If you are a woman of a certain age who maybe just streamed Something’s Gotta Give or A Room With a View in the past month or so, Netflix has probably suggested you watch Under the Tuscan Sun. I am an Italophile with a deep love of low-stakes rom-coms, so it was an easy sell for me. The proto-Eat Pray Love (it came out in 2003) follows Frances, a recently divorced novelist (played by Diane Lane) whose two lesbian best friends (Kate Walsh and Sandra Oh) send her on a healing trip to Tuscany, where she ultimately decides to buy and renovate a crumbling villa. It is a true trifle of a film, but saved by several things: the Tuscany porn (rolling hills, olive groves, sunflower fields, eccentric old Italian ladies, strapping young Italian men), Diane Lane’s winning performance, and Diane Lane’s normcore-fabulous wardrobe. The movie is a sea of chunky knits, white crewneck tees, loose-fitting blouses, boxy peacoats, fashion scarves, and flow-y linen pants. In other words, exactly how I want to dress always and forever. Click the slideshow for a tour through Diane Lane’s most memorable unmemorable looks.
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Here, in one of the movie's first scenes, when Diane Lane's character, Frances, is feeling her lowest — staying at a depressing temporary apartment in... Here, in one of the movie's first scenes, when Diane Lane's character, Frances, is feeling her lowest — staying at a depressing temporary apartment in San Francisco, post-divorce, pre-Tuscany — she manages to look both cozy and chic in a light-gray oversize knit.
Photo: Touchstone Pictures
Frances is finally in Tuscany! Which means she can pair a suede, Eddie Bauer–looking blouse with a suede shoulder bag in the very same shade of burnt ... Frances is finally in Tuscany! Which means she can pair a suede, Eddie Bauer–looking blouse with a suede shoulder bag in the very same shade of burnt sienna and still look fabulous.
Photo: Touchstone Pictures
Here she is getting the keys to her new Tuscan villa: The corduroy blazer and cotton scarf are a winning duo, but the gold watch with a thin leather b... Here she is getting the keys to her new Tuscan villa: The corduroy blazer and cotton scarf are a winning duo, but the gold watch with a thin leather band is what pulls the look together.
Photo: Touchstone Pictures
One of my favorite Frances outfits: speckled chunky knit, small gold hoop earrings, messy bun.
Photo: Touchstone Pictures
Her frumpy "renovating the villa" look.
Photo: Touchstone Pictures
All about that black-beret life.
Photo: Touchstone Pictures
Nothing says basic like a white crewneck tee underneath an unbuttoned denim button-down. Here she is serving her Polish contractors an Italian feast.
... Nothing says basic like a white crewneck tee underneath an unbuttoned denim button-down. Here she is serving her Polish contractors an Italian feast.
Photo: Touchstone Pictures
Frances serving another Italian feast, this time, hair half-up, half-down, and in a simple white blouse.
Photo: Touchstone Pictures
Frances looks her most breezy and elegant on a trip to Rome, with a long, boxy black wool jacket, and perfectly scrunched scarf.
Photo: Touchstone Pi...Frances looks her most breezy and elegant on a trip to Rome, with a long, boxy black wool jacket, and perfectly scrunched scarf.
Photo: Touchstone Pictures
Frances in that same oversize black coat. (Note the pregnant Sandra Oh in the background.)
Photo: Touchstone Pictures
White crewneck T-shirt, white blouse, unflattering denim.
Photo: Touchstone Pictures
It's a Gap Outlet explosion in this bathroom.
If Eileen Fisher had a 19-year-old second cousin named Britnee Fisher, she would likely wear an outfit similar to what Frances is donning here: l... If Eileen Fisher had a 19-year-old second cousin named Britnee Fisher, she would likely wear an outfit similar to what Frances is donning here: linen pants, brown loafers, orange scarf ... crop top.
Photo: Touchstone Pictures
Frances, after she finally gets laid, looks ravishing in a simple white Anne Klein–esque dress on a trip to Positano.
Photo: Touchstone Pictures
An orange iridescent belted dress is so bad ... yet so, so good.
Photo: Touchstone Pictures
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