written and directed by brian de palma

produced by tarak ben ammar and marina gefter

rebecca romijn-stamos (laure/lily)
antonio banderas (nicolas bardo)
eriq ebouaney (black tie)
peter coyote (watts)
gregg henri (shiff)
thierry fremont (serra)
edouard montoute (racine)
rie rasmussen (veronica)
eva darlan (irma)
jean-marie frin (louis)
fiona curzon (stanfield phillips)
salvatore ingoglia (truck driver)
joe prestia (napoleon)
bart de palma (guard)

mark lombardo (executive producer)
chris soldo (associate producer and assistant director)
bill pankow (editor)
thierry arbogast (director of photography)
anne pritchard (production designer)
olivier beriot (costume designer)
diamond snake designed by elli medeiros - IMDb
collage by bart de palma
music by ryuichi sakamoto

the collage nicolas bardo ( antonio banderas ) is working on was created by graphic artist bart de palma

THE CAT'S IN THE BAG... DESIGNED BY ELLI MEDEIROS

by Geoff Beran ( De Palma à la mod 2-1-03 )

Beginning this month, you can buy a replica of the unforgettable camouflage bag that Veronica uses to carry the money in Femme Fatale. The bag was designed by Elli Medeiros, who says that while she did not design the bag specifically for the film, it did happen to fit in with the camouflage outfit worn by Rie Rasmussen, which itself was designed by Medeiros' friend Jean Charles de Castelbajac. But where did Brian De Palma get the idea to go with a camouflage outfit to begin with? Medeiros explains, "Brian has very specific ideas about clothes and stuff and he gives very precise 'instructions' to the art department. He knows what he wants and he got along very well with Olivier Beriot. The camouflage idea came from this camouflage craze. Everybody was doing camouflage... Christian Dior, I think even Chanel, and I designed a bag that was made in all the fabrics of Jean Charles de Castelbajac's winter collection, including camouflage." Medeiros says that one evening, she was out for dinner with De Palma and his brother Bart, and she took them on "a little detour" to Castelbajac's Concepstore. "And it was all camouflage," she says, "dresses, suits, boots, shoes, the bag, hats, even sofas and teddybears. And Brian said it would be great to have Veronica always wearing camouflage, because during the whole movie we see her without seeing her face, and we are not supposed to know it is her. And use the bag to carry the money... So I spent an afternoon with Rie at JC de Castelbajac's, picking the outfits, and picked a 'camouflage' green for the miniskirt that goes with the snake."

DE PALMA'S EYE FOR FASHION
Medeiros, who inspired the opening jewel heist in Femme Fatale when she accompanied De Palma to the Cannes Film Festival wearing jewelry that needed bodyguards (in fact, the diamond-studded Chopard snake worn by Veronica in the film was designed by Medeiros), speaks highly of De Palma's eye for fashion. "Brian only wears safari jackets," she says, "but it's not because he's fashion insensitive. He really knows what looks good, and what makes a woman look good, how to make a woman look her best. He has a very good eye for clothes. It's part of the whole visual thing, a very sensitive eye." Medeiros says that Beriot recently had De Palma's favorite jacket copied in different colors.

To purchase a camouflage bag (in green or tan camouflage) from Chez Martin, designed by Elli Medeiros, visit Elli's web site at ellimedeiros.com, or click right here. While at her site, click around and visit her "Femme Fatale" page, as well as some of the other interesting ones.

De Palma à la mod



elli medeiros - photo © alex mahieu - montage geoff beran

music by ryuichi sakamoto

sex, a song by saez
altar, a hidden song by elli medeiros

designed by elli medeiros



the camouflage bag is chez martin

rie and rebecca as veronica and laure

the original sketches by elli medeiros
( fax to patrick beyeler, head of chopard's design department, february 2001)

les croquis originaux d'elli medeiros
( fax destiné à patrick beyeler, responsable du département design/création chez chopard, février 2001)

los dibujos originales de elli medeiros
( fax destinado a patrick beyeler, responsable del departamento de design y creaciòn de chopard, febrero 2001)

chopard - haute joaillerie - genève

american trailer here

french trailer ( unavailable )

femme fatale femme fatale femme fatale femme fatale
a gold and diamond snake and a camouflage bag
femme fatale femme fatale femme fatale femme fatale
una serpiente de oro y de diamantes y un bolso camouflage


more on femme fatale & brian de palma a la mod
pictures brought to you by geoff songs