Two contrasting aesthetics are duelling it out in the zeitgeist: the corset-heavy decadence of Wuthering Heights heroine (anti-hero?) Catherine Earnshaw and the 1990s minimalism of Love Story’s Carolyn Bassette Kennedy. We dissect the sartorial skirmish
Are you a Catherine Earnshaw or a Carolyn Bassette Kennedy? It reads like a schlocky yet amusing Internet quiz (“Do you: A. Endlessly yearn, B. Play it cool, C. None of the above”). Yet, the battle between the ultimate New York It girl and the fictional Wuthering Heights protagonist is indeed playing out in real time. Aesthetically, anyway. It’s a compelling narrative. After all, could two women, centuries apart, have more diametrically opposed wardrobes? On the one hand, you have Earnshaw: ornate, maximal and unabashedly contrived. A look that screams time, effort and discomfort. And then there’s Bassette Kennedy, the effortless minimalist, all ease and breeze.
The contrasting looks entered the zeitgeist by screen. Earnshaw arrived via Emerald Fennel’s polarising take on oft-adapted classic Wuthering Heights, portrayed with panache by Margot Robbie. Carolyn Bassette Kennedy came via FX series Love Story, embodied by enthralling newcomer Sarah Pidgeon. The aesthetics have since popped up, well, everywhere; on the runways (Simone Rocha and Erdem were particularly Heights-heavy this season whilst Jil Sander and, yes, Calvin Klein invariably wave the flag for CBK), red carpets (see: Robbie and Pidgeon’s recent appearances, respectively) and, perhaps most notably, our feeds.