAUM
"I love you, kind of."Margot Tenenbaum hails from the 2001 Wes Anderson movie "The Royal Tenenbaums." She's a thirty something playwright going through a personal crisis (writers block, failing marriage, in love with her brother, etc), and is as secretive as they come. Throughout the movie, her deadpan intelligence allows for some of the best one-liners. Played by Gwyneth Paltrow, Margot is one of my personal favorite style icons, and the throwback 1970's style of the movie suits her perfectly.
Wes Anderson, while not necessarily targeting the nerdy, has made a career out of awkward people with strange obsessions. Take the characters of The Darjeeling Limited, as an example: three brothers, one obsessed with his absent mother, one with his dead father (he is seen carrying his deceased father's luggage throughout the movie and even wears his glasses, even though the prescription renders him half-blind), and one with his ex-girlfriend (said ex girlfriend is Natalie Portman, though, so you can hardly blame him). Margot is no different; she is a playwright obsessed with secrecy; she has been a secret smoker for 22 years.
Wes Anderson, while not necessarily targeting the nerdy, has made a career out of awkward people with strange obsessions. Take the characters of The Darjeeling Limited, as an example: three brothers, one obsessed with his absent mother, one with his dead father (he is seen carrying his deceased father's luggage throughout the movie and even wears his glasses, even though the prescription renders him half-blind), and one with his ex-girlfriend (said ex girlfriend is Natalie Portman, though, so you can hardly blame him). Margot is no different; she is a playwright obsessed with secrecy; she has been a secret smoker for 22 years.
Why is she a nerd, you might ask? In addition to having off-kilter obsessions, there is a brand of nerd girl that I'll dub "the secret nerd." A fairly normal looking person with a deck of magic cards in their purse. (Guilty.) A cheerleader who stays up all night playing World of Warcraft...you get my drift. Margot is this "secret nerd," hiding her smoking habit at all costs, and in order to maintain her private life, she resorts to keeping an apartment under a pseudonym and locks herself in the bathroom for hours at a time.
STYLE STAPLES:
· shirt dresses
· penny loafers
· brightly colored hair clips
· long fur coats
· massive amounts of black eyeliner
[side note: an interesting part about this character and her style, and this was done on purpose by Anderson in regards to all of the Tenenbaum children, is that she is still wearing the same clothes she did as a child in the 1970s. This gives her a somehow alluring Lolita vibe. Another obsession?]
PRACTICAL APPLICATION:
Alright, so I'm just gonna go ahead and assume that not many of us have penny loafers in our closets, but subtle ballet flats will do the trick. All you need is a long coat, a dress that could also be worn by a little kid, and a pack of smokes. Oh, and lets not forget the heaps of black eyeliner. Cutting off one of your fingers is optional, and not really recommended.
Try it out! And if you do, I wanna hear all about it!
Have an awesome day!
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