Boardwalk Empire | Clothes on Film

A fortnight ago to the day, Clothes on Film creator and editor Christopher Laverty joined fashion historian Amber Jane Butchart to give one of two talks and a Q&A chat at The British Library in London. The subjects under discussion were, respectively, the unexpectedly colourful clothing of Prohibition era gangsters as portrayed in the HBO television series Boardwalk Empire, and the influence of movies and movie star style on fashion during The Jazz Age. After Christopher and Amber finished their talks to a delighted audience (they clapped), everyone reconvened to the elegant backdrop of the main library grounds to swig cocktails and dance the night away to Alex Mendham &…

Here’s a bit of justified promotion for an event you will absolutely want to see: fashion historian, DJ for Jazz FM, author and Clothes on Film contributor, Amber Jane Butchart, teams up with your very own editor, Christopher Laverty, for an exquisite evening entitled Puttin’ on the Glitz on 28th March in London. Taking place at the sumptuous, gorgeous, you-really-should-have-been-there-by-now British Library, Amber and Christopher present two separate talks pertaining to the 1920/30’s Jazz Era before coming together to answer questions from the audience. After that, there will be cocktails and period frivolities courtesy of The Vintage Mafia. It all starts at 6.30 pm and finishes around 10.30, so plenty…

This is a personal post about designing my custom made James Bond shirt. It is not an advertorial and wasn’t paid for. All photographs are of the final finished shirt(s) and taken by David Wade of Vogue Shot photography. There are now ample custom shirt makers online, but as a pre-existing customer of Deo Veritas what made this company stand out for me was a steadfast, almost stubborn desire to get everything ‘just so’. Seemingly no query or request is too much trouble. Bearing this in mind I tasked Deo Veritas with recreating a shirt I have always sought yet been unable to find off the peg or in my…

BAMF A well written and comprehensive site with a growing list of gents film/TV costume posts in the ‘get the look’ format. Like this a lot. Costume design, JK Rowling’s new Harry Potter movie, and the wizarding fashions of 1920s New York Hello Tailor gets lost in the world of world of Hogwarts costume. And in Part 2… She sets her sights on the flapper effect. Fashion Have no doubt; costume designers have a big impact on fashion. The Great Gatsby Lisa Hix for Collector’s Weekly finds more to say on The Great Gatsby. Her starting point? Boobs. Rush Gilt talk to Julian Day about his period costume work on…

Let’s get this straight: Peaky Blinders is not Boardwalk Empire. It’s a post World War I gangster drama, during roughly the same time period (1919 as opposed to the early 20’s), it’s gritty, features loyal yet warring brothers, is as cool as ice chips and doesn’t pull any punches. However Boardwalk Empire is set in the attractive seaside landscape of Atlantic City, USA, while Peaky Blinders is set in Birmingham. The whole palette is different too. Boardwalk is colourful and vibrant, Peaky is dark and dingy. Evidently this extends to the clothes. You wouldn’t have got far walking around Birmingham in an orange silk shirt and camel coat; this was…

Must admit, we kind of saw this one coming. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire costume designer Trish Summerville has teamed up with online fashion retailer Net-a-Porter to produce 16 ready-to-wear outfits, leather goods and jewellery tied into the film. These ensembles will available exclusively at Net-a-Porter while being simultaneously promoted through Lionsgate’s Capital Couture website. Summerville, recently honoured as Costume Designer of the Year at the 10th Annual Style Awards, commented she’s “extremely proud of the designs that we created for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and there’s no partner more appropriate for Capitol Couture than the world’s most cutting-edge luxury retailer”. If anyone can make such a collection work,…

Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin bring us the twenties reloaded.

The glossy costume world of gangster squad is faithful to history, but not a slave to it.

Costume designer Margot Wilson talks exclusively to Clothes on Film about her impeccable work on Lawless.

Tom Hardy heralds dawning of the knitwear anti-hero. Margot Wilson discusses her use of the cardigan for Lawless.

The votes have been counted, the prizes dished out…

A brief but worthwhile and exclusive clip about the costume design of Boardwalk Empire.