Throughout summer it has been difficult to ignore the recent Chinoiserie trend in stores and magazines, kick-started by the opulent Louis Vuitton show in Paris and merged effortlessly into autumn by Paul Smith. Cheongsam collars and qipao slits aside, this new-found interest in the East may have been partly triggered by China’s growing appetite for high-end goods, which despite recent economic setbacks, has left Western luxury brands competing for a share of this very sizable market. This obsession with the ‘Orient’ has also seen a proliferation of Asian models on catwalks and throughout editorial spreads, which has courted controversy for some publications and raises all manner of questions regarding ethnicity…

The Fortune (1975, directed by Mike Nichols) starring Warren Beatty, Jack Nicholson and Stockard Channing has been unfairly judged as a madcap mess. Actually it is a slickly made screwball comedy, nowhere deserving of its turkey reputation. Costume designer Anthea Sylbert was responsible for recreating the story’s 1920s setting, an era as eclectic as it was revolutionary; as such The Fortune is as pleasing to the eye as it is funny. Sylbert worked The Fortune back to back with Chinatown (1974) and Shampoo (1975). Chinatown also starred Nicholson but was a different setting (thirties) and, for his character especially, a very different look. Shampoo was Warren Beatty’s picture; he was…

© 2011 Chris Laverty. All rights reserved. 21 Jan ’11 Filed under News. Tagged Alonzo Wilson, Amy Westcott, Black Swan, Boardwalk Empire, Burlesque, CGC, Colleen Atwood, Costume Designers Guild, Demi Moore, Eat Pray Love, Ellen Mirojnick, Halle Berry, Jacqueline West, Janie Bryant, Jenny Beavan, John Dunn, Julia Roberts, Lacoste Spotlight Award, Mad Men, Mark Bridges, Michael Dennison, Penny Rose, The Fighter, The Kings Speech, The Social Network, Treme, Tron Legacy, True Grit. Bookmark the permalink. Post a comment. Leave a Trackback (URL). So, the Costume Designers Guild (CDG) has served up their nominations for this year. Apart from falling short on numbers in a couple of categories, the line-up is…

© 2009, Clothes on Film 20 Jun ’09 Filed under Clothes from 1837-1919, News. Tagged cravat, frock coat, Guy Ritchie, Jude Law, lounge suit, Robert Downey Jr, stiff collar, Victorian. Bookmark the permalink. Post a comment. Leave a Trackback (URL). Not sure if these new posters for Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes are Photoshopped portraits or paintings, but either way they give further insight into the costume style adopted by the movie, which is proving unusual to say the least. See them HERE. Ritchie has been adamant for a while now that Holmes would not wear a deerstalker cap or MacFarlane coat, so no surprises there. Watson however is a bit…

Certainly the most memorable costume Diane Kruger wears in National Treasure (2004) is a luscious silk evening dress; particularly in regards to what her character puts it through. For this fun Disney adventure, Kruger plays National Archives curator turned fortune finder Dr. Abigail Chase. From blow drying the Declaration of Independence to searching an ancient cavern for Freemason gold, she gets more to do than merely follow Nicolas Cage’s ‘treasure protector’ Ben Gates around and scream whenever the bad guys pull their guns out. Abigail swinging from the back of a moving vehicle in an unashamedly flouncy gown is one of the more memorable images from the film. Moreover this…

© 2010 Chris Laverty. All rights reserved. 9 Feb ’10 Filed under Film Reviews. Tagged costume, Deborah Lynn Scott, James Cameron, Mayes C. Rubeo, sci-fi. Bookmark the permalink. Post a comment. Leave a Trackback (URL). Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang Directed By: James Cameron Avatar (2009) is one of those ‘don’t judge a book by its cover films’. Just on the first trailer alone it seemed director James Cameron had been overdosing on his FernGully: The Last Rainforest video. Plus the promo art, for all its build up, was less than inspiring; looking something akin to an early nineties Rutger Hauer movie. Though being as this has nothing…

Certainly the most memorable costume Diane Kruger wears in National Treasure (2004) is a luscious silk evening dress; particularly in regards to what her character puts it through. For this fun Disney adventure, Kruger plays National Archives curator turned fortune finder Dr. Abigail Chase. From blow drying the Declaration of Independence to searching an ancient cavern for Freemason gold, she gets more to do than merely follow Nicolas Cage’s ‘treasure protector’ Ben Gates around and scream whenever the bad guys pull their guns out. Abigail swinging from the back of a moving vehicle in an unashamedly flouncy gown is one of the more memorable images from the film. Moreover this…

© 2009, Clothes on Film 20 Jun ’09 Filed under Clothes from 1837-1919, News. Tagged cravat, frock coat, Guy Ritchie, Jude Law, lounge suit, Robert Downey Jr, stiff collar, Victorian. Bookmark the permalink. Post a comment. Leave a Trackback (URL). Not sure if these new posters for Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes are Photoshopped portraits or paintings, but either way they give further insight into the costume style adopted by the movie, which is proving unusual to say the least. See them HERE. Ritchie has been adamant for a while now that Holmes would not wear a deerstalker cap or MacFarlane coat, so no surprises there. Watson however is a bit…

© 2009, Clothes on Film 20 Jun ’09 Filed under Clothes from 1837-1919, News. Tagged cravat, frock coat, Guy Ritchie, Jude Law, lounge suit, Robert Downey Jr, stiff collar, Victorian. Bookmark the permalink. Post a comment. Leave a Trackback (URL). Not sure if these new posters for Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes are Photoshopped portraits or paintings, but either way they give further insight into the costume style adopted by the movie, which is proving unusual to say the least. See them HERE. Ritchie has been adamant for a while now that Holmes would not wear a deerstalker cap or MacFarlane coat, so no surprises there. Watson however is a bit…

© 2010 Chris Laverty. All rights reserved. 9 Feb ’10 Filed under Film Reviews. Tagged costume, Deborah Lynn Scott, James Cameron, Mayes C. Rubeo, sci-fi. Bookmark the permalink. Post a comment. Leave a Trackback (URL). Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang Directed By: James Cameron Avatar (2009) is one of those ‘don’t judge a book by its cover films’. Just on the first trailer alone it seemed director James Cameron had been overdosing on his FernGully: The Last Rainforest video. Plus the promo art, for all its build up, was less than inspiring; looking something akin to an early nineties Rutger Hauer movie. Though being as this has nothing…