As winter rapidly approaches and much of the world prepares for going into lockdown (if they aren’t in it already), the one bright thing we can get excited about is fabulous winter coats (that you can wear during your daily walk around your yard.) And there is no better inspiration right now than the ethereal coats Nicole Kidman’s character wears on the HBO mini-series The Undoing.
If you haven’t seen the show (what, were you reading a book or something?) it is the latest series in a long line of the genre I like to call “Really rich beautiful people ruining their lives while wearing fabulous shoes.” Similar to Big Little Lies it was penned by television god David Kelly and stars Nicole Kidman regaling in her original strawberry blond curls that we haven’t seen in this much glory since she pretended to be a neurologist in Days of Thunder. Seriously if Kidman teamed up with Connie Britton and her hair, they could take over the world.
And while her hair is great as is her performance as the distraught but stoic (and also devastatingly wealthy) Grace Fraser, the real star of this show is her coats.
Unlike so many New Yorkers, Fraser embraces color with her outerwear. Fraser is a little different than the other Upper East Side moms. Like you can tell she doesn’t go to SoulCycle but has her own pilates instructor. Perhaps the most notorious one is her rich green, textured coat that does give off an “Into the Woods” vibe.
“There is a slight nightmare fairytale aspect to the show,” Kidman told EW.com. “I was like, ‘I’m just going to have one coat and walk around in this coat?'” She continued, “I’m in the coat and then the coat became a part of me. That’s what a filmmaker does. They choose visually how to express things, and the coat is iconic. In a way, it is the through-line of the whole series. It protects me but it’s also my identity. It’s got so many layers to it. It’s my barrier and my shield from the world, but it also envelops me. It’s interesting how [director Susanne Bier] uses that.”
A coat, especially for plots based in colder climates, can be as important to a character as a plotline. Think of Carrie Bradshaw and her giant furs (with tiny dresses underneath) or Blair Waldorf’s cape coats or Emily Cooper’s cheery, oversized pink coat on Emily in Paris (to remind us she was American and she was special!).
Though you probably can’t get the exact coats Kidman sports on the show, there are some good replicas out there like this one and this one.
So consider embracing a more whimsical coat like this for this very dark, depressing winter. And hey, it may just help you if you become a murder suspect.
