How changing body shapes can affect the appearance of period costume. Lord Christopher Laverty Comments Off on The Look of Love: Dressing the No-Body Body 1 Jul ’10 11 Oct ’11 13 Oct ’09

In honour of The Times’ film critic Kevin Maher’s list of iconic movie rebels, we take a look at what it truly takes to make a tough guy in cinema. What constitutes a tough guy, as in ‘man’, on film is usually a traditional interpretation of masculinity. There is always room for the sensitive hero in a sweater and slacks, but for those who watch movies as ingrained wish fulfilment, the sexy and sweaty man’s man needs suitable attire to reflect his personality. But it is not just about the garments themselves. A jacket is a jacket, but a leather jacket is a symbol. A wax jacket on the other……

Clio Barnard’s stark yet heart-wrenching film The Selfish Giant (2013, UK) offers two fantastic performances from its young stars in their acting debut. Matt Price discusses how his costume design for the film reflects the strong, relatable characters so well… It is lunchtime in London as costume designer Matthew Price shuffles into the Curzon, Soho. Recently collaborating with Clio Barnard on the Bafta nominated film, The Selfish Giant, reuniting after experimental documentary The Arbour, Price is surprisingly reserved about his work. “I wasn’t really sure if they’d take me on again,” he says of Barnard and producer Tracey O’Riordan. “The Arbour did quite well so I didn’t know if they’d……

As is often the way with costume designers, Stephanie Collie is something of an unsung hero. We will not reel off her entire back catalogue, but it does include South Riding (2011, TV), Telstar (2008) Peter’s Friends (1992) and perhaps most exciting of all, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998). Now, anyone old enough to remember when Lock, Stock arrived will remember just what an incredible influence its Mod inspired costumes had on the world of fashion. You could not pick up a men’s magazine of the time without seeing some guy in slim trousers and a jersey polo shirt. Stephanie Collie invented this look, thus providing one of…

As the 1960s dawned, Audrey Hepburn entered her thirtieth year. Following the success of such films as Funny Face (1957) and Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961) she was a huge star, and thanks to her enduring relationship with couturier Hubert de Givenchy (she was his muse) a style icon to boot. Yet as the decade grooved to immortality with ‘youthquake’ spreading across the globe like wild fire, Audrey suddenly found herself part of the old guard. Teenagers were wearing shorter and shorter minis in myriad colours, and while Audrey always remained chic in her LBD or Givenchy sack, she was not really appealing to a young audience anymore. She wasn’t hip.…

Check out the trailer HERE Hollywood starlet Christina Ricci has featured in a short film for The Donna Karan Company called Four Play. It is all to promote their Eldridge handbag. Christina Ricci, now 29 for all of you old enough to remember her turn in The Addams Family (1991), joins the likes of Marion Cotillard for Dior and Robert De Niro for Chanel (well, Martin Scorsese apparently directing, but wouldn’t that be fun?) in making narrative films to advertise designer wares. This is opposed to the usual, an A-lister wearing exclusive togs and swanning around some po-mo or CGI fantasy backdrop with a bottle of fragrance nearby and posing.…

Angel Heart (1987) is not a movie you easily forget; you’ll know if you’ve seen it because you will never look at Robert De Niro in the same way again, that’s for sure. However, he is not the focus of this latest video – that honour belongs to Mickey Rourke. Absolutely at his zenith during the mid-late 1980s, in Angel Heart Rourke plays an aimable private investigator, or ‘gumshoe’, called Johnny Angel, suckered into a dastardly and outright evil case by De Niro’s may-or-may-not-but-likely-is literal devil character. It is set in 1955 and costumed by Aude Bronson-Howard, who would also work with director Alan Parker on Mississippi Burning in 1988.…

Directed By: Anh Hung Tran Starring: Kenichi Matsuyama, Rinko Kikuchi, Kiko Mizuhara Norwegian Wood is beautiful and affecting, even if it does nearly collapse under the weight of its own earnestness at times. This is a vintage costume fest from the outset. The location is late 1960s Tokyo with fashion largely influenced by Western pop culture. The story is centred on adolescent relationship issues, a sort of love triangle consequent to the irreversible pain of loss. Virtually all of the characters are in their late teens-early twenties. Their clothes are a mix of hip-hugger pants, white Levis, pointed collar shirts, long line and short pleated skirts, sleeveless hostess dresses and…

We discuss the clothing, jewellery, even underwear of The Young Victoria with Maggie from The Costumer’s Guide.

How changing body shapes can affect the appearance of period costume. Lord Christopher Laverty Comments Off on The Look of Love: Dressing the No-Body Body 10 May ’13 8 Jul ’11 8 Dec ’09