The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Teaser Trailer Hits | Clothes on Film

We had a seemingly endless parade of character portraits revealed in early March, but now here is the first actual trailer for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire with actual footage and everything.

Surprisingly, it is not centred on the more glamorous side of Catching Fire, i.e. the sensational Capitol outfits. Instead we stay dark and dirty with Games contestants Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) and previous winner Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson) visiting the poverty ravaged districts. There are lots of Nehru and ‘granddad’ collars, linen, leather and heavy cotton fabrics, and just a hint of Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks) tottering into view wearing two fluffy Capitol gowns. Effie not so much channels Alexander McQueen as personifies the brand. In The Hunger Games (2012, costume designer Judianna Makovsky) her costumes were influenced by the artistic extravagance of Italian fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli, so this progression does make sense as she was a major influence for all of McQueen’s work.

What we see most of in this footage, however, is the Capitol guards. For some reason costume designer Trish Summerville has updated their clean Fahrenheit 451 ensemble from the first film to add a shell like protective plate to the front and rear. It does give them a harder, more organic appearance, if one that feels less real as a uniform. Further nods toward nature are shown with Katniss’ black sequin frock featuring wing detailing (mockingjay) on the neckline and shoulder, plus glimpses of fur topping on her earlier districts outfit.

As with Catching Fire in general though, it is a heavier, more overtly busy costume look than The Hunger Games, and we barely seen any of Effie’s Capitol couture outfits moving yet…

The Hunger Games is released on 22nd November.

You can watch Jennifer Lawrence in The Hunger Games at LOVEFiLM.com.