In "Phantom Thread," Daniel Day-Lewis plays an imperious and eccentric fashion designer named Reynolds Woodcock in 1950s London in the years after World War II. His character approaches fashion as a religion that requires silence and solitude. His various self-indulgences masquerade as near-sacraments. Day-Lewis' character is not meant to represent any real designer, living or dead, but the ecclesiastical nature of his atelier takes inspiration from Cristobal Balenciaga, and his personal quirks call to mind the fastidiousness of Karl Lagerfeld. Woodcock's designs, however, have a look all their own.