Recently we were fortunate enough to get our hands on Amber Jane Butchart’s new book, her ‘Fashion Miscellany’, which has just been published by The IIex Press. If you don’t already know, Amber is a contributor to Clothes on Film and will soon be teaming up with editor Christopher Laverty for an evening of Jazz Era discussion at the British Library. Her book, by the way, is flippin’ brilliant. If you care even slightly about what we wear and why, AJBFM is an indispensable purchase. The layout of it is simple enough. It’s basically designed as a dip-in-and-out for research, or whenever you fancy a flick though. We’d call this…

Three international banners for Tron Legacy have just been released by Disney. The information drip feed for this film is relatively slow, but these do at least reveal some detail of the light suit costume. To be fair the Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn banner is the only new one. Here he is wearing a long twill weave coat with flared sleeves over his robe (which we must say seems entirely computer rendered in this image). Those light boots look amazing, however. Incidentally, Adidas have made some Tron inspired Stan Smiths to tie in with the movie, as well as two high-tops revealed at Comic Con in July. Unfortunately these…

Here is a real treat for Doctor Who fans, plus anyone craving a revival of the bow tie. Costume designer for the new series, Ray Holman, chats exclusively to Clothes on Film about dressing Matt Smith in the part. He has even given us a character sketch. Clothes on Film, Chris: Can you talk us through the new Doctor’s look? Ray Holman: The Doctor wears tan top lace-up ankle boots, skinny houndstooth trousers with the bottoms rolled up to sit at the top of the boots, and braces. A cranberry coloured squiggly pattern slim-cut shirt with striped cuffs and a soft collar, a small bow tie, a tweed jacket which…

MILD SPOILERS Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) is far and away the most ‘A New Hope-like’ film in the series yet. In terms of tone, sure, but particularly costume. What costume designers Glyn Dillon and David Crossman have so expertly achieved with Solo is making a contemporary looking movie set during the late 1960s. Star Wars: A New Hope was released in 1977 which puts Solo’s timeline around a decade before, or likely just over. But hang on, isn’t this a science fiction movie? What does when it’s made have to do with the space opera world being brought to life on screen? Well the seventies in particular was……

A new trailer for Daniel Radcliffe’s Guns Akimbo has arrived and it’s hilarious. Lord Christopher Laverty Comments Off on Guns Akimbo Trailer Hits: Daniel Radcliffe is Deadly Cousin Eddie 16 May ’11 19 Jun ’10 17 Mar ’17

From stills of this film alone you could easily be forgiven in thinking that I am Love (Io sono l’amore, 2009) was set during the 1960s. The designer clothes draped worn by lead members of the Recchi family, as selected by costumer Antonella Cannarozzi, are generally minimalist, in plain colours with little embellishment. I am Love is actually set in Europe around 2000, but its central characters are trapped as the well-heeled repressed of the sixties. Just as sexual, artistic and cultural expression was blossoming, the old guard struggled to make sense of this new world so regressed even more vehemently into their old one. The Recchi’s seem to live……

A preview of Clothes on Film editor Christopher Laverty’s article on the vibrant costume design of Dick Tracy for Arts Illustrated magazine. Truly unique, Dick Tracy is as close to a comic strip brought to life as any film before or since. This was director and star Warren Beatty’s goal; not to interpret the comic, but to paint it directly onto a cinematic canvas. He achieved this by embracing the superficial qualities of the painted page, the bright colours, exaggerated structures, madcap caricatures, and placing them front and centre. Dick Tracy is an all knowing pantomime. The original Dick Tracy comic strip first published in the United States in 1931,…

Audrey Hepburn abandoned her Givenchy comfort zone for decade-spanning dramedy Two for the Road (1967) to wear a catwalk of trendy outfits by the hottest designers of the day. And amongst those Mary Quant shifts and Courrèges sunglasses, Hepburn also wore jeans which, onscreen at least, she had seldom done before. Denim is not a fabric traditionally associated with Audrey Hepburn, yet here she takes to the look with such confidence that all memories of Givenchy couture banish in the zip of a fly. Hepburn uses denim to not only appeal to a younger cinema-going audience, but also to align with her character Joanna Wallace’s optimistic naivety. We see Joanna…

Clothes on Film were fortunate enough to be invited to a display of costumes from the latest adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express (2017), plus interview its costume designer Alexandra Byrne. An Oscar winner for Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2008), and well known for her period design work, since 2011 Byrne has become connected to the world of Marvel, her most recent project being Doctor Strange in 2016. Here she chats candidly about recreating the (mainly) glamorous side of the early 1930s and the challenges that faced her and her team. Alexandra Byrne on shooting in 70 mm: “Director Ken (Branagh) and I did Hamlet (1996) together which was……

The period is swinging, but the trailer is classy. Some official images have surfaced for X-Men: First Class. The sixties costumes vibe is not excessive, however.