What Makes Margot Tenenbaum’s Style So Good, Even 20 Years Later

My favorite scene from Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums, released 20 years ago, is when we first meet Margot Tenenbaum, portrayed by Gwyneth Paltrow. Stepping out of a Green Line bus to meet her brother Richie (Luke Wilson), she wears a long mink overcoat and a brown Hermès Birkin bag. Her eyes are rimmed heavily with black eyeliner, and her blunt bob is punctuated with a red barrette. It’s a glamorously retro ensemble that certainly does not fit the setting—have you worn such a look on public transit?—but it’s one that Margot goes on to wear throughout the film. The outfit becomes as central to her character as her relentless apathy.

Or maybe even more so. Margot’s refined style remains one of the movie’s calling cards two decades later. A gifted playwright who has been adopted into the Tenenbaum family, Margot is an outsider. That’s only underscored by her fashion sense: She’s decidedly more fashion-forward than the rest of the Tenenbaums. But her looks, while distinctive, are never overstyled. In one scene, she’s smoking in the bathroom while painting her toes and wearing a tight, nude slip dress. You get the sense that she does this very thing—in the same exact outfit—every single day. “She was known for her extreme secrecy,” says the narrator. “None of the Tenenbaums knew she was a smoker, which she had been since the age of 12.” Margot has an air of mystery to her, and her chic, demure wardrobe only adds to this.

It’s easy to see Margot’s influence on the runways in recent years. Many designers have sent out looks that Margot herself could model down the runway—and while they’ve never blatantly cited her as an inspiration, you can’t deny the gamine similarities. A look from Alessandro Michele’s fall 2015 show for Gucci—including a fur coat, loafers, and red beret—is almost a spot-on replica of Margot’s ensemble, though he updated and streamlined it. Later, for spring 2017, Michele designed a dress that featured a zebra print on it—the same print on the walls of Margot’s bedroom in the film. But it’s not just Michele. Looking at recent fall 2021 looks from Fendi, Michael Kors, and Max Mara, all I could think of was Margot (though now most of the coats are designed in faux furs). 

Margot Tenenbaum and a fall 2015 look from Gucci Photo: Everett Collection/Yannis Vlamos/Indigitalimages.com

The most genius aspect of Margot’s style, in our eyes, is that she sticks to her signatures. The Tenenbaums are a wealthy family, but even so, Margot doesn’t dabble in excessive consumerism like she could. She rewears things, and she rewears them often. Take her signature mink coat: She sports it throughout the film, and in a flashback scene, she’s even seen wearing the same coat as a teen while telling the story of how she lost one of her fingers. (Spoiler: it was a freak wood-chopping accident.) Even her striped tennis dress makes a cameo a few times too.

She’s concrete proof that a refined uniform will never go out of style. This fall, we’re taking that to heart and thinking of outfits that can be reworn again and again as well. Margot would definitely approve—though she’d never tell you that to your face. 

Below, more of Margot’s best looks from the film.