Two weeks of juicy costume links. Sandy Powell A costumer who needs no introduction. This Sunday at the J. Paul Getty Museum she discusses the use of period photographs in her process. Puttin’ on the Glitz Tyranny of Style contributor Sophia Shillito recaps the British Library’s night of jazz, costume, gangsters, fashion and cocktails. Costume Test Photographs Costume tests for famous movies! Vera Miles as Madeleine! Vikings Joan Bergin talks Vikings season 2 addressing why the show hasn’t received any costume noms. It’s not very good, which may be factor, though that has nothing to do with the costumes. Saddle Shoes Lots and lots of saddle shoes, from Twin Peaks…

They have finally done it. After four years in development, Nike has recreated their famous Nike MAG trainers worn by Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly in Back to the Future Part II (1989). Thing is, at their current price on eBay you will be unlikely to ever actually see a pair, let alone own them. Nike has opted for eBay only auctions to sell these new pairs of which only 1,500 have been made. All proceeds go to the Michael J. Fox Foundation to benefit sufferers of Parkinson’s Disease. Bidding is currently around the $5,000 mark and climbing fast. With just a few hours left until the first auctions…

In Tron Legacy, the light suit exemplifies two key facets of the mythology: light, as in energy, and ‘disc’ – lifeblood of the wearer. This suit is a meticulously designed ‘second skin’ that integrates seamlessly into director Joseph Kosinski’s vision of the Tron story universe. Here we examine the design of the new light suit including background to its creation, construction, symbolism and application in Tron Legacy. ‘The Grid’ is such a heavily computer generated world that the light suit was considered a practical means of bringing this environment to life for actors. Moreover, to physically illuminate each suit in post-production would have been too expensive. Costume designers Michael Wilkinson,…

Starring: Kara Hayward, Jared Gilman, Bruce Willis Directed By: Wes Anderson Costume design is an increasingly essential fixture in Wes Anderson’s films, fitting then that Moonrise Kingdom is his most sartorially significant picture so far. His first time collaboration with Kasia Walicka Maimone has yielded a pop culture retrospective of mid-1960s trends, with vibrant colour at the crux of revealing character. Period and setting research alone is extraordinary. The predominantly homemade costumes are sixties authentic; an eye-popping collection of loud trousers, knee socks, two-tone oxfords, hostess dresses with peter pan collars and khaki boy scout uniforms (the mind boggles at how long it must have taken to sew all the…

Near silent and shot entirely in black and white, The Artist is a captivating and irresistibly romantic vision of old Hollywood. With international and hopefully Oscar success on the horizon, we talk exclusively to the film’s supremely talented costume designer, Mark Bridges. Seemingly specialising, though perhaps not intentionally, in bringing to life period stories that are culturally defined by their era (Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood), Bridges has again expertly recreated another, almost mythical bygone world. Here he explains to Clothes on Film his thought process behind costume design in The Artist, his passion for the silent era and how he managed to get every outfit ready to shoot…

Costume designer Catherine Marie Thomas proves that Sandra Bullock’s character in The Proposal (2009, directed by Anne Fletcher) does not need a closet full of clothes to make her mark. Here Catherine Marie Thomas discusses exclusively with Jill Burgess for Clothes on Film just why the film is so special to her. Margaret Tate (Sandra Bullock) is a big shot New York book editor, making life hell for her assistant Andrew Paxton (Ryan Reynolds). One morning Margaret is informed by her bosses that she has lost her visa status and will be deported to her native Canada. When Andrew appears to whisk her away from the meeting, Margaret announces to…

No actress personifies the vivid style and nutty playfulness of the flower power years more than Goldie Hawn. From the disheveled crop of sunny blonde locks and psychedelic mini dresses to the teeny bikinis and hand-painted slogan tattoos, Goldie’s most notable looks left an indelible stamp on 1960s pop culture. For three years her giggly, dizzy blonde routine and flawless comic timing charmed American television viewers and made her the most popular member of the ‘Laugh-In’ roster and her work on the legendary TV show led to her first starring role in a major motion picture, 1969’s Cactus Flower. In Cactus Flower, Goldie is cast as a Greenwich Village-dwelling hipster,…

The first trailer for Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes update starring Robert Downey Jr. as Holmes and Jude Law as Dr. Watson is online and it looks, well, lacking. Watch it HERE. Not lacking in excitement; there are more explosions and fist fights here than the average Jason Statham movie. Yet one vital ingredient appears to be missing – Sherlock Holmes is not wearing his deerstalker cap and Mac Farlane cape coat. Apparently none of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes books specifically state the great detective ever donning a deerstalker cap. However he wore a cape, as many stylish Victorian gentleman would have at the time, especially for travelling. Obviously…

On first discovering that the late Eiko Ishioka’s costumes for Tarsem Singh’s fairytale update Mirror Mirror: The Untold Adventures of Snow White are to be featured in an ‘app’ for Apple products we were, to put it mildly, sceptical. On further consideration, however, this is actually a fun and really quite sweet idea. Simply titled ‘Dress Up Snow’ this free app showcases several of Ishioka’s most typically imaginative and extravagant outfits for the movie, all worn by Lily Collins as Snow White – alas none for Julia Roberts’ Evil Queen. Users can alter a cutesy rendered image of Collins wearing different ensembles, in addition to changing the scenery, adding accessories,…

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 female-framed T-X (Kristanna Loken), it is a back…