Or when your costumes look like a building. Odile Dicks-Mireaux’s designs for High Rise (2016) are far more than that. But for a film set in such a heavily stylised world, especially one created by sci-fi author J.G. Ballard, homogeny is everything. In fact homogeny is terrifying. Everything is reflected in the aesthetic. The building towers, Tom Hiddleston’s trouser legs tower, and Luke Evans towers over everyone.  Director Ben Wheatley has claimed that he did not want High Rise to look like a ‘greatest hits of the seventies‘, but really that’s exactly what he’s got, certainly in terms of costume design – and that’s okay. It might not be the…

Costume design and meaning in short film. Lord Christopher Laverty Comments Off on Short Film Costume: Ashes, Inside the Captive Mind 30 Jun ’12 6 Feb ’17 22 Jul ’19

It’s Academy Award nomination day so let’s have a look at the line up. We have to warn you though; there are a couple of upsets. Lord Christopher Laverty 1 Comment 22 Sep ’09 22 Apr ’14 29 Jun ’10

While science-fiction and period costume can sell to collectors at auction for tens of thousands of dollars, the future of contemporary costume from the contemporary drama, comedy and thriller genres is unclear. Costumes from films set in the modern age are not valued as highly. Sourced from costume houses, high-street stores, and even actor’s own wardrobes, these pieces could be lost for good for future generations of collectors and fans if current mentality doesn’t change. Contemporary costume, even from popular movies, is surprisingly hard to trace. What has happened to George Clooney’s Aloha shirts from The Descendants? The film’s costume designer Wendy Chuck isn’t sure. “I have no idea where…

A wonderfully witty and emotional film. Lord Christopher Laverty Comments Off on Film Review: The Boys Are Back 24 Sep ’09 20 Apr ’10 23 Oct ’10

Join Clothes on Film editor Christopher Laverty for a special Oscars Red Carpet Livestream. You better believe he’s wearing a custom made crown. The 83rd Academy Award nominations were not especially surprising, but for Best Costume Design category there were a couple of major upsets. Big winner was The Hurt Locker for Best Film and Best Director; big winner for Costume Design was The Young Victoria. It’s Academy Award nomination day so let’s have a look at the line up. We have to warn you though; there are a couple of upsets.

The glossy costume world of gangster squad is faithful to history, but not a slave to it. Lord Christopher Laverty 1 Comment 11 Aug ’10 28 Sep ’09 23 Oct ’09

Or when your costumes look like a building. Odile Dicks-Mireaux’s designs for High Rise (2016) are far more than that. But for a film set in such a heavily stylised world, especially one created by sci-fi author J.G. Ballard, homogeny is everything. In fact homogeny is terrifying. Everything is reflected in the aesthetic. The building towers, Tom Hiddleston’s trouser legs tower, and Luke Evans towers over everyone.  Director Ben Wheatley has claimed that he did not want High Rise to look like a ‘greatest hits of the seventies‘, but really that’s exactly what he’s got, certainly in terms of costume design – and that’s okay. It might not be the…

As Clothes on Film has it on good authority that Black Swan is ‘spectacular’ and because we have an interview with director Darren Aronofsky upcoming closer to the UK release date, here are some striking images to get you in ‘that place’. Black Swan tells the story of two ballerinas (played by Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis) on a New York production of Swan Lake. As rehearsals for the show intensify, their apparently transparent personalities diverge with both an intense rivalry and unusual friendship developing. Amy Westcott is costume designer for Black Swan, while the overall costume look of the film was very much a collaborative process with Darren Aronofsky,…

Sandy looks lovely, arguably lovelier than The Pink Ladies, but she looks like the sweet young lady a mother-in-law would adore.