The latest book by fashion historian, and now TV presenter Amber Butchart (A Stitch in Time on BBC 4 – second season please), is a comprehensively researched stroll through the best dressed folk ever to exist on the planet. The Fashion Chronicles: The Style Stories of History’s Best Dressed is laid out to be effortlessly readable, split into sections ranging from Ancient (and we mean ancient; basically like the first clothes ever) to 20th and 21st Century. Each entry gets a couple of pages of engaging historical notes and background justifying their inclusion along with a photo / picture or two. It works; it doesn’t feel like study or revision,…

Our thoughts on the costume design in the season 6 premiere of Mad Men. Doris Day’s last hurrah for 1950s fashion wearing some of the most exquisite costumes ever seen on screen. Edith Head’s costume design for Vertigo demonstrates the power of clothes in forming identities on-screen. If there is a more joyous film this year, we haven’t seen it. Old fashioned and sentimental, Water for Elephants still has much to offer with its very readable costume design. Beyond Biba: A Portrait of Barbara Hulanicki is a contextualised examination of one woman’s extraordinary influence on popular culture. Carice van Houten is a Resistance beauty of Jean Harlow-esque proportions in an…

Django Unchained costume designer Sharen Davis exclusively explains her work on the film. Lord Christopher Laverty 9 Comments 16 Jul ’13 13 Sep ’13 5 Jul ’13 Costume designer Sharen Davis finds a good fit with Tarantino; their Deep South bounty hunter Django is a visibly memorable protagonist crying out for a sequel. Lord Christopher Laverty Comments Off on Review: Django Unchained 29 Sep ’10 5 May ’09 16 Jan ’12

Django Unchained costume designer Sharen Davis exclusively explains her work on the film. Costume designer Sharen Davis finds a good fit with Tarantino; their Deep South bounty hunter Django is a visibly memorable protagonist crying out for a sequel.

This week’s costume design links and stories. Tootsie Very interesting video from late 2012 where Dustin Hoffman discusses his famous Tootsie costume and what the transformation meant to him. Copper The costumes in this 1865 set BBC America show look extraordinary. Jobs Brilliant www.fancydresscostumes.co.uk interview with costume designer Lisa Jensen about dressing Aston Kutcher as Steve Jobs. The Cosby Show Bill Cosby wants YOU. Vote for your favourite Cosby sweater! ‘Janie Bryant’s Hollywood’ The Mad Men costume designer is getting her own weekly TV show, tasking wannabe designers to recreate a classic Hollywood look or celebrity’s signature style. Disney Princesses Given a ‘historically accurate’ makeover. Belle is charming. Michael Wilkinson…

A new VLOG looking back over the still stunning costume design on of Inception. We revisit sci-fi classic Inception a decade after its release with MVP, costume designer Jeffrey Kurland. A new trailer for Christopher Nolan’s Tenet has dropped and it’s undoubtedly going to be the best film EVER. The higher the waist, the closer to god. A brief glimpse at the costume world Mark Bridges created for Joker. Actually that title is a tad misleading – it’s all the clothes worn by Lee Marvin as kick-ass-tough-guy-on-a-mission Walker in Point Blank. This is the second video in a new Clothes on Film feature breaking down costume design in sartorially interesting…

Maggie Siff playing Chanel suited businesswoman Rachel Menken was present for the birth of a show that now creates trends as much as reflects them; fashionistas cannot get enough of Mad Men. 2007 Was the dawning of a new era; a time of cocktails, Cadillacs, A-lines and trilbys. This is when sixties-set advertising drama Mad Men first hit our screens. Don Draper was trying to sell his ‘luckies’, Campbell still looked about twelve, Peggy made a big mistake and Rachel Menken arrived on the scene wearing the ultimate in simple sophistication. As series one progressed her character gradually became less and less interesting (pretty much as she fell for Don).…

British actress Emily Blunt garnered a Golden Globe nomination this week for her fine work on The Young Victoria (2009). As such we are presented with the perfect excuse to run a revealing interview with the film’s costume designer Sandy Powell. Sandy Powell is no newbie to the world of costume design. Having won an Academy Award for Shakespeare in Love (1998), she has also worked with producer of The Young Victoria, Martin Scorsese, several times too, notably on Howard Hughes biopic The Aviator (2004, again an Oscar winner) and 1950s set Shutter Island which is due out later this year. Evidently period costumes are Powell’s niche, but she is…

A first-hand close-up look at costumes from Oz the Great and Powerful. Oz is here and as far as fantasy costume is concerned, you are in for some surprises. Julien’s Hollywood Icons and Idols sale draws high bids for famous costumes, but not the big numbers seen last year at the Debbie Reynolds auction. The Debbie Reynolds costume collection is up for sale. Darn you, worldwide recession! Subtitled ‘Birds of Paradise’, the 3rd Fashion in Film Festival will take place in three London venues on 1st – 12th December.

The most memorable musical number ever captured on film, and Ginger Rogers’ dress contributes to this greatly.