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…

Cosmopolis satisfies as everything avant-garde cinema should be; an immaculate journey into weird. Lord Christopher Laverty 2 Comments 8 Mar ’13 15 Mar ’13 1 Aug ’12

Pick of the week’s movie and television costume design stories. Lord Christopher Laverty Comments Off on Costume Stories: This Week, Game of Thrones and Liberace 23 Nov ’13 25 May ’13 21 Jun ’14

We may have to eat our words, but as it stands 12 Years a Slave is unlikely to win the Best Costume Design Oscar. It does tick some of the necessary boxes: it’s period (mid 19th century), features both crinolines and cravats, and is part of the popular ballot. Yet being as the protagonist spends most of his time in just an increasingly distressed tunic shirt, the Academy may just feel costume designer Patricia Norris has really not worked hard enough. Flippancy toward the Academy aside, 12 Years a Slave remains a wonderfully rich costume experience. Every fibre leaps off the screen with detail and feeling. The cool weave of…

Locke (2013, costume design by Nigel Egerton) is a film unique in its restrictions – it takes place in real time, has only one character and only one setting. Ivan Locke (Tom Hardy) is driving somewhere important, and over the course of the film’s 85 minute running time, his life gradually begins to crumble around him as he desperately tries to salvage it. The controlled environment – the inside of his car – and the fact that the only character we actually see is Ivan himself means that interest in him is the only way of maintaining an audience’s attention with such limited visual stimulation. Ivan is the only character…

The 1930s was the couture decade that introduced the evening dress in its now familiar form. Lord Christopher Laverty Comments Off on King Kong: Naomi Watts’ White Evening Dress 22 Nov ’11 27 Sep ’12 23 Jun ’09

Big winner was The Hurt Locker for Best Film and Best Director; big winner for Costume Design was The Young Victoria. Lord Christopher Laverty Comments Off on BAFTA Results: The Young Victoria Costume Reigns 2 Mar ’13 10 Feb ’12 24 May ’12

Win an official Cowichan style cardigan as worn by Jeff Bridges in The Big Lebowski. Lord Christopher Laverty 4 Comments 8 Dec ’09 1 Jul ’10 5 Jun ’15

Betsy Heimann chats exclusively about one of the most iconic costumes of the 1990s. Lord Christopher Laverty 3 Comments 29 Aug ’13 1 Jun ’10 31 Aug ’10

The glossy costume world of gangster squad is faithful to history, but not a slave to it. Lord Christopher Laverty 1 Comment 23 Oct ’09 20 Mar ’12 12 Apr ’11