Clothes on Film were fortunate enough to be invited to a display of costumes from the latest adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express (2017), plus interview its costume designer Alexandra Byrne. An Oscar winner for Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2008), and well known for her period design work, since 2011 Byrne has become connected to the world of Marvel, her most recent project being Doctor Strange in 2016. Here she chats candidly about recreating the (mainly) glamorous side of the early 1930s and the challenges that faced her and her team. Alexandra Byrne on shooting in 70 mm: “Director Ken (Branagh) and I did Hamlet (1996) together which was…

Two weeks of catch up for you. Phillip Boutte Jr. This is something special. Tyranny of Style interview costume illustrator Phillip Boutte Jr. featuring some of his fabulous digital renderings from X-Men: Days of Future Past. Wonder Woman Apparently ‘exclusive’ costume details for the Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice movie, which is due April 2016. Wonder Woman will look ‘badass’. The Best Movie Sunglasses of ALL TIME So says Vogue. Penny Dreadful Brilliant look at the show’s costume design with insight from Gabriella Pescucci. Love the French impressionists inspiration. Clueless This is kinda cool – clothes retailer Metail have introduced a Cher style style wardrobe selector. We have the…

Director Todd Phillips has spilled some proverbial beans on the sequel to his comedy smash The Hangover. He has not said much but he has said no Vegas. The Hangover was arguably this year’s funniest movie. It featured a motley group of guys who travel to Las Vegas for a bachelor party and then wake up the following morning with no memory of the night before, no groom, and a baby in the closet. The result was 96 minutes of deftly played, silly fun that, it must be said, felt pretty wrapped up by the end. Still with so many varied characters and another potentially disastrous situation to thrust them…

Director Peter Jackson’s big budget King Kong (2005) remake is set in 1933 (same as the original). This is slap bang in the middle of America’s Great depression, tasking costume designer Terry Ryan with creating looks that replicate the obvious poverty of the time plus the go-for-broke ensembles adopted by many people for glamorous night time events and parties. Ryan costumed King Kong heroine Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts) in two distinct categories: New York attire and film within a film outfits, i.e. those worn on board the ship to Skull Island and while on the island itself. Ann’s New York look is largely in keeping with the era; although with…

On Tuesday 13th September, Clothes on Film makes its debut on U.S. television. Specifically, site editor Chris Laverty chats about the amazing costume design of Boardwalk Empire for a documentary entitled ‘The Money Decade’ at 9.45 pm on HBO (may differ for regional variations). Of course we do not want to blow our own trumpet too much, but this was surely worth a mention. Tune in if you can. It is actually an interesting programme covering Burlesque, the Jazz era and fashion trends of the early 1920s. Apart from Clothes on Film, you will find contributions from Boardwalk Empire costume designers John Dunn & Lisa Padovani, in addition to a…

Mark Strong as Hani Salaam is sole sartorial encouragement in Body of Lies (2008), a movie choc full of (intentionally) awful clothes. With headliners Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe dressed inconspicuously as possible, DiCaprio in tracksuit bottoms and untucked shirts and Crowe entirely in Target, Strong’s razor-sharp Jordanian intelligence chief is granted ample opportunity to shine. HANI SALAAM (as CIA man ROGER FARIS grabs him by the arm) Please, let go of the jacket. Damn right. Mark Strong’s wardrobe was outfitted by Huntsman of Savile Row. Body of Lies costume designer Janty Yates did not have time to have his suits tailored, so hoped instead to find something off the…

MINOR SPOILERS Movies that feature contemporary fashion, particularly high-end and particularly for women, are a tricky sell costume wise. While men’s semi-formal to formal attire is generally shaped around the fundamental guise of the lounge suit, women’s clothing has a lot more avenues and possibilities. In addition to colour and pattern there is shape and form, which can vary dramatically for the fashionable wearer. What can vary dramatically can also date dramatically and this can be major stumbling block for costume designers. Films centred around the world of fashion, or those that include a lot of fashionable garments such as The Devil Wears Prada (2006), Clueless (1995) and Funny Face…

Poor Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner). She is only a young teenager and yet like most characters in Game of Thrones she has been forced to grow up far too fast. This ongoing character development is echoed in her clothes by series costume designer Michele Clapton. We first meet Sansa in season 1 of Game of Thrones at her home in Winterfell. Her clothes are simple. The knotted decoration around the neckline of her dresses and the harsher fabrics echo the rough terrain of the North. She chooses shades of grey and blue, matching the murky colours of her environment. The dress she wears for the party held in honor of…

Netflix have released a short featurette about costume design for The Alienist, giving an overall glimpse at the work of Michael Kaplan and his team in putting together the era of 1896, New York. What is enticing about The Alienist, apart from the fact that it’s brilliant whodunit telly, is that it is set outside of England, which is so often the preserve of dramas such as these. This is NY style at a point in history when those with money were about to get a whole lot more. Expensive, in other words, and if you had deep enough pockets your taste in fashion would echo this. Check out the…

A brief glimpse at the costume world Mark Bridges created for Joker. Examining the shirt collars of all the gentleman in 1941 noir classic, The Maltese Falcon. A brief video dip into the costume design of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Actually that title is a tad misleading – it’s all the clothes worn by Lee Marvin as kick-ass-tough-guy-on-a-mission Walker in… As a new feature for Clothes on Film, we will uploading regular videos (say every couple of weeks) to YouTube… The latest MCU smash-hit, Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), features one of the strangest villains in the wallcrawler’s rogues’ gallery.… SPOILERS THROUGHOUT Clearly Us (2019) director Jordan Peele…