Recently underway on Sky Atlantic, This is Jinsy is one of those comedy shows set in a surreal world of madness that you either get or you don’t. Frequently hilarious and always interesting, from a costume point of view this is retro fancy dress, deliberately mismatched and performance orientated. Yet everything in Jinsy makes sense within its own world. The island of Jinsy is populated (791 residents) by all manner of weird and wonderful people. The locale has been likened to The Wicker Man’s Summerisle but is spiritually closer to the Village from Patrick McGoohan’s sixties TV series, The Prisoner. Everyone in Jinsy seems trapped there but somehow content. Episode…

After the tragic loss of Jacques d’Azur, his heir steps unto the breach and thanks to Stella Artois 4% enjoys a one-off lifetime to Cannes. He starts with a shave, ends in the VIP room of a classy nightclub, and does a lot of drinking in-between. We all wondered anxiously who might replace über sophisticated filmmaker Jacques d’Azur. That devilish charm, witty repartee, an immaculate dress sense that made Cary Grant look lazy by comparison. Yet because of their stupendously generous competition, we had nothing to worry about. Stella Artois 4% found him. Watch the video and taste your salty tears as this bemused but clearly ready for it heir…

Not long now and Oliver Stone’s follow-up to his 1987 smash hit will be on our screens. Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps arrives in UK cinemas on 6th October. To celebrate we have four goodie bags to give away. In Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Michael Douglas returns in his Oscar winning role as Gordon Gekko, disgraced former titan of the financial world. Emerging from a lengthy stint in prison, he must learn to adjust to a new era of corporate greed where the stakes are higher than ever before. Gekko, however, has not lost his touch. As idealistic young banker Jacob (Shia LaBeouf) discovers, Wall Street is about to…

Costumes! Read all about it! Fifty Shades of Grey Will Victoria Beckham be the film’s costume designer? Oh dear, we smell another Black Swan situation. X-Men: First Class Part two of Gavia Baker’s superb costume round up. This time: menswear. Gwen Russell The costume maker of Dangerous Liaisons (not the costume DESIGNER like this sloppy article states) – she lives in Croydon, don’t cha know? Camera Ready In development TV show by Syfy, where 10 costume designers compete to create works of sartorial art for film, TV and music videos. Blue Jasmine Insightful guide to Cate Blanchett’s terribly chic and expensive costumes. Marathon Man Mode Parade has something interesting to…

Yes, amazingly, Anna B. Sheppard’s much talked about work on Inglourious Basterds has been overlooked by the Costume Designers Guild (CDG). Though this is not the only surprise announcement… Marina Draghici has been given the nod for Precious, which is perhaps a shock considering the very ordinary, albeit period, costumes worn by the cast (including queen diva Mariah Carey no less). Yet this is what costume design is all about; sometimes intentionally visible, sometimes intentionally invisible. The Costume Designers Guild, and this is reassuring given their name, can clearly tell the difference. The CDG separate their nominations into three categories: Period, Contemporary and Fantasy. Inglourious Basterds is the obviously controversial…

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 the V&A in case you were unsure) have recognised her…

Jacques D’Azur is missing. So what are you going to do about it? Take his place, that’s what. Here are some tips from the flicks on how to succeed that sultan of sophistication. Sans Tie: First things first, ditch the tie. It’s Cannes, it’s sunny, and you need to breathe. Try following the late, great Cary Grant’s example and wear a scarf instead. Playing cat burglar John Robie in To Catch a Thief (1955), Grant added a spotted red silk scarf to his matelot top and grey slacks ensemble after scouring boutiques along the Riviera. You won’t look as good as him, but at least they won’t send you off…

Angelina Jolie is apparently being courted by Ridley Scott to star in ‘Gucci’; a film charting internal power struggles to control the fashion empire. Would love to see the costume budget for this one. During the 1970s-80’s the Gucci brand nearly collapsed amidst a bitter family feud; a feud that ended with Maurizio, grandson of founder Guccio Gucci, being assassinated outside his Milan apartment in 1995. Jolie is in talks to play Patrizia Reggiani, Maurizio’s ex-wife, currently banged-up in prison for plotting his murder. Leonardo DiCaprio is another name thrown about as a possible sign-up. Should he ever commit, DiCaprio would likely play Maurizio. Scott worked with the Oscar nominated…

Really though, there were no big surprises in the 82nd Annual Academy Awards. Apart from The Hurt Locker winning Best Picture, that was huge. As this is a movie costume website, however, we shall start with that. It was BAFTA/CDG all over again as Sandy Powell won Best Costume Design for The Young Victoria. Well, we did say there were no big surprises. Cannot fault Sandy Powell and her team for their incredibly detailed work on a movie that, frankly, demanded it, but when will the Academy reward costume design that isn’t period? Do casual moviegoers even realise that ‘costume’ is whatever a character wears, and that does not have…

Having created some of the most recognisable contemporary costume design of the 20th century for Wall Street in 1987, Ellen Mirojnick returns to dress belated sequel Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. But how has time altered the broker’s look and what sartorial influences does the current economic climate bring to the new world of finance? Talking exclusively to Clothes on Film, costume designer Ellen Mirojnick tells us exactly what to expect when director Oliver Stone’s much anticipated follow up hits cinema screens next month. All the principals’ shirts in the film were made by Anto of Beverly Hills. Clothes on Film, Chris: How has Wall Street trader attire evolved since…