By guest writer Cece King
From January 16-28, 2024, I got Dartmouth to fund my filmmaker fantasy. The career development office paid my way to the US’s best independent film festival, Sundance, hosted in none other than Park City, Utah. I got off the plane in my sweatpants tucked into my red foam bottom Camper boots (yes they look like Ganni, no they are not Ganni) and rolled my massive suitcase down the streets of Salt Lake City. I noted how the style was starkly split between hipster ski bros and conservative members of the Church of Latter Day Saints. Suffice it to say, I stuck out like a, well…New Yorker in Utah.
This all changed when I got to Park City, a favorite Spring Break destination of Manhattan’s Upper East Side. I was working at the festival with my friend Loane, a Brooklynite. A skier friend had told her the “Sundance people” she sees between shifts at Park City Mountain as dressing in the way you think people dress in the West. This is perhaps the best way to summarize Sundance style. Suede coats, faux fur bleeding out of boots, and felt brimmed hats with feathers abounded on Main Street.
Yet, when it came to celebrities premiering films, the outfit categories widened a bit. I’ve chosen a few looks that capture the five fits of Sundance:
HOW COASTAL CITY DWELLERS THINK PEOPLE DRESS FROM THE WEST
Actor Luke Kirby perfectly captured the classic “Western” look of Sundance. With his Birkenstock Bostons, white-past-Labor Day pants, and multiple layering shirts, Kirby should’ve been ordering a Hot Toddy at the Chalet. In fact, he blended in so well with the Park City milieu that he was ushered into the general admission line, rather than enter with the cast. We almost didn’t let him into his own premiere because he didn’t have a ticket!
Master of None’s Lena Waithe was on the Jury for the U.S. Dramatic Competition. These films often premiered at the Library Theatre where I was working as an usher and got a first row seat into the many outfits of Lena Waithe. She was by far the celeb most on top of her looks. Sometimes, she would change between screenings! In this fit, she took inspiration from Park City ski culture wearing what could have been snow pants and a Uniqlo heattech turtleneck, with a beanie small enough to wear under a helmet. The overalls are corduroy and the off-brand Sorel boots are probably not as waterproof as she would have wanted them to be. But that’s exactly the point. Waithe embraced the coastal-creatives-take-Utah vibe as camp, so all I could say was brava.
SO CHILL I’M…CHILLY
The second Sundance trope is more muted than Western or Skier themed. Rather than make an entrance, some celebrities opted for the “chill filmmaker who is above fashion” vibe. This style was typically marked by grayscale fits or knit neutrals stacked casually over each other. I met Malia Obama at a party for - something? I still am not sure. She encapsulated the lowkey side of Sundance perfectly. The gray coat and collared shirt may be very DC-coded, but Obama subtly showed off her cool side with glossy boots and an oversized skinny scarf (hint: Sundance loves a definitive winter accessory that is not practical for the cold but combines knits, faux furs, and suedes with trending shapes to look like it is cold-friendly).
MY FILM & ME
Other celebrities dressed like the films they were premiering. When I saw Judith Light, my heart skipped a beat. There’s CLAIRE MEADE from Ugly Betty. If you don’t get the reference, I’m genuinely sorry for you. You missed out on one of the OG fashion shows in recent history. Everyone knows, and hates to still love, Sex and the City. But Gossip Girl wasn’t next. No, it was America Ferrera’s Ugly Betty. Despite having played an iconic fashion magazine mogul in the early 2000s, Judith Light quite frankly disappointed at Sundance. She looked like a Hillary Clinton cosplayer. Perhaps the color block blue pantsuit made sense given the scholastic theme of the film she was premiering, but I couldn’t help but feel disappointed, and confused by the choice.
HOLLYWOOD GLAM
The fourth Sundance category were the celebs who treated the snow-covered streets a little too much like the red carpet. Saoirse Ronan looked like a fabulous Christmas ornament in her wrapping-paper blue jumpsuit, but the setting was entirely wrong for an outfit like this one. First, the open toe (read: one singular toe) shoe choice made no sense for the rarely plowed sidewalks of Park City. And the jumpsuit is entirely too thin for the low temperatures. Yes, you want to look good at your film premiere, but Sundance is inherently more casual than most Hollywood events, and for an outfit to work, it should reflect the reality of the festival.
DAFUQ???
The fifth and final Sundance style were the celebs who tried to do it all: Western, Lowkey, On Theme, and High Key. Aubrey Plaza’s look was what can only be described as an amalgamation of things I just can’t quite put into words. Did she get nervous and forget to wear pants to the premiere, or was she trying to follow the underwear as outerwear trend in the middle of a snowstorm? I can’t tell under the chunky knit! Or perhaps she forgot the pants because she was running late…good thing she has trainers on. While each individual piece, save the sneakers, has potential, the combination is abysmal. To truly pull off a sheer look, you have to balance the see-through elements; Plaza’s is too top heavy to work. The cardigan and turtleneck could totally work for a fireside filmmaker chat at the lodge, but the sneakers throw off the coziness. While her outfit makes a case for the “on theme” category, as her character was a sort of existentially lost Gen Z of the future, the movie was too girly-pop fun for an all black outfit.
AS FOR US PLEBS….
We tended to follow the lead of Lena Waithe and Malia Obama, mixing chill with ostensibly practical snow-wear. So, as silly as we may look to the Park City Ski Patrol, I gotta say I had a total blast in my green jumpsuit and fake fur-lined boots.
@cecekingg
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