Fashion in ‘The Mask’ Celebrating the Nineties at their best

There are some clothes that, in addition to having entered the history of cinema, have become icons of contemporary culture. Among these, one of the most famous is the oversized yellow suit sported by Jim Carrey in The Mask (1994), the cult film based on the Dark Comics comics that consecrated him in the Hollywood Olympus. 

Few films represent the Nineties as The Mask: already when it was released, the success was sensational, but since Netflix added it on its catalogue, the film is a fixed presence in the Top 10 of the most viewed on the platform. The importance of fashion is clear from the first scene when Tina (Cameron Diaz) makes fun of Stanley Ipkiss/The Mask (Jim Carrey) for his extravagant tie: "It's a bond of power," replies Ipkiss; "It should make you feel powerful." All the outfits, in fact, serve to make him feel powerful: when he puts on The Mask, Stanley Ipkiss is no longer Stanley Ipkiss, but a more daring, brave, bold and "smokin'" version of himself. Starting from the giant pocket watch, in The Mask all costumes play with proportions: this cartoonish style, together with a theatrical scenography, at times even a bit grotesque, and rudimentary special effects (which earned the film a nomination for the Academy Award®, lately won by Forrest Gump), created a dreamlike, dreamy, crazy mood that well developed the spirit of the Nineties.