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…

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), Forrest Gump (1994), Death Becomes Her (1992), Saving Private Ryan (1998), Unbreakable (2000), Munich (2005), War Horse (2011) – with credits like these it is amazing to think that British born costume designer has never been nominated, let alone won an Academy Award. Finally, however, director Steven Spielberg’s latest Lincoln has rewarded her talent with a costume nomination in all three of the major award ceremonies (Oscar, BAFTA and CDG). Johnston has been working with Spielberg on-and-off for 29 years now, and this collaboration looks set to continue. Perhaps it’s an obvious level of trust that allows Lincoln to have such a cohesive look when…

With the release of Disney/Pixar’s latest adventure Brave (directed by Brenda Chapman and Mark Andrews); featuring colourful tartan cloaks and the Tudor-esque dresses of its heroine Merida (voiced by Kelly Macdonald), it is worth considering exactly what role costume plays in animated film. Does this craft even exist for animation? Clothes on Film talk exclusively to simulation supervisor for Brave, Claudia Chung, about this process and whether or not costume truly has a viable, practical function outside of live action cinema: Educated at University of California-Berkeley, Claudia Chung joined Pixar in 2002 after interning for summer in 2001. Her first role was as rendering technical director on Finding Nemo (2003),…

The life of surveillance expert, Harry Caul (Gene Hackman) in The Conversation (1974, directed by Francis Ford Coppola) is one of ritual, fear and obsession. This man of many facets is identifiable by the clothes he wears, specifically because of their bland anonymity and repetition. His plastic raincoat in particular, a rudimentary raglan slip-on, provides recognisable iconography for the character. With exclusive insight from The Conversation costume designer, Aggie Guerard Rodgers, we analyse just why this coat is so important to Harry’s journey. Stumbling on a murder plot during a routine, if technically accomplished clandestine recording, Harry becomes obsessed with subduing his Catholic guilt over past deeds. Harry lives alone…

File under ‘seriously intriguing’, mainly because it is in part a period piece, here is our first decent, non grainy scanned look at Chris Evans as Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, courtesy of Entertainment Weekly. Captain America: The First Avenger is directed by Joe Johnston, adapted/written by Joss Whedon and most tantalising of all for this particular site, costumed by Jeffery Kurland (Inception) and Anna B. Sheppard (Inglourious Basterds). Quite how this panned out in practical terms, i.e. did Sheppard handle the period costumes and Kurland modern day, is something we will close in on nearer the release date. Judging by the early official images that turned up before Christmas,…

The first trailer for director Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of War Horse has arrived online. It is only two minutes long so there is not much to see, but see it you should because it looks sumptuous. War Horse is based on Michael Morpurgo’s novel of the same name about a young Englishman’s bond with a horse during the First World War. The horse itself comes into contact with many characters and events throughout the story including serving in the British Calvary and befriending a French farmer. The screenplay is by Richard Curtis and Lee Hall, with some of the less abstract elements of Nick Stafford’s stageplay apparently remaining. Long time…

Christie’s auction house are selling several design sketches by the renowned Edith Head. Each are for roles played by Grace Kelly in Alfred Hitchcock movies, one used in To Catch a Thief (1955) and three in Rear Window (1954). What an ideal early Christmas present. For yourself. From To Catch a Thief is a watercolour and pencil sketch of the black halterneck beach ensemble with wide brimmed hat worn by Grace Kelly as Frances Stephens. Estimated to reach £6,000 – £8,000. The most famous and popular designs from Rear Window are all available. First is a sketch of the extravagant ‘Paris dress’ Kelly wears as Lisa Fremont. It is an…

Innovative costume designer and art director Eiko Ishioka has died aged 73. Ms Ishioka will surely be best remembered for her Oscar winning costumes in Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), which included Vlad III the Impaler’s (Gary Oldman) eye-popping suit of armour that resembled the structural configuration of human muscles and provocative Gothic dresses worn by The Brides. Tokyo born Eiko Ishioka also designed costumes for 2011 fantasy drama Immortals. Regular collaborator, director Tarsem Singh, known for his judicious use of extravagant headwear, employed Ms Ishioka to create an array of imaginative ensembles based on Greek mythology. A modest résumé of ten feature films takes nothing away from Eiko Ishioka’s influence…

Seemingly on a par with Tron Legacy: the movie is the mechanising machine surrounding it. Yet apparently this is no simple case of ‘cash-in and run’, it never was. Disney grasped the mindset of Tron from the very beginning. The name means more than product; it is a lifestyle choice. One might assume that Disney, the entertainment behemoth who continued financing Tron creator Steven Lisberger’s ambitious digital project in 1980 would have taken over the reigns and demanded a gamut of merchandise options to make Lucasfilm weep. Not so, claims Lisberger. There was surprisingly little compromise in their creative/fiscal balancing act: There is a fairly unknown quote from Walt Disney.…

A young man goes on the lam for supposed sabotage of an aircraft factory in California where he works during the Second World War. Some immediately judge him innocent, others guilty; though there is one point on which they all agree: to be a saboteur you must surely dress like one. The ‘saboteur’ in question is Barry Kane (played by Robert Cummings). Kane spends the entire story chased from West Coast to East Coast by law enforcement officials and, eventually, those responsible for his predicament – the real saboteurs, a shadowy group of mostly high society types who dress in top hat and tails and have friends in very high…