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…

Grace Kelly (as Lisa Fremont) wears five separate outfits in Rear Window (1954) including one negligee. Three of these are exceptional standouts, each neatly representing a different sector of 1950s women’s fashion: dress, casual and tailored. All will be covered in time, but for now let’s start with the ‘fresh from the Paris plane’ dress, as designed by Edith Head, unquestionably the most famous movie costumer of all time; known for her clean and elegant ‘taste maker’ style: Fitted black bodice with deep V cut down to the bust and rear to the small of the back, off the shoulder neckline, cap sleeves. Here Head actually seems to pre-date the…

Want to know exactly what a costume designer does? Let Ellen Mirojnick, BAFTA nominated costume designer on films such as Wall Street, Chaplin, and Cloverfield explain it to you. Here she talks exclusively to Clothes on Film. Clothes on Film, Chris: Can you tell us, as simply as possible, what the role of a movie costume designer is? Ellen Mirojnick: The costume designer is responsible for creating each character’s look that will be the visual translation of the directors’ vision of the film. COF: Do all costume designers make costumes themselves? EM: I don’t sew or stitch myself. I am sure there are some designers who do, but generally the…

Basic Instinct is a movie that even its director Paul Verhoeven has described as “nonsense”, yet one cannot argue with the impact of the white dress Sharon Stone wears for the interrogation scene. Plus there is far more going on here than an absence of underwear. When this erotic thriller was released in 1992 it was notorious long before projectors whirred to life. Picketed on set by gay and lesbian groups in San Francisco for what they considered to be a stereotypical and offensive view of homosexuality, the film was lucky to have gotten made at all. Of course this was before the furore over that close up, not to…

The Levi jacket worn by Ken Takakura as Ken Tanaka in Japan set thriller The Yakuza (1974, costume design by Dorothy Jeakins) is not Japanese denim. It was not made in Japan but is nonetheless representative of a time when denim as symbol of burgeoning Americana in the East would take off into the stratosphere, and has remained so ever since. Although Levi products were imported into Japan before the 1970s (Levi International was created in 1965), it was not until mid-decade that a Tokyo office was established. This was in response to growing popularity of all things American in Japan, especially denim and especially Levi. There was no single…

This week’s costume design links and stories. Tootsie Very interesting video from late 2012 where Dustin Hoffman discusses his famous Tootsie costume and what the transformation meant to him. Copper The costumes in this 1865 set BBC America show look extraordinary. Jobs Brilliant www.fancydresscostumes.co.uk interview with costume designer Lisa Jensen about dressing Aston Kutcher as Steve Jobs. The Cosby Show Bill Cosby wants YOU. Vote for your favourite Cosby sweater! ‘Janie Bryant’s Hollywood’ The Mad Men costume designer is getting her own weekly TV show, tasking wannabe designers to recreate a classic Hollywood look or celebrity’s signature style. Disney Princesses Given a ‘historically accurate’ makeover. Belle is charming. Michael Wilkinson…

All the recurring themes in Desperately Seeking Susan are linked to one jacket. Contributor 2 Comments 1 Sep ’11 30 Aug ’12 23 Nov ’13

Not so much Clothes on Film as Underwear on Film, but far from just an excuse to show off a girl in her smalls, classic Mod era film Quadrophenia (1979) illustrates an interesting point concerning female hosiery in the 1960s. The sixties was the decade for tights. They were an ideal accompaniment to the mini skirt and came in a wide variety of colours, normally as bright and garish as possible. Thanks to innovations in textile production, tights (or pantyhose in the U.S.) were straightforward to produce and even easier to wear. Plus with mini skirt hems rising all the time, even the most confident of girls might have baulked…

The near future romance Her, written and directed by Spike Jonze, whose widely diverse resume ranges from the world of music videos to MTV’s Jackass to major motion pictures, brought together a creative team that costume designer Casey Storm refers to as “friends first, and co-workers second.” Storm and production designer K.K. Barrett create a soft, comfortable world of tomorrow. Shot on location around Los Angeles and Shanghai, Barrett avoided familiar locations to create a world that is accessible but not overtly recognisable. Our first introduction to the world feels very familiar. Seated in an office in a simple button up, Joaquin Phoenix’s character, Theodore Twombly, dictates a letter to…

Starring: Jeremy Irvine, Emily Watson, Peter Mullan Directed By: Steven Spielberg War Horse is desperately pretty, sentimental and heartfelt to the point of exhaustion. In other words the return of late 1980s, very early 90’s schmaltzy Spielberg. Whether this is something to celebrate or lament we shall leave up to you. Steven Spielberg shoots through the eyes of a talented illustrator. Filthy trenches, plumes of poison gas, a disastrous Calvary charge; all as beautiful as they are horrific. Add in the continuous swell of John Williams’ score and cinematographer Janusz Kaminski‘s yolky sunsets (no cgi) and War Horse is every frame a Spielberg movie. Not subtle, the final act or…