Sofia Coppola’s Best Style Moments
Save for a few early acting roles (most notably in The Godfather trilogy, directed by her father, Francis Ford Coppola), Sofia Coppola’s career as a filmmaker has been largely spent behind the camera. Still, the Oscar-winning director and writer showed an interest in the fashion world from an early age. At 15, Coppola held an internship with Chanel in Paris, where she spent her days in the design studio surrounded by couture sketches. Less than a decade later, the daughter of Hollywood royalty was walking the runway for Donna Karan and designing her own clothing line, Milk Fed. Those experiences, coupled with her time spent on her father’s film sets, undoubtedly shaped Coppola’s understanding of the importance that fashion can play in telling a story on screen.
And in the 20-plus years that Coppola has spent in the industry, the filmmaker has given audiences plenty of memorable visuals—from the lavish 18th-century gowns in 2006’s Marie Antoinette to the Juicy Couture tracksuits of the early aughts showcased in 2013’s The Bling Ring. But those types of louder looks are reserved for the characters Coppola creates, as the director’s personal style is typically more classic. Preferring a uniform of ballet flats and tailored black pants paired with neutral button-ups or striped sweaters (often with a fur coat thrown over top in the winter months), Coppola’s effortless approach to fashion helped to solidify her as an It girl early on. But she’s also a pro at walking the red carpet, often gravitating toward timeless black gowns elevated with embellished details or sheer paneling.
Red carpets aside, Coppola has also been a staple at fashion week shows around the globe since the ‘90s. Running errands for then-creative director Karl Lagerfeld as a teenager cemented a firm relationship between Coppola and Chanel; one that has seen the filmmaker attending fashion shows and directing short films and advertising campaign videos for the French fashion house over the years (she even turned to Chanel for a key costume in her upcoming film, Priscilla: a recreation of the wedding dress that Priscilla Presley donned to marry Elvis Presley).
But Chanel isn’t Coppola’s only famous fashion friendship. Perhaps most notably, she’s played both longtime muse to and collaborator with Marc Jacobs, whom she first met in 1992 when Jacobs was designing for Perry Ellis. Coppola has been a fixture at Jacobs’ shows ever since—both for his own brand and for Louis Vuitton, where Jacobs served as creative director from 1997 until 2014. Over the years, Coppola has gone from the face of Jacobs’ first-ever fragrance in 2001 to directing the commercial for a trio of the designer’s Daisy fragrances in 2014. Coppola, who was featured in more than one Louis Vuitton campaign during Jacobs’ tenure with the brand, even created her own handbag in 2009, aptly dubbed the SC bag.
