The 30 most stylish films of all time

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'Do the Right Thing' (1989)​

Spike Lee perfectly captured the essence of summer on the streets of New York, mixing bright colors, loose fits, and tight fades under a thin layer of sweat. It's no wonder the film is now in the Library of Congress for being "culturally significant."

 

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'Drive' (2011)​

The seriously stylish '80s noir atmosphere of the film, helped by white satin bomber jackets and beautiful cinematography, ranks this visual tale high, despite Gosling's character hardly saying a word.

 

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'Clueless' (1995)​

This Jane Austen adaptation, and cult comedy, ensured that plaid would never go out of style.

 

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'Fight Club' (1999)​

The David Fincher-directed film has become a defining '90s moment for its grimy, jabbing cuts and for Brad Pitt's anti-fashion outfits. The red leather jacket, printed shirts, and tinted shades helped make him one of cinema's greatest antiheroes.

 

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'La Haine' (1995)​

This film is where Paris style stereotypes imploded among youth gangs, whose uniforms instead consisted of loose fits, slim chains, bright windbreakers, and a deep love for the classic leather jacket. Inspired by American hip-hop, the style of this cult-favorite film transformed streetwear forever.

 

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The late '60s style amplified the film's central theme of childlike innocence, with Mia Farrow's baby doll dresses, Peter Pan collars, and famous hair by Vidal Sassoon.

 

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'Marie Antoinette' (2006)​

'The Virgin Suicides' marked Sofia Coppola as a seriously stylish filmmaker, but her re-imagining of France's ill-fated queen was a stylistic masterpiece. Her success was helped by Academy Award-winning costumer Milena Canonero, who reportedly used a palette drawn from a box of pastel-colored Ladurée macarons. The opulence and elegance of the costumes, set, and props, paired with a modern-day soundtrack, was a phenomenal blend of eras.

 

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'Kids' (1995)​

This film's style was so popular that for its 20th anniversary, the elite streetwear brand Supreme launched a capsule collection of T-shirts, hoodies, and skater wear. The boldly controversial film concentrated on both urban youth life and the brazen New York skateboarding culture, creating an ineffably cool style.

 

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'Amélie' (2001)​

Cinema is wrought with harrowing tales filled with violent tragedies, but this film proves that positivity, of an ephemeral yet profound brand, can be just as visually astounding. Audrey Tautou plays the sweet Parisian girl with the short bob and colorful world of imagination that can't help but look attractive against a banal reality.

 

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'Withnail & I' (1987)​

At the end of the '60s, two alcoholic actors take a restorative holiday in a country cottage, swathed all the while in rustic hand-knit jumpers, lived-in tweeds, and dressy white shirts, creating the term "rural chic."

 

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'The Great Gatsby' (1974)​

Set at the height of inter-war excess and frivolity, Robert Redford became the epitome of a '20s playboy with his sharp tailoring, effortless glide, and glossy hair. A dream-like parade of pastel here, a perfect coif of curls there, and this film set a scene we'd like to live in.

 

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'Edward Scissorhands' (1990)​

This well-loved film is regarded as Tim Burton's creative peak, and it's celebrated for giving Goth its big on-screen moment.

 

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'A Single Man' (2009)​

Tom Ford (middle left) wasn't satisfied with being one of the world's greatest fashion designers, so he took to film and proved that style is not limited to the clothes on your back.

 

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'Her' (2013)​

Spike Jonze's stylishness is channeled through a deep anguish and in a realm just apart from our own, but the colors, the ambient music, and the simplistic visuals make the atmosphere swell between you and the screen. Instead of going stereotypically futuristic, the characters wear high-waist pleated trousers, grandfather-collar shirts, round-rimmed glasses, mustaches, and plenty of other throwback styles that have since resurfaced in men's fashion again.

 

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'The Tree of Life' (2011)​

Terrence Malick has seemingly crafted his own brand of filmmaking, crowning this visual poem as his magnum opus. Aside from the glorious cosmic imagery (with the help of cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki) and existential rumination, the world that the characters occupy is somehow even more beautiful than the celestial, pieced together with the fallibility of human memory. The specificity of each shot also reminds us that existence is always bigger than ourselves.