Notting Hill is one of the most influential romantic comedies ever made. Released in 1999, the film – which was written and produced by Richard Curtis and directed by Roger Michell – stars Hugh Grant as the affable, but bumbling British bookseller William Thacker and Julia Roberts – British Vogue’s February cover star – as the glamorous Hollywood actress Anna Scott.
The most iconic scene in the film about a romance transcending social status is when Scott confesses the challenges and insecurities that come with fame in Thacker’s Notting Hill bookshop. The statement, “I’m just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her” humanises her character. It reveals that, beneath the celebrity facade, she’s a person seeking adoration and acceptance just like anyone else.
Roberts, it turns out, had a strong aversion to dressing up as a movie star. (In her words, she “loathed” it.) In her interview with Curtis for British Vogue, she recalled arriving to shoot the scene wearing her own clothes: a baby blue V-neck T-shirt paired with a matching knitted cardigan, a blue velvet miniskirt and black and white flip-flops. “My driver, lovely Tommy, I sent him back to my flat that morning. I said, ‘Go into my bedroom and grab this, this and this out of my closet’,” she shares of dressing for the part of Scott her way. Little did she know, this “wrong shoe” move would be all the rage in fashion years later.
This isn’t the first time that Roberts has gone her own way when it comes to fashion. At the 1990 Golden Globes, where she won a Supporting Actress Award for Steel Magnolias, she made a lasting impression by choosing a bold-shouldered grey suit from Giorgio Armani’s men’s collection, paired with a navy-blue printed tie. This look remains one of her most unforgettable fashion moments. Similarly, during the 1999 Notting Hill premiere in London, she delighted fans by waving enthusiastically in a sequined, short-sleeved crimson shift dress, revealing two small bushels of armpit hair. These instances serve as evidence that while Roberts has always been an exceptional talent in the world of acting, her fashion choices have consistently been ahead of their time.
