“Hey! Don’t take my picture.” Photo: Chris Jackson/Getty Images
England’s most valuable export Emma Thompson picked up a Comedy Award at the Evening Standard British Film Awards on Sunday for her role in “The Legend of Barney Thomson,” wearing a three-piece pink Stella McCartney suit that was as fresh in color as in silhouette.
The boxy jacket featured a modified mandarin collar with plenty of length in the sleeves. Underneath she wore a top with a zippered neckline — there’s something you don’t see every day, on the red carpet or otherwise — that she left modestly half-zipped. And, perhaps most excitingly, her pants featured a cropped and tapered leg with zipper accents. She accessorized with nude open-toed sandals, a soft multicolored pearl necklace and a glowing beauty look.
So what separates this from the lady suits we’re used to seeing — including those worn by Hillary Clinton before she started favoring richer, darker colors for her most recent presidential campaign? It’s the sleek ease of its modern tailoring, which is neither dowdy nor maternal. If they ever make a third “Bruce Almighty” movie, I nominate Thompson for the role of God in this exact outfit — it’s powerful but approachable, sophisticated but practical, soft yet sharp. And if Hillary is elected, I hope she feels free to wear something like this that might seem superficially ultra-feminine, but is actually the perfect uniform for the first female leader of the free world. (If she doesn’t win, I’ll settle for Thompson playing the role on film. She’s already got the hair….)
