fedora | Clothes on Film

Examining the shirt collars of all the gentleman in 1941 noir classic, The Maltese Falcon.

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,…

Newly released on collectable Blu-ray, The Long Goodbye (1973, directed by Robert Altman) is the kind of film you feel ashamed for not watching more often. Starring Elliot Gould as Raymond Chandler’s pulp private dick Phillip Marlowe, this is a quirky, very seventies re-imagining of the Humphrey Bogart man-in-a-trenchcoat myth. The film is contemporary set, yet Gould’s Marlowe is a man out of place and time. Everything from his car to apartment to clothes is indicative of the P.I’s golden age; a world of cocktails, dames and pinstripe suits, not cat food, hippies and polyester. Hollywood’s effortless private detective was created in the post-Prohibition era of the 1930s-40s, and into…

Fred Williamson as Tommy Gibbs adopts the gangster codes of 1930s cinema in blaxploitation classic Black Caesar.

It’s all about the shoes in Stoker.

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

Deborah Nadoolman Landis discusses her Hollywood Costume exhibition at the V&A.

Bonnie and Clyde is a great example of how the simple addition of a hat can say a lot about a character.

Public Enemies demonstrates how costume can actually drive a story narrative.

Costume designer Mari-An Ceo talks about the re-design of Freddy Kruger’s iconic striped sweater for a Nightmare on Elm Street 2010.

Trailer two for Shutter Island hits the net. Leonardo DiCaprio and co revisit serious 1950s fashions.

The merest glimpse at Seth Rogen’s titular costume for The Green Hornet has turned up online.