Fashion Icons: Ali MacGraw

American actress Ali MacGraw’s outfits and styling in the classic weepie Love Story (1970) were defining for a generation. Her look came to represent the aspirational wardrobe and beauty ideal of the upper middle-class, Ivy League university “preppy,” regularly referenced by American fashion brands. MacGraw’s offscreen style, more bohemian and artistic with floaty dresses and scarves, was equally influential. The designer she is most closely associated with, however, is Halston, and his brand of erotically charged 1970s New York glamor. Halston dressed her for red carpet premieres, and his Ultrasuede shirtwaist and jersey wrap dresses inspired her wardrobe in The Getaway (1972).