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

SPOILERS THROUGHOUT Having recently finished a six week, six episode run on the BBC, John le Carré adapted spy drama The Little Drummer Girl was divisive in terms of audience reaction. Some found the plot impossible to follow, others revelled in the cloak and dagger shenanigans of twenty-something Charmain ‘Charlie’ Ross (Florence Pugh), a low level actress drawn into a high stakes mission of infiltrating a Palestinian revolutionary group in 1979. The show’s costume design by Sheena Napier and Stephen Noble inspired equal division. While most enjoyed the eye-popping period ensembles and how they exemplified character, just as many were left confounded by their conspicuous presence. One thing that cannot……

Into the Woods opened on Broadway in 1987, with the music and lyrics written by Stephen Sondheim and the book by James Lapine. It is Sondheim’s most performed musical and one of his best known works. The story combines familiar characters from childhood fairy tales such as Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, and the ubiquitous Witch, and explores their journeys to get their wish, as well as the negative consequences of the small dishonesties committed by each character to get what they want. As the witch sings, “Told a little lie/Stole a little gold/Broke a little vow/Did you?/Had to get your prince/Had to get your cow/Had to get your wish/Doesn’t……

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……

Sherlock Holmes 2 costume designer Jenny Beavan chats exclusively to Clothes on Film about what to expect in the finished film.

A round up of villain themed costume posts at Clothes on Film. Costume Designer Lindy Hemming talks exclusively to Clothes on Film about her work on The Dark Knight Rises. Christopher Nolan once again shows his appreciation for costume in this immensely satisfying end to the Dark Knight trilogy. Christmas comes early for anyone looking forward to The Dark Knight Rises, as Warner Bros. has just released a full trailer. Somewhat misleading as nowhere is this pic officially tagged as being ‘Catwoman’; officially this is our first shot of Anne Hathway as Selina Kyle.

This is the most conspicuous outfit Grace Kelly as Frances Stevens wears in To Catch a Thief (1954), principally because there is little narrative justification for it being so elaborate. Her 18th century lamé gown, for example, is deliberately ostentatious. It is costume designer Edith Head’s show stopping finale, intended to throw all attention onto Frances as part of her and John Robie’s (Cary Grant) elaborate ruse. This exotic beach wear, however, is jarringly visible for no other reason than because Frances enjoys attention; far from ingratiating her to Robie, or us, she is presented as self-admiring and rather childish. Note how Frances pauses for a moment on entering the…

Daphne du Maurier‘s original novel My Cousin Rachel apparently does not specify the exact period in which it’s set, but implies some time toward the end of the 19th century on the Cornish coast. This new version of the story starring Rachel Weisz and Sam Claflin actually positions itself in a specific time frame, as decided upon by director Roger Michell and costume designer Dinah Collin, namely the year 1840. We have an exclusive featurette about the costume design of My Cousin Rachel, which although brief goes into some detail about what to expect from the finished film: What is most fascinating is just why 1840 was chosen. It was……

Matt Spaiser, creator of The Suits of James Bond blog, analyses the style of 007 in the film that started it all – Dr. No.

An exhibition of British costume design from films such as The King’s Speech and Pirates of the Caribbean opens at the Fashion Museum in July. The first trailer for Captain America: The First Avenger has bish bash boshed onto the internet. For those of you lucky enough to live in LA, literally racks of costumes have just on display at The FIDM Museum. A snapshot look at the costume design work of Mary Zophres for True Grit. Well worth a watch. The 83rd Academy Award nominations were not especially surprising, but for Best Costume Design category there were a couple of major upsets.