tailored | Clothes on Film

There is a problem with the costumes in The Wolf of Wall Street, and it has nothing to do with the film itself but the coverage they have received. Namely, that this coverage is incorrect. Articles such as this one for Vogue France, or this for The Hollywood Reporter, or a ‘suit guide’ by Esquire, concentrate almost solely on Giorgio Armani’s contribution to the project with barely a mention of costume designer Sandy Powell. And this is the Sandy Powell by the way: 10 Oscar nominations and so well respected she has an OBE for services to the industry. It was Powell who costumed The Wolf of Wall Street, not…

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…

Groundbreaking film La Dolce Vita offers a conflicting portrayal of masculinity.

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Fashion’s original bad boy Alexander McQueen has died aged just 40 years old.