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,…

You too can look as tasteless as 1980s gangster Tony Montana by sporting a snazzy neck scarf and money clip. Then watch Scarface on a limited edition steel book Blu-ray and see what a mistake you’ve made. We have three triple play DVDs, scarf and money clip combo sets to give away. Everyone knows Scarface (1982), director Brian De Palma’s epic tale of Cuban refugee Tony Montana (Al Pacino) and his violent rise and fall as a drug baron in early eighties Miami. Patricia Neal’s costumes are one of the most memorable elements, combining period accuracy with flamboyant creativity, especially wild Tony’s island shirts and the glitzy, sometimes stunning dresses…

As a preamble for costume designer Kristin Burke’s upcoming analysis of Rosemary’s Baby (1968), here is an (edited) chat we had about the film, US/UK insults, rude knitting and the Virgin Mary. It’s worth a read. Kristin Burke: So what I thought was interesting about your review was that it focused on fashion – I think that the film was terribly fashionable, especially for the time. At first glance, the meaning, the purpose of the costumes was lost for me in terms of its fashion. And you really addressed it in talking about Mary Quant. Chris Laverty: You’re right; I did see it as a fashion movie, at least on…

Arts Illustrated is an elegant new magazine looking at the best and most interesting in culture and design from around the world. Clothes on Film editor Chris Laverty has a regular column in the magazine entitled ‘The Fabric of Cinema’ in which he analyses the symbolic application of costume design in movies, both old and new. The maiden issue of Arts Illustrated focuses on neo-surrelism, and the first Fabric of Cinema column is about that master of costume surrealism, Eiko Ishioka. Laverty takes an in-depth, sometimes critical look at her work with particular focus on The Cell. Below are the first two paragraphs of the article, the remainder of which…

Part 2 of our detailed look at the costumes in Tron Legacy. After examining the overall creation and construction of the light suits, we have now moved onto specific design elements for individual characters. Garrett Hedlund as Sam Flynn The only son of Kevin Flynn, Sam is 27 years old, daredevil, rebellious and haunted by the unexplained disappearance of his father. He is sucked into the Grid while following up a mysterious message apparently sent from inside his father’s old video games arcade. Hedlund’s primary costume is a disc game suit. It was far and away the most difficult for associate costume designer Christine Bieselin Clark and her team to…

The final outfit for analysis from To Catch a Thief (1954, directed by Alfred Hitchcock) encompasses and challenges the absolute femininity of Grace Kelly, here playing wilful blueblood Frances Stevens. After suffering an embarrassing verbal defeat by mademoiselle Danielle Foussard (Brigitte Auber), in simply donning a coral pink top and pleated skirt with driving gloves, Frances is back in control. This particular ensemble, or rather the skirt, was a request by Grace to the film’s costume designer Edith Head. Keen at this point in the story to restore what she saw as a more ‘womanly’ inference to Frances, trousers, or even Capri pants, were not considered enough. Yet this is…

Directed By: Joseph Kosinksi Starring: Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde Displacement of identity via corruption of the soul is the message at the heart of Tron Legacy. On premise alone this film has an incredible opportunity for depth and introspection. The Grid is a fascist state. Factions are separated via colour; costume differentiating allegiance, either to leader of the regime, CLU, (displaying red or yellow) or Grid dwellers, those passive or awaiting a rebellion (in white or blue). As CLU is fashioned in Kevin Flynn’s own image, director Joseph Kosinski employed cutting edge digital ‘sculpturing’ to ensure Jeff Bridges could play opposite himself aged twenty years younger. For the…

These are not great photos, well they are not official photos, but they do at least confirm that Anne Hathaway is playing Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises and not just Selina Kyle. That is definitely a Catwoman costume. Perhaps the biggest surprise with director Christopher Nolan and costume designer Lindy Hemming’s version of the costume is thigh high leather boots with steel spike heels and wedge soles. In Nolan’s (comparatively) realistic Batman universe, these boots seem more akin to an ironic S&M club than for scaling buildings as a cat burglar. Hathaway’s long steel heels are distinctly visible. Then again, they certainly add sex appeal. Ditto the feline Alice…

In Proof of Life (2000), a kidnap thriller set in fictional South American country Tecala, Meg Ryan plays Alice Bowman, one of the least convincing hippies ever committed to film. On Alice, hippie seems like a passing trend rather than a lifestyle choice. Meg Ryan’s costumes are a mix of sarong skirts with embroidery, cotton vests, tie-dyed t-shirts, big belts, linen shirts, waist cincher, leather jacket, waistcoat, sandals, even a matelot sweater. Add in a $300 hairdo with a generous application of lip gloss and Alice Bowman, all in all, looks pretty fresh considering her husband has been trapped in captivity, or quite possibly dead, for several months. Proof of…

The green suit worn by Tippi Hedren as Melanie Daniels in The Birds (1963) has become increasingly symbolic in recent years as we delve ever deeper into the semiotics of film. In this case it is hardly surprising as Hedren only wears three costumes in total; the suit is so visible we cannot fail to draw meaning from its presence. But what was director Alfred Hitchcock trying to say with it, and more importantly, why? If you visited the V&A’s Hollywood Costume exhibition (now closed in London but moved to Australia and the U.S.), seeing The Birds’ suit would likely have stuck in your mind. It was given prominent placing…