trust.

one of the most iconic baseball jackets of the 1990's belonged to maria coughlin from hal hartley's trust (1990), his second chronological collaboration with the late, great adrienne shelly.
a magnificent film about love, loss and not settling for less, trust proved fundamental in exposing the cinematic world to the effervescent shelly who, like contemporaries parker posey and lili taylor, helped usher in a new wave of women in independent film. with her squeaky voice and indelible charm, maria coughlin is an endearing heroine, coolly handling one setback after another. a bespectacled babe with a raging red mane and understated pout, maria is both fiercely attractive and equally relatable as the mousy girl sitting alone on the bleachers at lunch; nondescript, yet unforgettable. like rachel leigh cook in she's all that. but exceptionally better.
    

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tomboy chic is nothing new on the runways of this or any past season, but one look this year that straddles the margin between misappropriated youth and sexy sophistication is isabel marant's 2011 spring / summer line. replete with short shorts, transparent tops, and that all-important boyfriend jacket (seen here "feminized" in satin with soft pink tones), the signature piece is already being heralded as the "it" item of  2011. as her prolific career has demonstrated, marant possesses a keen fascination with americanized simplicity. not too far removed from last season's memorable take on the california coastline, the french artisan hits all the right notes this time around, creating a fresh and unmistakably feminine compilation.

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kyuichi, bleach denim shirt dress

surface to air, light denim shirt dress

cinephiles will tell you that maria's whimsical sun dress (worn with white leggins and construction boots) is not denim, but the examples we found are remarkably close. not surprisingly, the light wash proved particularly popular in 2006; many reproductions and / or archived pieces can be found on polyvore and net-a-porter.

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it's hard to believe that it has been five years since adrienne shelly was murdered. her last picture, the beguiling waitress with keri russell and cheryl hines (which she also wrote and directed) seemed  assured to break the new york native into the mainstream. fate, however, had other plans: she was strangled to death in her manhattan office after walking in on a robbery in progress. the 19 year-old assailant would later stage her death, hanging her body from the shower rod, in an attempt to simulate a suicide. eventually apprehended, the youth confessed and was charged with manslaughter. adrienne shelly left behind a husband, a 3-year-old daughter, a legion of industry admirers, and an exceptional body of work. do yourself of favor and familiarize yourself with it. start with trust.

(1966 - 2006)