The Wolf of Wall Street Trailer: Expensive Bad Taste | Clothes on Film

Director Martin Scorsese once again teams up with regular collaborator Sandy Powell for The Wolf of Wall Street. This first trailer lays the costume ground rules: expensive bad taste and lots of it.

The Wolf of Wall Street is based on the memoirs of New York stockbroker Jordan Belfort (played by Leonardo DiCaprio), tracing his involvement in a large securities fraud case and refusal to cooperate with the FBI. This all occurred during the 1990s boom and if the trailer is anything to go by, predominantly at the beginning of that stylistically redundant decade.

Oscar winning costume designer Sandy Powell has gone to town with what looks to be her most intriguing work of the past few years. It is a period piece, but not the corsets and frock coats she is used to. Instead we have the best and worst that obnoxious capital can by. Lots of layered weight pinstripe suits and shirts, wide double breasted suits, stretch Lycra dresses, generous pleats, some truly hideous Italian silk neckties and (rather wonderfully) lilac braces. Look out too for Tacchini and Lauren polo shirts – classic money man sportswear.

Being as this is based on a true story, Powell did not have licence to let her imagination run riot, yet likely studied everything she could from the era. We would imagine lots of copies of GQ for a start. Don’t forget that the early-mid nineties signified rapid rise of the male lifestyle magazine, and Belfort is just the kind of guy who would have bought a subscription.

The Wolf of Wall Street is released on 15th November.