SPOILERS Despite all the hoo-ha over films such as Blue Jasmine and Stoker contemporary is still pretty much overlooked as a form of costume design. If it’s invisible, well, nobody notices it, and if it’s[…] A fortnight ago to the day, Clothes on Film creator and editor Christopher Laverty joined fashion historian Amber Jane Butchart to give one of two talks and a Q&A chat at The British Library in[…] No round up last week because we were a bit busy, so this week is MEGA JAMMED WITH COSTUME GOODNESS. Puttin’ on the Glitz We teamed up with Amber Jane Butchart and The British Library[…] For this month’s Fabric of…

Boogie Nights (1997, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson) is packed with vintage clothing delights. Even though costume designer Mark Bridges generally eschewed more obvious 1970s/early 80s trends due to a recent retro fashion revival, the movie is still completely identifiable with both of these periods. Dirk Diggler (Mark Wahlberg) and Amber Waves (Julianne Moore) are two of the film’s most interesting characters in terms of costume, especially how their outfits seem at times to be simpatico, although, as we discover with exclusive insight from Mark Bridges himself, this was not intentional: “Fifteen years after designing the film you mention something to me I never noticed!” Of course there are other…

Who could ever suggest James Bond never puts a foot wrong sartorially? While it tends to be Roger Moore’s seventies incarnation receiving most disdain, this baby blue towelling playsuit worn by Sean Connery in Goldfinger (1964, directed by Guy Hamilton) is commonly remembered as the actor’s one costume disaster. Yet, seen in period context and motion, plus modelled by one of the most handsome gentlemen who ever graced the screen, it might be worthy of reconsideration. Worn for the film’s first post-credits scene, whereby Bond is introduced, informally, to megalomaniac villain Auric Goldfinger (Gert Frobe), this diminutive, crotch wrangling ‘beach wear’ is not especially typical for the time. Here featuring…

Oscar nominated costume designer Anna B. Sheppard grants us exclusive insight into the unique period look of Inglourious Basterds (2009). It transpires that most of the film’s extraordinary costumes, including Diane Kruger’s brown suit and Julie Dreyfus’ ‘cat hat’, were constructed entirely from original designs by Anna Sheppard. Moreover all period jewellery was sourced from her own private collection, accumulated since working on Steven Spielberg’s holocaust drama Schindler’s List in 1993. Clothes on Film: Is it fair to say that the costumes in Inglourious Basterds are intended as ‘stylised’ as opposed to entirely historically accurate? Anna Sheppard: I wouldn’t call them stylised as such, simply they are maybe more flamboyant.…

Let’s get this straight: Peaky Blinders is not Boardwalk Empire. It’s a post World War I gangster drama, during roughly the same time period (1919 as opposed to the early 20’s), it’s gritty, features loyal yet warring brothers, is as cool as ice chips and doesn’t pull any punches. However Boardwalk Empire is set in the attractive seaside landscape of Atlantic City, USA, while Peaky Blinders is set in Birmingham. The whole palette is different too. Boardwalk is colourful and vibrant, Peaky is dark and dingy. Evidently this extends to the clothes. You wouldn’t have got far walking around Birmingham in an orange silk shirt and camel coat; this was…

Part 2 of Clothes on Film‘s sartorial rundown of Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011, directed by Guy Ritchie), complete with exclusive input from the film’s costume designer Jenny Beavan. Assume spoilers within, and lots of them. We join the story for its second act, as Professor James Moriarty’s (Jared Harris) dastardly plot slots into gear… Departing respectfully early from Dr. John Watson’s wedding, Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) arrives to meet Moriarty for the very first time in a black velvet frock coat with frogging (visibly looser than his previous coat), clean but un-pressed striped shirt with plain collar, dark brown silk scarf and grey check waistcoat. Conversely…

Daphne du Maurier‘s original novel My Cousin Rachel apparently does not specify the exact period in which it’s set, but implies some time toward the end of the 19th century on the Cornish coast. This new version of the story starring Rachel Weisz and Sam Claflin actually positions itself in a specific time frame, as decided upon by director Roger Michell and costume designer Dinah Collin, namely the year 1840. We have an exclusive featurette about the costume design of My Cousin Rachel, which although brief goes into some detail about what to expect from the finished film: What is most fascinating is just why 1840 was chosen. It was…

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…

Amongst staggering aural and visual assault, perhaps one of the quietest aspects of Dunkirk (2017, directed by Christopher Nolan) are its costumes – and this is to its credit. Dunkirk is the type of film that requires you to engage quickly with everything you see on screen. Jeffrey Kurland’s costume design is masterful in this regard. A sea of subtly differentiated green and brown with the pop of naval uniforms and briefly glimpsed civilian wear. This is 1940 at its most spare and rudimentary. Here, Jeffrey Kurland chats exclusively to Clothes on Film about his process for creating the world of Dunkirk: SPOILERS THROUGHOUT Clothes on Film: How did you…

In Malèna (2000, directed by Giuseppe Tornatore), set during WW2 in a rural Italian town, Monica Bellucci plays an impossible vision of beauty; a woman so striking she is immediately sexualised by all who lay eyes on her. Malèna’s reaction to the leering male gaze and subsequent scorn of jealous women is expressed through her hair, make-up and clothing. Our introduction to the character occurs with Malèna wearing a just-below-the-knee white dress, lightly padded shoulders, deep neckline incorporating dotted bow detail (this fabric is later reused for another outfit – she is a seamstress) to match black and white edging on the revers. Its tubular fit is reminiscent of the…