Jacques Demy’s classic technicolour musical starring Catherine Deneuve as heart sick Geneviève Emery takes place from 1957 to 59, and then jumps to 1963 for the last scene.
As Plaited.ca put it “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg isn’t just a film—it’s a feeling. A dreamy, melancholic, candy-coloured world where love and heartbreak unfold in vibrant colours.”
An intense colour palette was used throughout the film including bold primary colours and soft pastels, reminiscent of the Fauvist art movement. Demy said that “The film used colour like a singing Matisse.”
It was shot in the actual town of Cherbourg and not a soundstage. The shop fronts were all painted candy colours and the interiors utilized patterned wallpaper. This all juxtaposed with the tragic undertones of the story.
Husband and wife duo Bernard Evein and Jacqueline Moreau (below) were responsible for the look of the film, as its production and costume designers respectively. Moreau was also responsible for the costume’s in Demy’s follow-up film The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967).
The decor and costumes compliment each other beautifully in every scene.
The colour schemes used were integral to the film’s storytelling language. They closely mirrored the characters’ emotions. Plaited.ca did a great job of explaining this.
The best example of a monochromatic scheme is when Geneviève is wearing a blue dress during Winter (which we can view out of her window) against her blue walls as she reads a letter from Guy and was feeling especially “blue”.
Analogous colour schemes are also used (three colours that sit next to each other on the colour wheel) to create harmony and transition in the story.
Emotionally charged moments make use of complimentary colour schemes (colours that sit opposite to each other on the colour wheel). This high contrast visual can emphasis tension and passion.
Tetradic colour schemes (using 4 colours of two complimentary pairs) offer bold contrast and create a sense of liveliness and heightened reality.
All of these schemes were used with precision in the film to convey different emotions.
Cherbourg famously inspired another recent musical- Damien Chazelle’s La La Land (2017), as well as Greta Gerwig’s Barbie (2023).
Catherine Deneuve in her breakout role exudes the innocence of first love in a divine lineup of cute and feminine 50s outfits including skirt and cardigan combos, and dresses with scallop edged wool coats, all complete with Genevieve’s signature hair bows.
She wears a Burberry trench coat over a blue gingham dress in one rainy day scene, holding an umbrella, and this image appears on the posters for the movie, becoming the emblematic outfit of the film.
We paid tribute to the film with a Reel in IG using our rental stock, which you can watch below. A lot of the pieces are from the 60s as we couldn't find what was needed amongst our 50s stock.
Photos of each outfit and the inspiration for them below.
60s red/yellow plaid skirt, 50s cream blouse, 50s yellow cardigan:
60s pink plaid skirt, 60s white blouse, 60s pink cardigan:
60s blue gingham skirt, 60s white blouse, 50s blue cardigan:
The same with a vintage trench coat:
50s light pink evening dress, 60s pink evening coat, 50s silver purse:
60s blue and pink tunic (which has a matching pants- obviously not supposed to be worn as a dress but the colours and print were perfect!) and a 60s cream coat:
All umbrellas/parasols are also available for rental. We have 3 huge boxes full!
And finally, if Cherbourg had been set in the 60s…
X3 dress and jacket sets in candy colours from our rental collection 💙💛🩷
We saw so many pieces in the 60s aisle that would have fit beautifully with the colour palette, and we had to pull a few of them out! Do you think Genevieve would have worn these if the film had been set a few years later?
