Fred Williamson as Tommy Gibbs adopts the gangster codes of 1930s cinema in blaxploitation classic Black Caesar. Lord Christopher Laverty Comments Off on Black Caesar: Blaxploitation Gangster 7 Mar ’11 9 Oct ’18 2 Sep ’19

What a busy twelve months it’s been for costume design. Really though, this art, or craft, or business (Deborah Nadoolman Landis insists it is definitely a business) gets more talked about each year. 2013 was especially exciting however as it seemed every month something even more thrilling arrived to fawn over. In the last few weeks alone we have had The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and Sleepy Hollow, and now American Hustle and The Wolf of Wall Street on the horizon. Dipping back further, it was Stoker that got us excited about subtext, The Great Gatsby that slammed the lid on that twenties revival once and for all, and Behind……

When Clothes on Film visited The Muppets Most Wanted set back in March of 2013, we were given a tour of the bustling ‘wardrobe’ (their words) department, as overseen by costume designer Rahel Afiley. You can read more about that HERE, but after chasing Ms. Afiley around the room while she was trying to work, we managed to get a bit more out of her about using designer fashion, i.e. Vivienne Westwood, in the film. As always we are pushing the same old costume/fashion debate, though in this instance hearing from a costume designer on the front line is rather enlightening. Focusing specifically on Miss Piggy, for she is the……

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……

No round up last week because we were a bit busy, so this week is MEGA JAMMED WITH COSTUME GOODNESS. Puttin’ on the Glitz We teamed up with Amber Jane Butchart and The British Library to talk jazz age fashion and dandy gangsters. Further coverage to follow… Costume Test Images 50 of them to be precise, from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes to Star Wars, Batman, and beyond. Noah Mad good interview/article by Tyranny of Style with Noah’s Head Textile Artist Matt Reitsma. There is absolutely no way you can care about costume design and not read this. Business of Fashion Costume designers, fashion designers, studios, brands, and a business venture 100……

Spoiler warning: The costume clues and details of Star Trek Into Darkness. A round up of villain themed costume posts at Clothes on Film.

These are not great photos, well they are not official photos, but they do at least confirm that Anne Hathaway is playing Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises and not just Selina Kyle. That is definitely a Catwoman costume. Perhaps the biggest surprise with director Christopher Nolan and costume designer Lindy Hemming’s version of the costume is thigh high leather boots with steel spike heels and wedge soles. In Nolan’s (comparatively) realistic Batman universe, these boots seem more akin to an ironic S&M club than for scaling buildings as a cat burglar. Hathaway’s long steel heels are distinctly visible. Then again, they certainly add sex appeal. Ditto the feline Alice…

Costume designer Mark Bridges described There Will Be Blood (2007) as his most challenging film, referring to the difficulties he faced in transporting costumes to the remote location in West Texas, after director Paul Thomas Anderson called for a new concept three days before a re-shoot. However these challenges seem to channel the themes of the film itself: hardship, isolation, and the determination to overcome any obstacle to fulfil a goal. Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) is a turn-of-the-century prospector, who receives a tip about a giant oil deposit under a family farm in California. The family includes Eli Sunday, a zealous preacher and faith healer who wants the money from……

Fred Williamson as Tommy Gibbs adopts the gangster codes of 1930s cinema in blaxploitation classic Black Caesar. The glossy costume world of gangster squad is faithful to history, but not a slave to it.

Costume designer Michael Kaplan took time away from Star Trek 2 to chat exclusively to Clothes on Film about Ghost Protocol. Lord Christopher Laverty 32 Comments 24 Jan ’20 11 Jul ’11 21 May ’12 Enjoyably daft fare with enough fast cars and desirable clobber to keep you cooing until the credits. Lord Christopher Laverty 10 Comments 15 Aug ’11 13 Sep ’11 21 Jul ’12