Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) is the quintessential evil queen, right up there with The Queen from Snow White and the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland. Or is she..? Throughout Game of Thrones we have been given clues as to Cersei’s motivations and character, and by the end of Season 3 she has become, partially at least, a sympathetic character. While Cersei was not involved with the Walder-Frey-Marry-One-Of-My-Daughters plotline, which famously leads to the gruesome ‘Red Wedding’; that plot really drove home that point that in this world women are only worth how beautiful they are. Even Robb Stark, one of the so-called good guys, was horrified at the…

Beginning in the late 1950s, into the 60’s, predominantly through the mid to late 70’s, then into the early 90’s, costume designer Stephanie Collie’s work for The Look of Love covers several distinct periods. This is the true story of King of Soho billionaire Paul Raymond (Steve Coogan) told via the many women in his life. Helpfully these women confirm to a specific body type which is still relatable as the model ideal today, i.e. very slender or the ‘no-body body’. This means that all the garments on screen look fantastic. They are costumes above all but still relevant as fashion; the 60’s especially still informs contemporary style for women’s…

Moon (2009) is a love letter to the science fiction movies that director Duncan Jones grew up watching. He stated his intention was, “to create something which felt comfortable within that canon of those science fiction films from the sort of late seventies to the early eighties”*. Jones’ eerie story of a moon base worker who discovers uncomfortable truths about himself during a three year solo mission certainly achieved that. One of the central reasons the film succeeds, attests blogger Dallas King is its subtly readable costume design by Jane Petrie. Petrie’s only previous science fiction credit was in the costume department for Star Wars: Episode 1: The Phantom Menace…

Director Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim was always bound to be a detailed visual feast of FX, sets and costume design. Nonetheless the real main players in this film wear no costumes at all, the kaiju (Japanese for ‘strange beast’) and the tower-block sized Jaeger robots (German for ‘hunter’) built to defend Earth from their attacks. As such it fell to costume designer Kate Hawley, fresh from The Hobbit’s design team, to emphasise the humanity of Pacific Rim’s smaller-scale, flesh and blood characters. Hawley’s job was made extra difficult because most of these characters are involved in the military Pan Pacific Defence Corps, and yet we arrive (intro excluded) at…

Disney has just released an international trailer for their latest, Scotland set Pixar offering, Brave (directed by Brenda Chapman and Mark Andrews). Delightful, it is. Brave takes place in fairytale ‘ancient times’, telling the story of Merida (voiced by Kelly Macdonald), a flame haired, headstrong tomboy keen to break convention and change her destiny in a male dominated land. Nothing new there, but this does look sumptuous. Plus the level of detail on the costumes is immense. Just look at Queen Elinor’s (Emma Thompson) Tudor style green dress as it realistically shimmies and sways around her. If you are still not convinced that costume design has any place in animation,…

As Contessa Teresa ‘Tracy’ Di Vicenzo in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969), Diana Rigg embodied a complex and charming, if sadly terminal ‘Bond girl’. Decked in glamorous, era-specific trends by Marjory Cornelius, Rigg’s costumes were subtly symbolic of her tomboyish nature, culminating in a memorably daring wedding ensemble. Glamour and symbolism were director Peter Hunt’s idea; he intended a return to the more distinguished Bondian elements of dress and production design as established in Goldfinger (1964). Acknowledged for his dapper style on set, Hunt even sent new 007 George Lazenby to his own tailor. Lazenby’s Bond is one of the sharpest attired in the series, principally because he reflects…

MILD SPOILERS Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) is far and away the most ‘A New Hope-like’ film in the series yet. In terms of tone, sure, but particularly costume. What costume designers Glyn Dillon and David Crossman have so expertly achieved with Solo is making a contemporary looking movie set during the late 1960s. Star Wars: A New Hope was released in 1977 which puts Solo’s timeline around a decade before, or likely just over. But hang on, isn’t this a science fiction movie? What does when it’s made have to do with the space opera world being brought to life on screen? Well the seventies in particular was…

For contemporary set spy thriller The Tourist starring Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp, Oscar winning costume designer Colleen Atwood took a break from historical and fantasy to create a modern yet playfully retro collection of gorgeous gowns and impeccable suits. We asked her a few questions about the film’s lavish look and how it evolves throughout. Playing classy mystery woman Elise Ward, Angelina Jolie dons twelve outfits in total, most created from the ground up by Colleen Atwood and inspired by current or vintage pieces. The soft, fitted grey dress she wears was actually a Charles James original. Her shoes, towering heels mostly, were all Salvatore Ferragamo. Floor length in…

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,…

Directed By: Joe Johnston Starring: Chris Evans, Hayley Atwell, Hugo Weaving Old school, Saturday matinee fun, Captain America: The First Avenger is director Joe Johnston’s best since The Rocketeer (1991) and features some of the finest superhero genre costume design ever committed to film. The assured skill of designer Anna B. Sheppard brings The First Avenger alive, blending potentially high camp ensembles into a believable story environment; one that is essentially a fantasy parallel of our own. It is childish and fun, but with a serious dramatic core at its heart. The 1940s backdrop is rich with costume and production design motifs; muted sepia with flashes of patriotic colour. Captain…