Clothes on Film has been nominated as Best Overall Blog in the Total Film Blog Awards 2011! Please vote for us at the link below: Being as Clothes on Film’s less than esteemed founder and editor (that’s me) is moving house this month, there will be less posts on the site than usual (sorry). That said; look out for something amazing about Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky, something grumpy about ‘hippie’ Meg Ryan in Proof of Life, and possibly something Armani about Richard Gere. I run Clothes on Film and write most of the posts, but not without the help of some select, extremely knowledgeable and talented contributors. Without them…

The final trailer for The Rhythm Section features more costume changes than a Lady Gaga concert. MINOR SPOILERS Movies that feature contemporary fashion, particularly high-end and particularly for women, are a tricky sell costume wise. While men’s semi-formal to formal attire is generally shaped around the fundamental guise of the lounge suit, women’s clothing has a lot more avenues and possibilities. In addition to colour and pattern there is shape and form, which can vary dramatically for the fashionable wearer. What can vary dramatically can also date dramatically and this can be major stumbling block for costume designers. Films centred around the world of fashion, or those that include a…

A final favourite selection of Audrey Hepburn outfits from Two for the Road (1967). Again if you have not seen the film, give it go. Even if you don’t like the look of the clothes, it is like no Audrey film you have ever come across, guaranteed. Swirly Print Dress Multi-coloured psychedelic print mini-dress with bateau neck and flared sleeves. Pink high heel shoes. This is Riviera chic for a point in the film where Audrey’s character is as rich and discontent as she is ever going to be. The swirly geometric print is similar to Emilio Pucci’s signature creations from the mid-sixties onwards. His dresses were, and still are,…

Tom Hardy heralds dawning of the knitwear anti-hero. Margot Wilson discusses her use of the cardigan for Lawless. $ 4,600,000 for Marilyn Monroe’s ‘subway’ dress was only just one mega bid of many. This is the most fun and elaborate outfit Grace Kelly wears in To Catch a Thief. As worn by Grace Kelly, this floaty, conspicuous dress is an appreciable nod to Dior’s ‘New Look’ of the late 1940s. Christie’s are auctioning several Edith Head sketches for costume designs worn by Grace Kelly.

The arrival of Scarface on Blu-ray grants ideal opportunity to indulge in Patricia Norris’ exemplary, disco couture costumes.

Here is a brief extract from editor Chris Laverty’s third ‘Fabric of Cinema’ column for international periodical Arts Illustrated. The main reason for a plug is the subject matter discussed: colour, without doubt one of the most fascinating aspects of theoretical costume study. Colour is so open to interpretation that any occasion costume designers dare to use it with intentional meaning constitutes a brave move. One of the finest costume events of the year so far, Stoker, provides just such an example. Costumers Kurt and Bart deliberately incorporated colour as a form of expression to be read alongside the film’s similarly intentional production design. A preview of the Arts Illustrated…

We may have to eat our words, but as it stands 12 Years a Slave is unlikely to win the Best Costume Design Oscar. It does tick some of the necessary boxes: it’s period (mid 19th century), features both crinolines and cravats, and is part of the popular ballot. Yet being as the protagonist spends most of his time in just an increasingly distressed tunic shirt, the Academy may just feel costume designer Patricia Norris has really not worked hard enough. Flippancy toward the Academy aside, 12 Years a Slave remains a wonderfully rich costume experience. Every fibre leaps off the screen with detail and feeling. The cool weave of…

The first trailer for The Tourist has debuted. Regardless of your sexual orientation, there is something for you here. Our first Dual Analysis with Costumer’s Guide. To kick off, here is what Chris from Clothes on Film had to say.

We revisit sci-fi classic Inception a decade after its release with MVP, costume designer Jeffrey Kurland. Amongst staggering aural and visual assault, perhaps one of the quietest aspects of Dunkirk (2017, directed by Christopher Nolan) are its costumes – and this is to its credit. Dunkirk is the type of film that requires you to engage quickly with everything you see on screen. Jeffrey Kurland’s costume design is masterful in this regard. A sea of subtly differentiated green and brown with the pop of naval uniforms and briefly glimpsed civilian wear. This is 1940 at its most spare and rudimentary. Here, Jeffrey Kurland chats exclusively to Clothes on Film about…

From stills of this film alone you could easily be forgiven in thinking that I am Love (Io sono l’amore, 2009) was set during the 1960s. The designer clothes draped worn by lead members of the Recchi family, as selected by costumer Antonella Cannarozzi, are generally minimalist, in plain colours with little embellishment. I am Love is actually set in Europe around 2000, but its central characters are trapped as the well-heeled repressed of the sixties. Just as sexual, artistic and cultural expression was blossoming, the old guard struggled to make sense of this new world so regressed even more vehemently into their old one. The Recchi’s seem to live……