As is often the way with costume designers, Stephanie Collie is something of an unsung hero. We will not reel off her entire back catalogue, but it does include South Riding (2011, TV), Telstar (2008) Peter’s Friends (1992) and perhaps most exciting of all, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998). Now, anyone old enough to remember when Lock, Stock arrived will remember just what an incredible influence its Mod inspired costumes had on the world of fashion. You could not pick up a men’s magazine of the time without seeing some guy in slim trousers and a jersey polo shirt. Stephanie Collie invented this look, thus providing one of…

Clothes on Film talks exclusively to director of The Help, Tate Taylor, about his use of costume and make-up in the movie, Southern fashions and approaching his role from an actor’s perspective. With only three features under his belt, Mississippi born Tate Taylor is relatively new to directing. Taylor’s work as an actor may be more familiar, a small but noteworthy part in Winter’s Bone (2010) perhaps his most high profile role. Coming from an acting background grants him rare insight into the filmmaking process; specifically how costume is employed on the other side of the camera. Director Tate Taylor on set with Emma Stone (Skeeter) and Viola Davis (Aibileen).…

As spoilt yet charming Frances Stevens, Grace Kelly wears a total of ten separate costumes in Alfred Hitchcock’s lavish romantic caper To Catch a Thief (1954). All outfits were designed by easily the most famous costume designer who ever lived, Edith Head. Typical for Head, Frances’ outfits are a mix of steady, daring and occasionally bizarre, including a pale yellow one-piece swimsuit with ‘cats eye’ sunglasses, an unflattering blue tunic trouser suit and wild 18th century gold lamé gown with piled up sausage curls wig. For our coverage, three of the more interesting ensembles have been chosen, each reflecting a facet of Frances’ personality and in some way informing the…

Director Peter Jackson’s new movie The Lovely Bones has been chosen for this year’s Royal Gala screening at London’s Leicester Square in late November. This is a world charity premiere in aid of the Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund two months before the scheduled release date. Now this may not mean much unless you have a ticket, but it does give us an excuse to revisit the film’s trailer. Watch it HERE The Lovely Bones is set in 1973, retaining its retro setting from Alice Sebold’s 2002 source novel. A fantastical yet emotionally challenging idea, the plot concerns young Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan) who is raped and murdered by her…

Some official images have surfaced for director Mathew Vaughn’s adaptation of Marvel comic X-Men: First Class. Plot details are still sketchy, but we do know that the story is set at some point during 1960s (mid?) and concentrates on the relationship between young Professor Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik Lehnsherr / mutant guise Magneto (Michael Fassbender). Their ‘civvie’ costumes by Sammy Sheldon (Kick-Ass, Stardust) are not excessively sixties in tone, however. Only a handful of details give the film away as not set in the present day, most notably on January Jones as Emma Frost and Kevin Bacon’s ‘Hellfire Club’ leader Sebastian Shaw. A white, belted PVC catsuit channels…

Starring: Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Asa Butterfield Directed By: Martin Scorsese Acclaimed director Martin Scorsese concocts a cracking children’s fantasy in homage to silent movie magician Georges Méliès; his beloved Hugo barely drops a cog in its methodically realised mechanical world. Scorsese has unmistakably made a children’s movie. Some may argue not as it is crammed full of references to early moving pictures that only adults could probably recognise. Yet Scorsese’s purpose, like that of his hero Méliès, is to entertain and inform. For all the po-faced wittering by cinema scholars that Hugo is meant for them, one has to wonder if deep down Scorsese really cares if any…

Clio Barnard’s stark yet heart-wrenching film The Selfish Giant (2013, UK) offers two fantastic performances from its young stars in their acting debut. Matt Price discusses how his costume design for the film reflects the strong, relatable characters so well… It is lunchtime in London as costume designer Matthew Price shuffles into the Curzon, Soho. Recently collaborating with Clio Barnard on the Bafta nominated film, The Selfish Giant, reuniting after experimental documentary The Arbour, Price is surprisingly reserved about his work. “I wasn’t really sure if they’d take me on again,” he says of Barnard and producer Tracey O’Riordan. “The Arbour did quite well so I didn’t know if they’d…

Director Brian Helgeland’s Legend (2015) tells the based-on true story of Ronald and Reggie Kray: twins (both played by Tom Hardy), East End boys, racketeers, murderers, icons. The Krays were shaped during the 1960s, a post World War II boom for England. They came to symbolise the smartly dressed gangster for a new youth-orientated generation. They had money and they wanted to flaunt it – and that meant suits and a lot of jewellery. Costume designer for Legend, Caroline Harris, boasting over 20 years experience in both film and television with credits such as Mr Nice (2010), Red Riding (2009) and Fleming (2014), here chats exclusively to Clothes on Film…

Pretty Woman (1990) is your typical Hollywood rags to riches story. Vivian Ward (Julia Roberts) is a young woman who finds herself down and out; struggling financially, unable to make the rent and ‘forced’ to sell her body on the street. By dramatic coincidence she happens to enter the car (and world) of newly single, and rich, businessman Edward Lewis (Richard Gere) Vivian’s transformation from prostitute to elegant lady of luxury is highlighted through her clothes. Costume designer Marilyn Vance-Straker and her team created an array of stylish and contemporary outfits, beginning with the white and blue revealing dress with thigh-high boots that Roberts dons at the start of the…

MILD SPOILERS Costume designer Michael Wilkinson’s main accomplishment with American Hustle has largely been overlooked in favour of praising him as some kind of vintage stylist with an eye for provocative gowns and desirable heels.[…] Happy New Ye- oh we’ve done that already. Carry on. ‘How Hollywood is ruining a Billion Dollar Industry’ Amber Jane Butchart found this amazing article from 1938 and it is essential, and occasionally shocking, reading.[…] Two-part BBC drama The 7.39 could have been your average ‘man meets woman and has an affair’ tale. However, the overall verdict has been one of admiration at not only the amazing acting from its[…] ‘Disney’s Muppets Most Wanted takes…