.+.HALL OF FAME.+.
Article by Hal Rubenstein
Photograph by Brigitte Lacombe
(Publicity and Candid Shots are uncredited)
In Style - May 2004
"Style is about self-knowledge", says Diane Keaton nee Diane Hall, who received a Golden Globe Award for 'Something's Gotta Give'.
There's a scene in Something's Gotta Give that's a jaw-dropper. No, not Diane Keaton's near epic and destined-to-be-legendary crying marathon, in which she is at her hysterical and hysteria-inducing best. It's actually one of the film's quieter moments. Keanu Reeves, playing Keaton's dashing young suitor with an M.D., has come to pick her up for a date. Jack Nicholson, as the future suitor closer to her age, answers the door. The men banter awkwardly, until the two are suddenly distracted by the emergence of Keaton in- well, whaddya know?- a black cocktail dress. Keanu beams, Jack stares in revelation, and the rest of us join the guys in going, "Wow!" At 58 Keaton remains a knockout. In the film her sly smile betrays a trace of "Take a picture, it'll last longer." Good advice. You're not about to catch Diane Keaton in a little black dress again anytime soon.
For as much as the Oscar-and Golden-Globe-winning actress appreciates fashion (she wore a long Richard Tyler coat to the Golden Gloves, a long-sleeve Badgley Mischka gown to the SAG awards, and a Ralph Lauren pantsuit, shirt and tie to the Oscars), she'll wear it the way she likes it: buttoned up to here and down to there, and usually accessorized with gloves, glasses, and perhaps a hat smashed atop her head.
It's not an age thing; Keaton has always dressed that way. Excessive cleavage is not a hallmark of her style. Arriving for lunch on a sunny L.A. day in a long green Dries Van Noten coat over a turtleneck to browse through 34 years of photos, she claims she covers up "because I'm a snake. I have no blood, so I'm always cold. Really." Logical. More likely, as her screen character in Something's Gotta Give states, Keaton's "just a turtleneck kind of gal."
As one of those gloriously rare, gifted creatures who neither looks, acts, smiles, laughs nor yearns like anyone else in the history of film, her timing is impeccable, unpredictable and thoroughly eccentric. Try imitating her body language, and watch folks offer you solace or a prescription. But on her, that jerky grace is more than compelling; it's downright seductive, like Martha Graham without the atonal music. So is it any wonder her clothes amplify and frame that individuality?
The contents of Keaton's closet could drive a red-carpet stylist to throttle himself with a pair of her long gloves. Mannish, figure-flattening, layered like phyllo, Keaton's wardrobe is at odds with everything expected of a star. Sartorial skewering drives some actresses to the edge, pummeling their publicists to demand retractions or seek revenge. Keaton, however, appears oblivious to stray catcalls or frustrations. Change? She wouldn't hear of it. In fact, she has never thought of it. She is obviously, openly, even deliciously, buoyed by her choices. And the way she sees it, you're likely to be honestly, even helplessly, delighted by them too- dress or no dress.