It’s cheering to see members of Hollywood royalty embracing clothing with the comfort factor.
Take Kate Hudson, for example. She might be the daughter of Goldie Hawn, stepdaughter of Kurt Russell and a one-time Oscar nominee, but that doesn’t stop her walking into the room wearing a simple white shirt, black vest top and that great sartorial statement – leggings.
Blonde with blue eyes, Hudson boasts the kind of Californian glow befitting a golden girl of Hollywood – and that’s despite not feeling on top form.
She even groans as she sits down.
For those who’ve missed the headlines, the 32-year-old is six months pregnant (the dad is Muse frontman Matt Bellamy) and the pregnancy’s causing her to get up at 6am every morning.
She manages a grin and there’s a hint of the mega-watt smile she shares with her mum – one that’s served to beguile audiences in films such as How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days, which earned more than £100 million at the box office.
That winsome smile has had to put in overtime in her latest film Something Borrowed. Based on the bestselling novel of the same name, it tells the tale of two lifelong friends, the introverted and loyal Rachel, played by He’s Just Not That Into You’s Ginnifer Goodwin and the charismatic but relentlessly self-absorbed Darcy, played by Hudson.
“Simply put, Darcy is all about Darcy. She’s the kind of person who says things we wish we could say, who doesn’t hold back and thrives on being the centre of attention,” says Hudson, who says she’s nothing like her character.
Well, actually, that’s not entirely true. Like Darcy, she’s been known to dance on a bar before.
“Of course,” she exclaims. “I wouldn’t say on tables, I’m not that kind of a girl. But yeah, on a bar, who hasn’t?”
Baby bump allowing, Hudson loves to dance, and has done since she was a child. She even got to show off her moves in show-stopping 2009 musical Nine.
But unlike Hudson, Darcy isn’t just an exhibitionist; she’s the archetypal alpha female.
“Darcy thinks she’s perfect because everything has always gone the way she’s wanted it to,” she says.
This could prove a turn-off to a predominantly female audience, so all credit to Hudson for making her so watchable.
As with all good romcoms, there are messy romantic entanglements.
In this instance, the reliable Rachel admits her true feelings to Darcy’s fiancé Dex – played by newcomer Colin Egglesfield – in the wake of her 30th birthday. It’s a moment of spontaneity, which brings into question the notions of loyalty and friendship.
“I’m a girl’s girl,” says Hudson emphatically when asked what kind of friend she is. “I’ve got a group of about six girlfriends that are really close and I feel like we can do anything when we come together.”
