Posted by Chris Laverty on June 3, 2009 Eastern Promises (2007). The setting: London. The location: burger joint. The outfit: Viggo Mortensen’s gorgeously cut black double breasted suit. It is simply exquisite. Black wool four-on-one double breasted suit with flap hip pockets, white cotton-poplin turn-down collar shirt, black knitted tie. More…

Posted by Chris Laverty on June 3, 2009 Eastern Promises (2007). The setting: London. The location: burger joint. The outfit: Viggo Mortensen’s gorgeously cut black double breasted suit. It is simply exquisite. Black wool four-on-one double breasted suit with flap hip pockets, white cotton-poplin turn-down collar shirt, black knitted tie. Mortensen’s mob infiltrator Nikolai is surely the best dressed Russki knuckle duster in the capital? On Viggo’s tall, slim frame the jacket appears elongated, helped by the high four on one button configuration (four buttons on the front of the jacket, one that fastens bellow the lapel line). It seems almost as though it should be a six on two,…

Posted by Chris Laverty on June 3, 2009 Eastern Promises (2007). The setting: London. The location: burger joint. The outfit: Viggo Mortensen’s gorgeously cut black double breasted suit. It is simply exquisite. Black wool four-on-one double breasted suit with flap hip pockets, white cotton-poplin turn-down collar shirt, black knitted tie. More…

Posted by Chris Laverty on September 9, 2009 In an interview with The New York Times, director Oliver Stone has confirmed Charlie Sheen is to return as disgraced trader Bud Fox for Wall Street sequel Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps (sounding a bit like the title of an episode of The Naked Gun). Good news then for those who enjoyed Bud’s evolution from button-down shirts and plain suits to striped ‘Gekko shirts’ and red braces. Of course Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko pioneered his namesake shirt, but Bud was aping the infamous embezzler all the way. More… Posted by Chris Laverty on June 3, 2009 Eastern Promises (2007). The…

Posted by Chris Laverty on June 6, 2009 Starring: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis Directed by: Todd Phillips The Hangover (2009) is hilarious. The Vegas bachelor party gone wrong premise is nothing new, but the story itself progresses so fast and with so many witty one-liners that the crowd of boozy lads this film is clearly aiming at should have a cracking time. Costume (by Louise Mingenbach) plays a big part in The Hangover. The gang: groom Doug (Justin Bartha), best mates Phil (Bradley Cooper) and Stu (Ed Helms), and the groom’s impending brother-in-law Alan (Zach Galifianakis), assemble themselves – suited and booted – for a spectacular night out.…

Posted by Chris Laverty on June 3, 2009 Eastern Promises (2007). The setting: London. The location: burger joint. The outfit: Viggo Mortensen’s gorgeously cut black double breasted suit. It is simply exquisite. Black wool four-on-one double breasted suit with flap hip pockets, white cotton-poplin turn-down collar shirt, black knitted tie. More…

Posted by Chris Laverty on October 23, 2009 After her flimsy pink slip on Skull Island, this is the second most significant outfit Naomi Watts wears as Ann Darrow in King Kong (2005). As simple as evening wear gets (though strictly in the context of the film it is stage wear), Ann’s white gown is authentically period accurate; 1930s was the couture decade that introduced the evening dress in its now familiar form. That a plain cut-on-the-bias dress such as Ann’s could be worn at any formal function today without raising so much as a martini glass demonstrates the far-reaching influence of thirties designers; major names such as Gilbert Adrian…

Posted by Chris Laverty on June 6, 2009 Having recently caught the video for ‘Great DJ’ by The Ting Tings again on TV, two things hit home: 1) How sexy lead singer Katie White looks in her retro jersey dress and 2) How technically redundant the word ‘retro’ has become. Of course all fashion is retro; everything we wear is influenced by what has gone before. That’s the point; we band the word around as a kind of generic reference to anything that’s old and hip, often without ever assigning a specific era. If it looks like something your mum and dad would have worn, well then it’s retro. Take…

Posted by Chris Laverty on October 19, 2009 Starring: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston Directed by: Roman Polanski This bleak detective noir follows luxuriously suited P.I. or ’snoop’ (he gathers evidence on cheating spouses) J.J. ‘Jake’ Gittes (Jack Nicolson) as he investigates corrupt water rights and Evelyn Mulwray’s (Faye Dunaway) dark family secrets in 1930s Los Angeles. It’s an exquisite piece, based on Robert Towne’s technically flawless screenplay and directed with knowing panache by Roman Polanski. Just note how Gittes appears in every single scene, a difficult cinematic device akin to the novels of Raymond Chandler from which the film draws such heavy inspiration. Towne and Polanski may have…

The aim of this blog is to examine fashion and identity on film. With articles on specific outfits, essays, reviews, news and whatever else seems to fit, I and some contributors will create a mini-library of movie clothes for you to drop by and peruse whenever you like. If you feel an article has overlooked an important point or is just plain wrong, please email at the address below to set me straight (nobody here is getting paid though, so don’t be rude). Furthermore if there is a specific outfit/film not yet featured that you would like to talk about yourself, get in contact and hopefully we can put something…