Fashion

Get the ‘Kill Bill’ Look with the Shoes to Match

2003 marks the year that the Human Genome Project was successfully completed with 99% of the human genome sequenced to 99.99% accuracy. It was also the year that Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected Governor of California and Lance Armstrong won his fifth Tour De France during that year. 

More notably, however, 2003 was the year that Quentin Tarrantino released the first part of his iconic 2-part Kill Bill film, and for that reason alone, 2003 will forever be etched as the year of greatness in our books.  Set in old El Paso Texas, Tarantino reportedly conceived Kill Bill as homage to grindhouse cinema by including elements of martial arts films, samurai cinema, blaxploitation films and spaghetti westerns. Statistically, Kill Bill Volume 1 became Tarantino’s highest-grossing film up to that point, earning over $180 million at the box office.

To call the film iconic, simply wouldn’t aptly extent Tarrantino’s masterpiece in its true essence. From plot and cast, to score and cinematography, the film was everything a cinephile’s wet dreams could be made of ─ but it is unanimously agreed upon that the film truly shone in costume and characterization. 

Kill Bill’s outfitting clearly demonstrates the link between clothing and identity, as seen by the outfits worn by the Deadly Vipers in their heyday, to their transitions to new, ‘cleaner’ personas years on from the church massacre. 

 

Take Beatrix Kiddo aka The Bride or The Black Mamba (portrayed by Uma Thurman), for instance, once an assassin and an integral member of the Deadly Viper Squad, The Black Mamba was often clad in leather and tight jeans to accommodate that persona. However, our first view of Beatrix is the deceptively perfect picture of a happy, barefooted wholesome bride on the eve of her wedding day. The stark contrast between these two personas marks the first of many that were prevalent in the rest of the film. 

Years on, Kill Bill still maintains its box office prestige and many of us still covet the iconic looks that the characters sported in this film, particularly, the Beatrix’s iconic yellow tracksuit and matching yellow onitsuka Tiger shoes (which were initially made famous by Bruce Lee BTW). 

Beatrix’s Look

 

Another pivotal character’s whose style is steal-worthy is Gogo Yubari (portrayed by Chiaki Kuriyama), O-Ren Ishii’s associate and the youngest member of the Crazy 88 gang. To deceive her mistress’s enemies, Gogo dresses the part of a seemingly innocent schoolgirl. Thus, said enemies make the mistake of assuming she is no threat, which she swiftly dispels with her weaponry. 

Gogo’s Look

 

Beatrix’s fourth target’s ensembles were, by far, the most imaginative in the film. Boasting a cosplay nurse uniform in her first scene, one would almost mistake Elle Driver (portrayed by Daryl Hannah) for a meeker character upon first appearances. The only giveaway of her Deadly Assasin persona being the eyepatch that she sports over her right eye. Later in the film, Driver sports a sleek and fitted black suit with a white shirt and a black eyepatch ─ a stark contrast to the clean white uniform she wore earlier in the film. Why this is significant? Elle’s code name is California Mountain Snake (Fun fact: this is the only non-venomous snake name in the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad) and we are finally to witness her in sword battle with Beatrix The Black Mamba in the following scene. 

Elle’s Look

 

We can continue raving about this film for days, but we have a word count to adhere to. If you’re looking for more costume ideas, check out our Halloween Outfit Ideas post for more inspiration. 

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