1. A soft, moist, shapeless mass of matter.
2. A magazine or book containing lurid subject matter and being characteristically printed on rough, unfinished paper.
When that definition first flashed across the screen, the phenomenon that is ’90s cult action film Pulp Fiction was born, with its punchy dialogue, sorry-not-sorry violence, and smug humour. Directed by Quentin Tarantino, the film hit cinemas 25 years ago this month; and its rebellious style and whip-smart banter immediately seemed destined for greatness. (Or perhaps that’s the effects of time: Critic Roger Ebert described it as “either one of the year’s best films, or one of the worst” after it debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in May 1994.)
Viewers were introduced to a mass of tangled connections: gang kingpin Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames) and his wife, Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman); hitmen Vincent Vega (John Travolta) and Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson); boxer Butch (Bruce Willis) and French nymphette Fabienne (Maria de Medeiros); and modern-day Bonnie and Clyde Pumpkin (Tim Roth) and Honey Bunny (Amanda Plummer). A wild tale of guts and gore ensued, with a Travolta dance number to boot.
Needless to say the cast was dressed to kill. To celebrate the film’s quarter century, Vogue spoke to costume designer Betsy Heimann about the lethal ladies of Pulp Fiction and their key looks. Heimann, who also worked on Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs and Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous, dished on everything from Uma Thurman’s iconic dancefloor look to the importance of a great coat.
Read more here
