1970's : "Becoming Jane," by Lynn Yaeger, Vogue, September 2008 by Tanya Ziegler

In this intimate ambiance of Jane Fonda’s suite at the Four Seasons Hotel, Lynn Yaeger makes a retrospective of the actress’s style from the « Klute » movie and on. With a pile of photos from the photo shoots which followed the movie and shots from the scenes in 1971, both discuss the very sexy/hippie style which radically changed from her previous movies « Barbarella ».

Lynn Yaeger shows Jane Fonda how her looks have influenced society and women’s outfits. In addition, how those timeless looks are still influencing the runways and designers, as they need new inspiration for each collection they create.

Above Lynn Yaeger

Fonda shares with Lynn her feelings during the difficult period which was between the shoot of « Barbarella » and « Klute ». All her frustration and suffering physically on one side because of the costumes (metal corset and strapped to mechanical contraptions in “Barbarella”) and emotionally on the other as she ended her marriage to Roger Vadim director of « Barbarella ». Then she continued talking about her life and her relationship to clothes. How today, by seeing the full picture she would perhaps have acted differently.

Nostalgic, she skim through those photos and magazines covers she did, with different styles and defending her ideas. Finally, she concludes the interview with an amused glance on how our clothes, which are like costumes, can change according to the person or lifestyle we aim to have. Still, fascinated by these emotions, which can be created by the view of an outfit. Although Fonda maintains she has no fashion sense, one can easily see that her experience on the set of « Klute » definitely taught her a sense of fashion which remains until today. Jane finally confesses her worship for Chanel who liberated women from the corset. Her acting experience with a corset makes her very grateful Chanel. She concludes the interview by explaining that a corset prevents any strong emotions and thanks to Chanel true and real emotions could finally be shared through fashion.