A true story of a shopaholic
Fashion has always had cultural implications and associations, but it has permitted unprecedented ways in its pervasive fascination, a bizarre self-defence mechanism of sorts. Well-known writer Sophie Kinsella’s best-selling book “Confessions of a Shopaholic” grabbed humongous attention in the year 2000, and got converted into a film in 2009, giving everyone major fashion goals to match up to. Rebecca Bloomwood being a shopping addict amidst the struggle for paying her credit card debts and how she falls in love with a wealthy entrepreneur was every fashion-loving girl’s dream come true. A ‘Cinderella’ in the millennials who finds her Prince Charming to pay all her shopping bills is the fairy-tale story of every shopaholic girl of today’s time. But, coming up this season is no fairy-tale of “happily-ever-afters” but a tragic drama series called “Inventing Anna”. It is based on the true-life events of Russian-German Anna Sorokin renamed Anna Delvey, in the circle of the rich and famous of New York City. We can’t say it is a Cinderella-like millennial version of a fashionista; rather, it’s bringing forth plenty of psychological issues that have been fueled since childhood to fester into legit criminal behaviour. Covering up money forgery with nonsensical business ambitions, a very young girl is seen faking her family background to impress the high society of the Richie Rich’s.
The stupendous portrayal on-screen
“Inventing Anna”, the new OTT series turns out to be quite a wild, dark rotation of some of the iconic fashion pieces and the glamorous wardrobe elements from 2017 – when the story takes place – designed for the lead actor Julia Garner from “Ozark” as the scammer Anna Delvey. It’s an incredible real-life story of a twenty-something socialite of New York City who pretends to be a rich German heiress and eventually plays her ways by conning friends, corporates, and hotels for hundreds of thousands of dollars before she gets convicted of fraud. At her trial in 2019, Anna Sorokin was found guilty of grand larceny, swindling around $200,000 from hotels, banks, and other institutions. Furthermore, she really continues to scam more money under the pretense of going viral with her absurd approach. But, we’ve got to give it to her. Flaunting a lot of Gucci, Prada, Valentino, and the same, with the iconic black Celine sunglasses that became Anna Sorokin’s signature accessory, she compelled the creators of the show to curate the most expensive wardrobe anyone’s ever seen on TV.
The clothes we see in the show possess the characteristic that the character infuses in her pretence, in particular with the shift in her styling that adds to her duplicity. It is fascinating to watch the character reinvent herself for different types of people and situations and relate that to Sorokin in reality. Lyn Paolo, the costume designer of Inventing Anna quotes, “It wasn’t just about putting pretty clothes on a pretty human. It was telling the story that Anna kept reinventing herself. It was an interesting project in that you have several different levels of storytelling with all her different Annas, but then you have the real Anna too. We were true to her as much as we could be. For me, it was an interesting jigsaw puzzle.” With so many talented designers in the mix, the estimated cost of Garner’s costumes on the show must be an eye-watering figure indeed.
An enigmatic subject to learn from
In all honesty, ‘Inventing Anna’ reiterates the power that clothes wield, something which this young girl understood completely. And, she used it as a socio-economic signifier not just to fool the superficial analogy of the rich and famous but to encourage them to give her the opportunity to con them by extracting hefty funding. A young woman from nowhere-land projecting the image of an heiress only shows the subconscious dark effects that a shopaholic-psyche fashion can play on one’s mind. Appreciating fashion in its legality over regality should be a lesson in learning for the new generation as well as the old-time hoarders.