Re-Imagining Diane Keaton in Annie Hall

In the eighth episode of Re-Imagining: Movie Icons, The Africa Channel and Vanichi magazine re-imagined Diane Keaton into a brilliant mix of androgynous style and African fashion.

The Diane Keaton Look

Annie Hall earned Diane Keaton the position as an ultimate icon for androgynous style. Apart from her stellar acting that earned her an Oscar award for best supporting actress, Diane Keaton’s tomboyish aesthetic in the film started off a trend for androgynous fashion in the 70’s. After its successful release in 1977, fashion critics noticed a rise in androgynous style and aesthetics. Eventually the Annie Hall look became commonplace.

The Diane Keaton look is an intentional blend of femininity and manliness. High-waisted trousers, ties, felt bowler hats, brogues, long coats, bijoux scarves, long coats, button down shirts and of course over sized glasses are fashion staples for the Diane Keaton look.

Surprisingly, Diane Keaton was allowed to wear her own clothes on set and this contributed to her easy, masculine style.

Although some editors described Keaton’s look as a tad too scruffy, this didn’t stop women in the 70’s from following the trend. The late 70’s was a time of great political revolution and women felt the need to create their personal identities that was free from societal perception and expectations.

Diane Keaton’s iconic look inspires contemporary style icons like Kendall Jenner, Alexa Chung, Elizabeth Olsen, Janelle Monae amongst others.

The Model

Model Chanelle Renee was impressed with Diane’s sense of style and individuality. In her words, “Diane Keaton wore a lot of clothes and I thought it amazing that she could wear her clothes on set for the different styles.”

Chanelle was also interested in the re-imagined look of Diane Keaton.

“When I was approved to do the campaign I thought it was a great idea to do a tomboy appeal mixed with African fashion,” she said.

Re-Imagining Diane Keaton

Editor-in-chief of Vanichi collaborated with the creative director of Minku Bags, Kunmi. Kunmi specializes in clothing and hand made leather items for men and women.

Kunmi is skilled at handling aso-oke, a fabric commonly worn by the Yorubas. Kunmi uses aso-oke to make men’s hoodie, and also to line the interior of leather accessories and stationaries. Minku bags is known by some as the Hermes of Africa.

Kunmi crafted a large tote bag using leather and aso-oke. “I looked up Annie Hall to see what she was like and there was a shot of her with a huge bag. I’ve always wanted to make big bags,” she said.

She also made a tie to go with the shirt designed by Obioma. As a twist, Kunmi designed a denim pant made with also-oke. She called the pants “Shimmy Shimmy Bling Bling Denim Pants.” To wrap it up, the beauty stylist in Vanichi did an impressive head wrap with a scarf for Chanelle.

The re-imagined look had the androgynous style of Annie Hall with pops of color that is typical of African fashion. The re-imagined look was quirky and assertive, like the modern African woman creating her rules.

Model Chanelle was impressed with her look and in her words, “I think if Diane Keaton had seen the style she would have loved it.”

All 10 episodes, plus a bonus overview, are currently available on The Africa Channel.com and Demand Africa.