“Cruella” (2021) is a film that, at first glance, is just a campy remake of the original “101 Dalmatians” (1996) and an homage to the iconic “The Devil Wears Prada” (2006). However, the director, Craig Gillespie, presents a quintessential example of punk fashion domination in London’s 1970’s punk rock scene.

The story starts with the main protagonist, Estella, a clever and rebellious child, born with a rare hereditary condition, poliosis. Therefore, she became an outcast throughout her early school years, but that didn’t let the bullying get to her. She always fought back, which led her mother to withdraw her before she could get expelled and move to London. 

As the mother-daughter duo arrives at a mysterious estate called Hellman Hall, Estella catches a glimpse of a few elegantly dressed people for what presumably looks like a gala and questions her mother about the surprise pit stop. Her mother tells her she has to ask her friend for a favor and that Estella must stay in the car.

She couldn’t help her curiosity about these beautifully adorned garments and this fashionable event, so she disobeys and sneaks in. Little did she know, she was about to crash the party of the second-most important person in this story.

Estella ends up angering three dalmatians with her puppy and her most loyal friend, Buddy. They get chased all the way to the courtyard, where she and her mother’s friend are conversing on a cliff.

In the spur of the moment, the dogs suddenly stop chasing Estella and bolt straight towards her mother, pushing her off the cliff. This is where Estella’s grief story commences, and her black and white hair is hidden. 

Although her mother attempted to change Estella’s mischievous behavior through encouragement in following the rules of paternmaking, Estella’s rule-breaking exceeded the rules of fashion. She meets two pickpockets, Jasper and Horace, and their dog, Wink, who live in an abandoned warehouse.

They end up taking her in and becoming a trio who carry out theft schemes for a living, using Estella’s self-crafted disguises, until Jasper lands her a job at Liberty London, a department store known for collaborating with designers like Vivienne Westwood.

One night, while working late as a maid, she becomes frustrated with her job and negligent boss, so she starts drinking her stress away. In the morning, she wakes up in the department store in a window to camera lights flashing in her face.

Her creative and spontaneous window dressing became the pivotal turning point in her career, to the extent of catching the eye of the Baroness Von Hellman, this story’s vicious antagonist.

While Estella got hired as one of her designers, she soon realized the Baroness’s narcissism and plagiarism of her designer’s ideas. The woman was no saint, but Estella had somewhat respect for her, until she found out that her boss was indeed the one who killed her mother that chaotic night. 

They say there are five stages of grief. Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Well, I’d like to add one more … revenge.

This is the point at which Estella becomes Cruella, a nickname her mother gave her, and now an alter-ego that allows her to upstage the Baroness. Cruella decides to embrace her true vengeful nature that her mother tried to eliminate.

For me, the revenge arc was the most exhilarating yet fashionable part of this film, where Cruella becomes the rebellious high-fashion Disney villain we all know. 

Her outstanding looks are all punk-fashion masterpieces. Her first appearance at the Baroness’s Black and White ball was to retrieve a family heirloom the Baroness stole from her mother. 

After she reveals her red evening gown and feathered mask outfit by burning a cape into flames, her looks and extravagant appearances develop that punk flair from the 1970’s youth punk movement. From the rebellious couture designs to the featuring of punk rock and r&b, “Cruella” becomes a Disney film that captures the punk movement through political statements opposing the corruption of the British monarchy, but disguised as statement pieces for a rising independent designer. 

The political side of this film is evident when Cruella designs an intricately beaded gold dress for the Baroness, which turns from luxurious to theatrical as the beads suddenly release hundreds of butterflies into the fashion house, a dramatic reveal to outsmart the Baroness. The guests attending the Baroness’s Spring Collection show run outside in a panic, and in the midst of chaos, they become the guests at Cruella’s show.

Lines of models strut down the runway in black and white wigs, wearing haute couture-esque textiles as the press tries to gather shots of the fashion theatrics, and a vocalist singing “I Wanna Be Your Dog” by The Stooges.

It’s a true story arc, symbolizing her transformation into her alter ego, but permanently this time around. After Cruella gets her name in the headlines, the Baroness attempts to kill Cruella in a fire and frame her friends in the process.

The Baroness’s right-hand man, John, ends up saving Cruella, which left my friend and me in shock. He shocked us more by revealing that Cruella was indeed the daughter of the Baroness Van Hellman and that her “mother” was one of the maids who worked for her.

This is where Estella realizes that her real mother killed her adoptive mother. Her life felt like a lie, and I don’t blame her.

In the end, Estella takes ownership of Hellman Hall after framing the Baroness for Estella’s murder when she pushed her off the same cliff from the beginning of this twisted tale. You may be thinking, “How is Cruella alive?”

Well, Cruella pulled one last theatric to get her utmost vengeance on the Baroness for ruining her life. This film is truly a spiral of events, with the villain getting her wicked ending.