Next year, Emily Mortimer will star in The Bookshop, a film based on Penelope Fitzgerald’s 1978 novel of the same name. The premise: A widow, played by Mortimer, opens a small bookshop in a seaside town in the late ’50s and is soon met with jealousy and hostility from her fellow shopkeepers. And although a trailer hasn’t been released yet, we do have an idea of what the clothes will look like—Spanish label La Costa del Algodón was tasked with creating the actress’s wardrobe.
La Costa del Algodón makes only dresses. Part nightgown, part shirtdress, and part robe, each one is meant to be worn indoors and out. Caftans and long-sleeved gowns are available in breezy cotton-printed voile or French silk, with velvet ribbons at the waist, and delicate slips come with matching pajama-style robes to layer on top. “It’s femininity and sophistication without excess,” founders Chipi Tornos and Isabel Pedemonte tell Vogue.com. “There’s a [sense of] vivre. Each woman decides when and where to wear our creations, and finds the charm without making [style] judgments.” In other words: If you love it, wear it, and don’t overthink it.
Sleepwear as daywear has been trending for a few seasons now, but La Costa del Algodón’s take might be the freshest we’ve seen. The idea is nothing new for the brand either: Pedemonte and Tornos launched the label back in 2003. They find inspiration in old things: old poetry, old paintings, vintage clothes, and old films. “Our collections are based on true history,” the designers explain. “The dresses are endless [in length] because of great painters like Van Gogh, and we recover and reinterpret beautiful vintage motifs with contemporary brushstrokes.” The dresses really do look like they are of another era, but they aren’t costumey; since the silhouettes are quite simple, they look right on the beach, at home, and in the city, too. A Vogue.com editor might wear a dress over jeans, or you can picture a cool girl donning one on the weekend in the East Village. Who needs athleisure when you can simply throw on a beautiful robe?
