MILD SPOILERS Director Ben Wheatley’s latest, Free Fire, is set in Boston, 1978, but was actually shot in Brighton in 2015. Being as the plot revolves around ten characters involved in a one hour plus shoot-out inside a disused factory, from a sartorial point of view things get rather grubby. The film’s BAFTA nominated costume designer Emma Fryer has already worked with Wheatley on The ABCs of Death (2012) and A Field in England (2013) so is used to the way his stories tend to go bananas in the final reel. Free Fire unfolds practically in real time, which amps up the tension but allows for no mistake with costume.……

“We are stardust, we are golden”, sang Joni Mitchell of the Woodstock Music and Art Fair, held August 15-18th 1969, at a dairy farm in the Catskills near the hamlet of White Lake in the town of Bethel, New York. The irony was, she wasn’t even there. A further irony follows in that whilst a myriad of psychedelic colours are synonymous with the Woodstock nation, one of the most revered choices of dress, clearly shown in the documentary Woodstock (1970) is a simple white leather fringed lace-up tunic-style vest and bell bottom trousers. It is worn by one of the first female rock stars, the lead singer of Jefferson Airplane,…

If you have played The Last of Us on Playstation 3 it has likely ruined video gaming for you. The world created is so vivid and believable that every game afterward just feels dated and empty. Throughout, The Last of Us is unwaveringly real, full of seemingly inconsequential details such as every weapon or object you carry being attached or able to fit into your character’s backpack. Contrast this with Grand Theft Auto V where a rocket launcher appears out of your trouser pocket and it’s clear that if game developers really want to create a living, breathing parallel to reality they need to treat it as reality – no……

A prevalent theme in the first episode of Mildred Pierce starring is how domestic costume can be read as a signal for sexual availability. Lord Christopher Laverty Comments Off on Kate Winslet in Mildred Pierce: Sex and the Housedress 1 Jul ’09 29 Mar ’11 22 Nov ’11

American Gigolo is not about its protagonist, it is about what he wears. American Gigolo is about Armani.

Mark Bridges exclusively explains his costume choices for retro epic Boogie Nights. Lord Christopher Laverty 4 Comments 19 Jul ’16 10 Oct ’09 3 Apr ’13

The latest MCU smash-hit, Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), features one of the strangest villains in the wallcrawler’s rogues’ gallery. When it comes to movies based on comic books, the outfit a character like Mysterio wears is not supposed to work on-screen. On the printed pages of comics, the outfits can be impractical and outlandish, and nothing is more of those things than the villain’s fishbowl helmet, lavender cape fastened with giant eyes, and green, scaly tights. Still, costume designer for the film, Anna B. Sheppard, met the challenge of making a fantastic look for Jake Gyllenhaal’s villain. Instead of running away from the crazy roots of the character, she……

So, the Costume Designers Guild (CDG) has served up their nominations for this year. Apart from falling short on numbers in a couple of categories, the line-up is predictably safe. Excellence in Contemporary Film Black Swan – Amy Westcott Burlesque – Michael Kaplan Inception – Jeffrey Kurland The Social Network – Jacqueline West Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps – Ellen Mirojnick There has been recent hoopla in the press regarding Rodarte’s overall involvement with the costume design for Black Swan, though the Costume Designers Guild will be unlikely to run scared. Shouldn’t The Social Network strictly be in the Period category, however? Jacqueline West went to extraordinary lengths to ensure…

Mark Bridges exclusively explains his costume choices for retro epic Boogie Nights. Lord Christopher Laverty 4 Comments 26 Feb ’10 20 Feb ’10 1 Jun ’10

As TracyDi Vicenzo in OHMSS, Diana Rigg wore a daring 1960s wedding ensemble. Lord Christopher Laverty 2 Comments 4 Oct ’10 16 Mar ’11 11 Oct ’11