Costume designer Ann Roth’s template for Working Girl (1988, directed by Mike Nichols) is especially astute with regards to the social and geographical make up of its characters. Protagonist Tess McGill (Melanie Griffith) is a homely girl raised and living in Staten Island, New York. Currently working as a secretary in Manhattan (not ‘executive assistant’, reflecting vernacular of the time), as is her best friend Cynthia (Joan Cusack). Tess, however, has gained a degree through night school and harbours ambitions to use it for more constructive tasks than answering the telephone and fetching toilet paper for bawdy stockbrokers. After being set up for a ‘date’ that turned out to be…

Starring: Brad Pitt, Mélanie Laurent, Christoph Waltz Director: Quentin Tarantino World War II set Inglourious Basterds is Quentin Tarantino’s first ‘period film’ as such. It is an occasionally taxing two and half hours, not for the easily distracted. Though judging by Tarantino’s appreciation of how costume (military or otherwise) defined this brutal time, maybe he should revisit history’s atrocities more often. Via costume designer Anna B. Sheppard, Tarantino has deftly employed uniform to suggest a threatening presence in his antagonists. For the film’s first act, or chapter, SS Colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) visits the home of a French farmer and his three daughters he suspects of harbouring Jews. Landa…

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…

Director Brian De Palma has made movies heavily influenced by Alfred Hitchcock before, but Passion (2012) is the first one whose characters look like they stepped out of one of Hitchcock’s classic films. Karen Muller-Serreau’s bold and colourful costumes communicate the characters’ hidden desires and make watching Passion a sensory experience. This melodrama centres on two ad executives, Isabelle (Noomi Rapace) and her boss Christine (Rachel McAdams), who have a deadline to come up with an ad campaign for a new smartphone. In her sleep, Isabelle thinks of a great idea. Dirk (Paul Anderson) in typical pinstriped suit with Isabelle (Noomi Rapace) in even more typical black. The two other…

The gangster genre’s central protagonist (antagonist?) is conspicuous in his journey from street kid to street king by coveting the finest fabrics and tailoring that money can buy. He becomes a vain, petty man destroyed by inability to reconcile his old simpler world with the politics of his new one. It is no accident that most of the principal characters in gangster films are minorities, symbolising a detachment from society and upending of the American dream. He/she can be as rich and powerful as he/she wants, but for those born on the wrong side of the tracks (i.e. minorities, if conforming to the genre model), the only way to fulfil…

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 designer it becomes all about ‘the fashion’ (OMG TOTES WANT THOSE SHOES). We are currently in an age when costume design means period and sci-fi. It comes to the extent that if a costumer wants to tell a story through contemporary attire, he/she needs either a director with a key grasp of semiotics, or one that doesn’t care less about semiotics and offers a degree of autonomy. Watching About Time we presume that Richard Curtis…

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…

Costume news you may have missed. Edith Head Google’s delightful doodle to celebrate the birth of Edith Head on 28th October 1897, showcasing illustrations of her work from A Place in the Sun, White Christmas, Sex and the Single Girl, To Catch a Thief, The Birds and Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Costume preview via Trish Summerville and The New York Times – no spoilers. Look out for our own coverage soon. Julien’s Auctions The estate of William Travilla. Get your credit card(s) ready. Columbo New costume Tumblr by Nicolas Magand. Mark this as essential reading forever. Duck Dynasty Well what did YOU wear for…

For contemporary set spy thriller The Tourist starring Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp, Oscar winning costume designer Colleen Atwood took a break from historical and fantasy to create a modern yet playfully retro collection of gorgeous gowns and impeccable suits. We asked her a few questions about the film’s lavish look and how it evolves throughout. Playing classy mystery woman Elise Ward, Angelina Jolie dons twelve outfits in total, most created from the ground up by Colleen Atwood and inspired by current or vintage pieces. The soft, fitted grey dress she wears was actually a Charles James original. Her shoes, towering heels mostly, were all Salvatore Ferragamo. Floor length in…

Spring. It’s long overdue and so is spring fashion. While winter clothes inspired by trends of 2010 fall collections are still prevalent, stores are piling up with spring lines that were on runways during September. Two attention grabbing trends in women’s fashion this upcoming season are prints and turbans, empathised in hit 1988 comedy Coming to America (directed by John Landis). U.S. Vogue currently features seven designers with their 2011 Spring/Summer Ready-to-Wear collections, referring to them as the “American All-Stars” of New York fashion in a spread entitled ‘Gangs of New York’. Rodarte, by Kate and Laura Mulleavey, who have made Vogue’s top ten season after season, are among the…