The Fabric Of Film - This Is Not About Cars: Fashion And Women In 'The Fast And Furious'
The Fast and Furious universe has long been inextricable from egregious displays of masculinity - the grease, sweat, muscle, and brawn of Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson have commandeered the more recent instalments. However, as a little girl experiencing the earlier years of the franchise I was entirely unconcerned with the constant battles of dominance between the men of the films. Instead, I was enthralled by the women. The intoxicating glamour of the first films is heavily indebted to their perfectly curated ensembles against the heat haze of LA. Their style catalysed a wave of collision between grit and femininity lost in the sea of revving engines and brazen men.
The holy trinity of fashion in Fast and Furious is as follows; Mia Toretto (Jordana Brewster), Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) and of course Suki (Devon Aoki). From The Fast and The Furious (Rob Cohen, 2001) to 2 Fast 2 Furious (John Singleton, 2003) their style began to shape the notion of what every girl thought they would mirror the moment a driving licence entered their arsenal. Their effortless cool and competency around cars, which for most girls seemed so out of reach where car toys were continuously marketed towards boys, represented a coexistence of masculinity and femininity - a place where they could simultaneously be interested in fashion, clothes, makeup, fast cars and beyond without sacrificing one or the other.
The early films of the saga focus on the nonchalance of the women in the sea of men that surround them - while the male characters strive to prove their own dominance whether it be fighting over the very same women or constantly aspiring for ‘respect’ Letty, Mia and Suki are disengaged and are rather imbued with a sense of security in their own identity and strength of character. While the men are utterly defined by their vehicle, the women define their vehicle.
As a child I was utterly defined by Letty - her enigmatic aura functioned as the last piece in the puzzle of her somewhat idiosyncratic style. As she first emerges from her car, her New Rock disruptor boots with flame decals crunched against the blistering tarmac and in that moment became my most coveted item since my discovery of the existence of colours other than pink. The camo and burnt hues that define her wardrobe mimic the gunmetals of the engines and pipes she is so often surrounded by in Dom’s garage - Letty’s style is crafted entirely in harmony with her environment and serves as a facet to establish her security within the male-dominated space. Yet the sea of leather and grunge in no way detracts from her own femininity; her style moves fluidly between masculine and feminine, moving from skirts and camisoles to cargo pants and combat boots. Her low-rise trousers and tank top combinations are endless, and somehow never seem to grow tiresome. The sweat from the LA sun and heat radiating from the engines against the 90s film phosphoresce result in the meticulously constructed image of Letty’s style and character as the esoteric car girl of the early 2000s.
Introduced earlier than Letty yet more overlooked in terms of style is Mia Toretto. Her style is not subversive as Letty’s; her clothes are rather tailored with a classic femininity. However, this in and of itself is somewhat a statement on her environment - she rejects the excessive testosterone exhibited by her brother and his ‘family’ and rather embodies a delicate style whilst remaining at the top of the Toretto hierarchy alongside her brother. Her dainty camisoles, low-rise fitted jeans and cascading summer dresses are not an immediately striking political statement, nonetheless they reinforce the notion that femininity and power can and do coexist. Mia tells Brian as he begins to work under Dom that he is now ‘owned’ by him - Mia is never possessed.
However both Mia and Letty’s styles are somewhat lost in the smoke of Suki’s arrival in her lacquered pink S2000. Her emergence in 2 Fast 2 Furious consolidates the role of fashion in the franchise; it seems almost blasphemous to write an article on the style of Fast and Furious and omit her influence. As she saunters on screen adorned with monochromatic leather garter trousers and layered camis she shifted the place of hyper-femininity within the series. She evolves the leather worn by Letty, disconnecting it from the industrial black and intensely blushing it. As I grew older she represented a return to those pinks I had grown to resent - her eruption of pink directly opposed the brutalism in Letty’s style and hyperbolised the femininity in Mia's. Her style transfigures her vehicle into an accessory, an extension of her character and more than a device to show her power, as it was with Brian, it is a mode of expression of her style.
In all its saturated glory the fashion of the 'Fast Girls' acts as a buried time capsule, now left behind and shrouded in the newer focus on action and special effects in the more recent films. But these girls will never be forgotten - in each girl growing up in the wake of Letty, Suki and Mia there lives a piece of their influence and the first few golden films.
Written by Maaya Karuppiah, Columnist
Edited by Daisy Packwood, Fashion Editor
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