© 2009, Clothes on Film 23 May ’09 Starring: Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Moon Bloodgood Directed by: McG The terminator, as represented first and best by Arnold Schwarzenegger, is an obvious signifier for brutish masculinity on film: black leather biker jacket, muscular build, modest dialogue. The irony being, of course, that he is a machine. In Terminator Salvation (2009) this iconic manifestation stays in place, but the clothes and actor change. Not for the first time this has occurred (Schwarzenegger isn’t the only actor to play a terminator after all), but in this film his replacement looks more or less the same. After the slim-framed T-1000 (Robert Patrick) and the…

© 2009, Clothes on Film 23 May ’09 Starring: Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Moon Bloodgood Directed by: McG The terminator, as represented first and best by Arnold Schwarzenegger, is an obvious signifier for brutish masculinity on film: black leather biker jacket, muscular build, modest dialogue. The irony being, of course, that he is a machine. In Terminator Salvation (2009) this iconic manifestation stays in place, but the clothes and actor change. Not for the first time this has occurred (Schwarzenegger isn’t the only actor to play a terminator after all), but in this film his replacement looks more or less the same. After the slim-framed T-1000 (Robert Patrick) and the…

© 2012, Entertainment One 29 Jun ’12 Starring: Robert Pattinson, Paul Giamatti, Kevin Durand Directed By: David Cronenberg POSSIBLE SPOILERS Cosmopolis is visual shorthand for David Cronenberg: vaguely futuristic setting, bursts of sex and violence, body horror; its literal and/or figurative consumption by disease, and a lean male protagonist driven by obsession and unable to reconcile his life. Eric Packer (Robert Pattinson) is a billionaire broker travelling across Manhattan in his white limousine for a haircut. He sets out wearing black single breasted Gucci suit, plain white Gucci shirt, black silk necktie, black leather lace-ups, black leather belt, titanium Chanel wristwatch and black Oliver Peoples sunglasses. As Cosmopolis progresses, Packer’s…

© 2009 Chris Laverty. All rights reserved. 20 May ’09 Not so much Clothes on Film as Underwear on Film, but far from just an excuse to show off a girl in her smalls, classic Mod era film Quadrophenia (1979) illustrates an interesting point concerning female hosiery in the 1960s. The sixties was the decade for tights. They were an ideal accompaniment to the mini skirt and came in a wide variety of colours, normally as bright and garish as possible. Thanks to innovations in textile production, tights (or pantyhose in the U.S.) were straightforward to produce and even easier to wear. Plus with mini skirt hems rising all the…

© 2010, Clothes on Film 17 Jun ’10 In addition to script, acting and direction, the most iconic moments in some of the best-loved films are defined in no small part by costume. This can most certainly be said of Dirty Dancing (1987) in that classic scene where “Nobody puts Baby in a corner” Johnny Castle’s (Patrick Swayze) half-unbuttoned black shirt and equally rebellious leather jacket with up-turned collar define him as the bad boy ‘your Daddy would never approve of’, whilst Baby (Jennifer Grey) wears a floaty, pale pink dress that gives her the grace of a ballerina and the elegance of a dove reflecting her much purer nature.…

© 2010, Clothes on Film 17 Jun ’10 In addition to script, acting and direction, the most iconic moments in some of the best-loved films are defined in no small part by costume. This can most certainly be said of Dirty Dancing (1987) in that classic scene where “Nobody puts Baby in a corner” Johnny Castle’s (Patrick Swayze) half-unbuttoned black shirt and equally rebellious leather jacket with up-turned collar define him as the bad boy ‘your Daddy would never approve of’, whilst Baby (Jennifer Grey) wears a floaty, pale pink dress that gives her the grace of a ballerina and the elegance of a dove reflecting her much purer nature.…

© 2009, Clothes on Film 25 Dec ’09 Frankie Says Watch the HD trailer (redband too) HERE Surely worth a look for eighties fans, the trailer for Hot Tub Time Machine starring John Cusack recently arrived on the web. It’s Back to the Future, for drunk guys. The plot for Hot Tub Time Machine is completely mental and probably wouldn’t be attracting any internet attention were it not for the noteworthy cast involved (meaning Cusack and eighties survivor Chevy Chase). It does seem like an amusing idea however. A group of middle aged guys take leave of their boring lives for a wild night of drinking in a ski resort…

© 2010 Chris Laverty. All rights reserved. 12 May ’10 Last week Clothes on Film visited the Grace Kelly: Style Icon exhibition at London’s V&A museum. This is what we found out. Grace Kelly is mostly known for her ‘blossoming flower’, 50′s New Look dresses with tiny waists and huge, poufy skirts. Yet these only represent one period in her life, essentially the big movie star years 1954-56 and early marriage to Prince Rainier III of Monaco. There was far more to Grace Kelly’s enduring chic than silk organza, although two constants did remain throughout: clean, simple. She rarely deviated from this style. That the Victoria and Albert museum (that’s…

© 2012, Columbia Pictures 17 Jan ’13 Finally the CDG nominations have been announced, and while they right some of the wrongs made by Oscar and chiefly BAFTA, ample opportunity to reward some really creative and effective costume design has once again been overlooked. We have indicated at length our views on the Academy and BAFTA’s nominations (HERE and HERE) so in the interests of not sounding like a broken record we shall stick to the facts. Well, perhaps just the odd observation… Nominations below: Excellence in Contemporary Film Beasts of the Southern Wild – Stephani Lewis The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel – Louise Stjernsward Silver Linings Playbook – Mark…

© 2012, Columbia Pictures 17 Jan ’13 Finally the CDG nominations have been announced, and while they right some of the wrongs made by Oscar and chiefly BAFTA, ample opportunity to reward some really creative and effective costume design has once again been overlooked. We have indicated at length our views on the Academy and BAFTA’s nominations (HERE and HERE) so in the interests of not sounding like a broken record we shall stick to the facts. Well, perhaps just the odd observation… Nominations below: Excellence in Contemporary Film Beasts of the Southern Wild – Stephani Lewis The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel – Louise Stjernsward Silver Linings Playbook – Mark…