In my Wuthering Heights Era
The whole internet isn’t just talking. It’s spiraling.
Margot Robbie steps onto a carpet and suddenly everyone has a thesis. Jacob Elordi adjusts his cuff and TikTok slows it down like it’s archival footage. This is not a press tour for Wuthering Heights. It’s a mood board in motion. A soft-launch of hysteria.
There’s something deliciously unhinged about the energy. Gothic but glossy. Controlled but feral. Margot Robbie doesn’t just wear clothes she inhabits them like a rumor. Corseted, flushed, slightly untouchable. She looks like she knows something you don’t. Elordi, meanwhile, stands there in perfect tailoring, all restraint and shadow. He’s not giving you Heathcliff cosplay. He’s giving you modern detachment. And somehow that distance makes it hotter.
Obsession-core. Longing-core. “Text him?” energy at 1:47am. The internet loves a love story that feels slightly destructive. It loves beauty that looks expensive and emotionally unstable. And this pairing delivers exactly that: cinematic devotion wrapped in couture minimalism.What makes it feel so current is the awareness. They know the cameras are there. We know they know. It’s layered performance. The carpet is the first scene. The flashbulbs are part of the script. The tension isn’t accidental, it’s curated. Strategic. But still somehow intoxicating.
We don’t want faithful period drama. We want heightened feeling. We want to screenshot the chemistry and send it to the group chat with zero context. And that’s why the internet can’t look away. It’s not just about a film adaptation. It’s about atmosphere. About aesthetic as emotion. About two very beautiful people standing next to each other and making longing feel like a luxury product.
Method Dressing as Cultural Strategy
There are press tours and then there are fashion campaigns disguised as press tours. What Margot Robbie is doing right now sits clearly in the second category. For Wuthering Heights directed by Emerald Fennell and produced by Warner Bros Robbie and her long time stylist Andrew Mukamal have built a wardrobe that does not promote the film. It extends it. This is method dressing refined. We have seen it before. Robbie did it during the Barbie tour. Zendaya turned tennis into couture during Challengers. Timothée Chalamet is currently doing it for Marty Supreme. It is no longer accidental. It is strategy. Actors are no longer separating red carpet from character. The carpet becomes the first scene.
The Press Tour
Robbie’s looks reference her character Catherine Earnshaw without literal costume cosplay. Instead of period accuracy we get historical tension. A romantic goth Archive. Mukamal dipped into John Galliano archives, worked with Dilara Findikoglu for moody corsetry, Custom pieces came from Thom Browne and Schiaparelli under Daniel Roseberry. There were nods to Alexander McQueen silhouettes and Victorian mourning codes. None of it felt random, one of the most discussed details was the replica of Charlotte Brontë’s mourning bracelet. Jewelry made from braided hair. A literal symbol of grief woven into a modern press circuit. That is styling at its peak, literal thesis work.
We saw corsets cut with contemporary precision. Ruby and burgundy palettes echoing the film’s feverish tone. Structured bodices paired with exaggerated skirts. Checked fabrics referencing girlhood. Embroidery that reads almost too intense for historical accuracy and that is exactly the point. Even references to Elizabeth Taylor’s 1967 Taming of the Shrew cape appeared in the sourcing narrative. Old Hollywood folded into Victorian drama. The Taj Mahal necklace reference. Layers of love stories stacked on top of each other. Nothing felt trend driven, the opposite, we can expect a new micro aesthetic. The Wuthering Heights Era
And yes, Jacob Elordi. Beautiful. Impeccably tailored. Clean. Restrained. But not participating in the narrative. He stands next to her like a well dressed shadow. Strong but neutral. It is almost unfortunate because the current press culture rewards full commitment. He could have leaned further into Heathcliff. Instead he chose timeless tailoring. Safe. Elegant. Slightly detached. Still, visually, the pairing works beautifully.
The Film
Now to the film itself. Fantasy Over Fidelity. Online reactions are split and fascinating. There is the crowd that walked out of the cinema. Not impressed. Frustrated. Expecting a faithful recreation of Emily Brontë’s novel and not receiving it. And then there is the other side. TikToks of viewers crying in their seats. Reels of people saying they are going back for a second and third viewing. The divide is real. The truth sits somewhere in the middle.
If you go into Wuthering Heights expecting a literal translation of the book, you will be disappointed. This is not a museum adaptation. It is a stylized fantasy of the source material. Emotional truth over historical accuracy. The same philosophy costume designer Jacqueline Durran applied to the movie wardrobe. If you liked Saltburn energy. If you enjoy visually rich cinema. If you can appreciate two extremely beautiful actors locked into a twisted obsessive love story framed by strong costume language and a heightened universe, you will have a good time.
The Soundtrack
If the costumes are emotional exaggeration then the soundtrack is the final push over the edge. The decision to bring Charli XCX into the world of Wuthering Heights was not random. Instead of leaning into orchestral melancholy the film threads in a modern sonic layer that feels almost too alive for the moors. That contrast is the entire point. Director Emerald Fennell is not interested in historical preservation. She is interested in emotional voltage. Charli’s involvement shifts the entire temperature of the film. Her production sensibility is glossy but raw. Controlled but unstable. That duality mirrors the Catherine Heathcliff dynamic perfectly. The main track, Dying For You, is already detaching itself from the movie and building its own life online. It is dramatic. It is maximal. It is built for edits. The hook lands in that exact emotional register that our generation loves. Devotion that feels destructive. Love that feels cinematic. The soundtrack feels like the beginning of a new Charli chapter. Club aware, romantic but not soft. There is something smart about aligning a gothic literary adaptation with an artist who understands obsession culture in the digital age. Catherine longing across the moors is not that different from someone refreshing their ex’s Instagram at 2am. Different century. Same delusion.
There is a contemporary pulse inside a period shell. It does not try to be subtle. It wants to be felt. From the Affect perspective the film works when you surrender to its tone. Do not bring the book as a checklist. Bring openness. Bring girlfriends. Bring a boyfriend if you must. Maybe skip the parents. This is not literary preservation. It is an aesthetic interpretation. That is exactly why the press tour makes sense. The red carpets were never about accuracy. They were about the atmosphere. Creating a complete new era.
by Lareen Roth
PHOTOGRAPHY BY PINTEREST