If you live in north-west London, as I do, you’re fairly likely to have a Helena Bonham Carter story. One friend swooned at the sight of her buying tickets for a film at the cinema on Finchley Road (“Buying them! With actual money! Despite being a literal film star!”). Another felt touched by greatness upon passing her in the street. “She looked like she hadn’t brushed her hair for weeks,” my friend said admiringly. “Whole ecosystems could have been holed up in there. But that’s Helena.”
Indeed it is. My own story involves her turning up to my hot yoga class in frilly white bloomers, like a Victorian scullery maid. No generic black leggings or moisture-wicking fabric for HBC: whether she’s doing reverse warrior or on the red carpet, she can always be guaranteed to plough her own furrow, in her own field, in her own time zone, some time between the 19th century and the 1990s.
Her style is frequently described as the quintessence of “English eccentric”, but in truth, she’s far more eccentric than the average Englishwoman would ever dare to look. By day, this might mean a velvet frock coat printed with cabbage roses, a striped scarf snaking round her neck and petticoats spilling from underneath, topped off with a jaunty hat positioned at a perilous angle. Regardless of season, she loves to wear heavy black boots. Not for HBC the clenched constraints of quiet luxury. She’s the opposite of a Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, and would refute Coco Chanel’s “elegance is refusal” by blithely adding another layer.
It’s this rebellious spirit – completely innate – that has made her a poster girl for misfits, oddballs and anyone who doesn’t conform to the banalities of designer diktats or seasonal trends. “She’s magical,” says the stylist Leith Clark, who styled Bonham-Carter for the cover of Harper’s Bazaar’s December 2019 issue (and put her in a canary-yellow silk feather-trimmed gown, in which she looked resplendent). “Helena has an energy that’s addictive, and I remember feeling sad when the shoot ended and I wasn’t with her any more. She has wonder as well as wisdom.
“There’s a quote of hers that circles the internet pretty often that starts: ‘I think everything in life is art’. Everything about her is art, too. Her style is art. She’s playful, eccentric and theatrical in how she chooses to express herself. But there’s also a darkness that sits alongside all the joy. That’s what makes her style so authentic.”
Her breakout role was playing Lucy Honeychurch in the Merchant Ivory-directed film A Room With A View (1985). Based on the novel by EM Forster, many critics agree it was the duo’s finest work, thanks to the stellar cast (Maggie Smith, Judy Dench, Denholm Elliott, Daniel Day Lewis), divine setting (Florence) and memorable costumes. Bonham Carter was only 18, but more than held her own against these acting greats. Had Pinterest existed, it would have groaned with images of her high-necked white lace blouses, for in the late Eighties, she was second only to Diana, Princess of Wales in making them her own.
It can be hard to know where Bonham Carter’s characters end and her real self begins. Case in point: her canon of films with director Tim Burton, with whom she fell in love after meeting on the set of Planet of the Apes in 2001 (they split up in 2014 and share two children). The couple collaborated on eight films including Corpse Bride (2005), Sweeney Todd (2007) and Alice in Wonderland (2010), and while Burton’s cinematic style is rightly revered, Bonham Carter is firmly at the heart of it: so much so that’s almost impossible to separate one from the other. That she dresses as though she’s in a Tim Burton film even when shopping for groceries makes her feel all the more authentic; a cheery mélange of Victorian drama, bohemian layering and British theatricality.
So committed to her part is Bonham Carter, that she recently made headlines for bailing out of the fourth series of hit show The White Lotus, just as filming had begun in the south of France. According to reports, Bonham Carter fell out with director Mike White over “creative differences” regarding the character she was set to play – a past-it star attempting a comeback. She has been replaced by Laura Dern – perhaps a more malleable choice. But surely White should have known exactly what he might be getting when he signed Bonham Carter up? His loss, indeed.
Nor does she conform on the red carpet. Her favourite designers include Erdem, Ralph & Russo and Alexander McQueen, though she’s most commonly seen in Vivienne Westwood, whose historical references chime perfectly with Bonham Carter’s penchant for gothic romance. At the 2010 premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, she wore a full-skirted Westwood crinoline with a tumble of unruly curls that made her look as witchy and eccentric as her character, Bellatrix Lestrange. “Her looks always seem to be part of her character, and it’s funny how that really stands out nowadays, and seems novel,” notes the stylist Bay Garnett. “It feels like stating the obvious, but she’s so completely uncompromising – completely herself. Her style has never shifted, so she’s never subscribed to that whole ‘celebrity on the red carpet’ thing, which is all about structure and honing a look.”
In an era when mainstream beauty standards feel boringly, worryingly narrow and are so rigidly adhered to, never was a joyfully exuberant woman like Bonham Carter needed more. As she celebrates her 60th birthday, who knows what she’ll wish for as she blows out the candles on her cake. Her fans, meanwhile, have only one wish: that she may never change.