Well known and respected Hollywood costume designer, Theadora Van Runkle, has died. Bonnie and Clyde is a great example of how the simple addition of a hat can say a lot about a character. Little Junior Brown represents the ugly face of nineties designer villainy.

Judianna Makovsky demonstrates that contemporary fashion with a plot is far more fun than a flick through Vogue. Carice van Houten is a Resistance beauty of Jean Harlow-esque proportions in an unmissable red halterneck dress. If you like Potter, you are going to like this. Cannot say fairer than that.

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……

MINOR SPOILERS Movies that feature contemporary fashion, particularly high-end and particularly for women, are a tricky sell costume wise. While men’s semi-formal to formal attire is generally shaped around the fundamental guise of the lounge suit, women’s clothing has a lot more avenues and possibilities. In addition to colour and pattern there is shape and form, which can vary dramatically for the fashionable wearer. What can vary dramatically can also date dramatically and this can be major stumbling block for costume designers. Films centred around the world of fashion, or those that include a lot of fashionable garments such as The Devil Wears Prada (2006), Clueless (1995) and Funny Face……

The week in costume stories and links. FIDM Gorgeous costumes on display from 2013 released movies. Tyranny of Style takes you there… Some more good FIDM photos at Frocktalk. Downton Abbey Insightful gallery notes by costumer Caroline McCall. Sure, baby boys in the early 1920s would’ve worn a dress, but that would definitely have confused viewers. How Wool is produced for Fabric Riveting Costume Cafe podcast with Franny Kansteiner of Gum Tree Farm and Organic Wool Works. Costumer of Awesome Second shout for this beyond hilarious, gif heavy tubmlr by an (unnamed) costume designer currently working in the business. The Walking Dead Another thorough interview with costume designer Eulyn Womble,……

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……

Costume designer Ann Roth’s template for Working Girl (1988, directed by Mike Nichols) is especially astute with regards to the social and geographical make up of its characters. Protagonist Tess McGill (Melanie Griffith) is a homely girl raised and living in Staten Island, New York. Currently working as a secretary in Manhattan (not ‘executive assistant’, reflecting vernacular of the time), as is her best friend Cynthia (Joan Cusack). Tess, however, has gained a degree through night school and harbours ambitions to use it for more constructive tasks than answering the telephone and fetching toilet paper for bawdy stockbrokers. After being set up for a ‘date’ that turned out to be…

Editor Chris Laverty explains how to ‘read’ costume on film. From an article originally published in Moviescope magazine. Flourishes of brilliance, but buried beneath disjointed action sequences and a story that fails to make any sense at all. Part 2 of our detailed look at the costumes in Tron Legacy, moving onto specific design elements created for individual characters.

Basic Instinct is a movie that even its director Paul Verhoeven has described as “nonsense”, yet one cannot argue with the impact of the white dress Sharon Stone wears for the interrogation scene. Plus there is far more going on here than an absence of underwear. When this erotic thriller was released in 1992 it was notorious long before projectors whirred to life. Picketed on set by gay and lesbian groups in San Francisco for what they considered to be a stereotypical and offensive view of homosexuality, the film was lucky to have gotten made at all. Of course this was before the furore over that close up, not to…

What did you miss in costume design this week? Well… Doctor Who John Hurt’s character identity revealed by costume designer Howard Burden? Oh dear. The Sound of Music Bid on the second most famous pinafore in Hollywood history. A Field in England Get the big buckle, big boots, big everything look by Emma Fryer. Pacific Rim Kate Hawley on tackling ‘hard sci-fi’. Bonhams Lot 1793, Tetsuro Tanba’s traditional Japanese costume for You Only Live Twice (1967) and others went under the hammer this week at Bonhams. The Lone Ranger Unsurprisingly, Johnny Depp was very involved with his costume. …and there are Lone Ranger ‘leather goods’ if you fancy them, too.…