Featuring exclusive insight from Sherlock Holmes costume designer Jenny Beavan, we commence our sartorial analysis of Guy Ritchie’s Victorian-set mystery adventure, and with not a deerstalker in sight. “Wear a jacket” barks Dr. Watson. “You wear a jacket!” retorts Sherlock Holmes. And he does. Watson sits down to dinner with Holmes and bride-to-be Mary Morstan wearing arguably the most unusual and interesting jacket in the entire film. It is dark blue with a stand collar and pleats across the chest. But more on that later. Sherlock Holmes (2009) is Guy Ritchie’s re-imagining, re-boot, re-whatever of Arthur Conan Doyle’s renowned fictional detective. It’s greater fun than any of us dared hope…

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Stanley Tucci, Saoirse Ronan Director: Peter Jackson After directing one of the greatest multi-award winning trilogies ever and remaking his own favourite film in the world, King Kong (2005), Peter Jackson has decided to go back to basics with his interpretation of Alice Sebold’s ‘The Lovely Bones’. The result is reminiscent of Jackson’s earlier work Heavenly Creatures (1995). Both films flit between the imagination and reality of two young girls; The Lovely Bones deals with life, death and the nature of heaven and hell. Set in 1970s Pennsylvania, fourteen year-old Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan) is murdered by her neighbour Mr Harvey (Stanley Tucci). Susie then finds herself…

“We are stardust, we are golden”, sang Joni Mitchell of the Woodstock Music and Art Fair, held August 15-18th 1969, at a dairy farm in the Catskills near the hamlet of White Lake in the town of Bethel, New York. The irony was, she wasn’t even there. A further irony follows in that whilst a myriad of psychedelic colours are synonymous with the Woodstock nation, one of the most revered choices of dress, clearly shown in the documentary Woodstock (1970) is a simple white leather fringed lace-up tunic-style vest and bell bottom trousers. It is worn by one of the first female rock stars, the lead singer of Jefferson Airplane,…

Jacqueline Oknaian has costumed Ugly Betty (2008-10), Sex and the City 2 (2010) and The Big C (2012-13), so it might be fair to say contemporary clothing is her forte. For The Intern she dressed Anne Hathaway and Robert De Niro in that most tricky of cinematic costume: ‘office attire’. Fashion and practicality collide in what needs to be stylish but relatable clothing inside a believable setting. Here Ms Oknaian chats exclusively about her work on the film. Anne Hathaway has the perfect office wardrobe, where did you get your inspiration for her smart, but chic looks? I related to her character personally because I’m a mother and I’ve worked…

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…

With so many movie streaming options now cropping up, we thought it would be worth drawing your attention to one of the best: Curzon on Demand. Our main reason for the love being that Curzon focus predominately on often neglected art-house cinema, plus their films are available to stream from the moment they are released at the cinema. The In Cinemas – On Curzon catalogue is pleasingly diverse, particularly from a costume point of view. Incorporating period features such as Wuthering Heights (2011), The Young Victoria (2009) and Peter Greenaway’s classic The Draughtsman’s Contract (1982), to the subtextual delights of We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011) and Melancholia (2011).…

Surely we all know Michael Kaplan by now? Flashdance (1983), Fight Club (1999), Burlesque (2010), Star Trek (2009), and the biggest of the big, Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Versatile is not a generous enough word for his talent; he is literally one of the best in the business, as his CDG (Costume Designers Guild) nomination for Star Wars goes some way to proving. I spoke to Mr Kaplan just after Christmas about his work for The Force Awakens, but due to unforeseen circumstances (basically Clothes on Film HQ flooding), this interview is only being posted now. Still much to enjoy though, and plenty of costume titbits to sift through.…

Catch up with the week’s costume links. Fashion Fall Trends From big screen and small, Nathalie Atkinson analyses – with typical and unrelenting brilliance – inspiration for the fall fashion season. Ken Van Duyne, Assistant Costume Designer Chats about his way into the business and working with Julie Weiss. Piero Tosi The Italian costume designer (Death in Venice, The Night Porter) has been given an honorary Oscar. Well done, sir. Costume designers as brands Cassy Salyer looks at the increasing (and potentially controversial) trend for costume designers to produce capsule versions for the high street. The Bling Ring Video: The Cut meet costume designer Stacey Battat. Sleepy Hollow Costume designer…

As the UK is missing out on the Iron Man 2 world premiere thanks to that giant ash cloud, we shall endeavour to cheer ourselves up with a few images from the film everyone has probably seen already. Iron Man 2 is one of costume designer Mary Zophres’ biggest productions to date. Although, the rumour goes, she did have a staff of twenty five assistants on Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), so is obviously used to pressure. Working from a template established by original Iron Man’s costume designers Rebecca Bentjen and Laura Jean Shannon, she has created an already memorable looking set of principals. Disregarding…