With the release of a new 4k restoration, courtesy of Criterion and StudioCanal, we reflect on the influence of Sofia Coppola’s directorial debut, The Virgin Suicides – and the birth of a career-defining visual style that solidified the film – and director’s – iconic status.

Capturing the hazy, transience of youth through the dreamlike lens she’s now synonymous with, Sofia Coppola’s coming-of-age classic encapsulates the mood of an era in its unmistakable aesthetic, insouciant styling, and cult soundtrack – crafted by French electronic music duo Air. The film traces events following the attempted suicide of Cecilia Lisbon – one of five beautiful sisters, all the subject of obsession for the neighbourhood’s boys – as the family’s increasing isolation from their conservative American town spurs the sisters’ quiet rebellion. Premiered at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival, Coppola cast a 16 year old Kirsten Dunst in the role that began a career-spanning friendship which continued the pair’s work as close collaborators, alongside performances from Kathleen Turner, James Woods, and Josh Hartnett.

Documented in a series of images, shot on set by Corinne Day and Coppola herself, The Virgin Suicides continues to make its a mark as a core visual reference point across fashion and film. Embodying a certain brand of unattainable cool and melancholic irreverence, the Lisbon sisters – and most specifically, Lux – gave way to hoards of teenage imitators, their ‘70s prairie dresses and modest school attire carefully tweaked in a balance of perceived innocence and teen curiosity.

Based on Jeffrey Eugenides’ 1993 novel – recommended to her by Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth – Coppola credited the book as a catalyst for her pursuit of filmmaking, explaining, “I really didn’t know I wanted to be a director until I read ‘The Virgin Suicides’ and saw so clearly how it had to be done. I was really motivated to make something sensitive and accurate to a teenage girl. I immediately saw the central story as being about what distance and time and memory do to you, and about the extraordinary power of the unfathomable.”