“This year in Trinity is going to be like a movie,” said a mate of mine recently. As we approach the commencement of yet another academic year, this got me thinking of the many souls who, rightly so, meander across Front Square, feeling like they’re the main character in their own movie, with Trinity as the movie’s setting. (Yes, I am indeed talking to you, don’t even try to deny it.) I think everyone is guilty of this feeling at times; I’ll admit at least that I am (only on very rare occasion, of course.) It’s somewhat of a guilty pleasure. And can you blame us for thinking we’re the main characters in our own rom-coms? Hardly, when you look at the beautiful architecture and green spaces which make up Trinity’s breathtaking campus. So it is therefore no wonder that through the years, Trinity has proved time and time again to be such a popular set, being used to film many renowned movie classics. So bearing all of this in mind, I felt it only right that as we, the Trinity divas, live out our main character movie plots on our stunning campus, we might also take a moment to reflect on how the fictional on screen main characters of these movies are seen to do much of the same. How do they, like us, strut across campus? Or, more poignantly, what exactly do they strut in?
Let us take a journey through cinema, fashion and time, starting at the very beginning, a very good place to start; Circle of Friends. Although released in 1995, the movie is set in 1950s Ireland. For anyone not familiar with this movie, please do yourself a favour and get familiar. Minnie Driver plays the adorable Bennie, who appears throughout the movie in equally as adorable clothing.Think big jumpers and woollen coats; both pieces which aren’t unseen on campus today. Her glamorous friend Nan is seen to wear elegant pieces such as her staple lilac chiffon shirt; you just know she would’ve been the resident Arts Block head-turner. Bennie’s love interest, the heartthrob medical student Jack Foley goes a step further, dressing to strut to the Hamilton building in a shirt, tie and trench coat which make him look more suited to actually be exiting through the nearest gate, off campus and into a surrounding office. Admittedly this is a look not so often found in Trinity today, although saying that, I was once at a house party and noticed an individual, who I assume was a fellow Trinity student, wearing much of the same attire as Jack. Only, this individual actually went a step further again, topping it all off with what I like to call ‘James Joyce glasses’ and of course, a smoking pipe. It is worth noting that this party didn’t even take place on Bloomsday either. So Trinity.
Now let us continue on our journey, on to the fashion seen on campus in the 1970s, specifically as seen through the brilliant ‘Educating Rita’. Here, one suddenly notices colour beginning to pop out of the screen. Think campus filled with bright green trousers and pink tops; much like it still is today. Though the attire which really struck me specifically in this movie was, in fact, the footwear. The movie’s leading lady, Rita herself, made it her mission to strut across Front Square in an even more sassy manner than us divas could ever even dream of doing, and more impressively yet; in heels. Yes, admittedly, when watching the movie, it is quite obvious that she is struggling in her pursuit as she falls and stumbles over the cobblestones. Yet one must ask oneself, is she really struggling any more than the many romper-stomper enthusiasts we see who scatter themselves in every corner throughout campus today? In saying this, I am of course referring to campus’s many Doc Martens fans. (No offence implied here, please don’t squash me with your leather weapons, I beg!)
With that I‘d best run on, and so I shall leave you with my best wishes for the upcoming academic year; may your days be as bright as your sambas and your spirits as high as your heels. Whatever your footwear of choice and whatever the year ahead may bring, remember always to just keep on strutting your stuff.
