The subtle differentiation of character through costume design in Moon. Contributor 2 Comments 8 Jun ’10 12 Jul ’13 11 Nov ’11

How Richard Burton’s character in Villain (1971) dresses to impress and intimidate. 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…

After that surprising snub by the Academy (not even a nomination) and BAFTA, Black Swan costume designer Amy Westcott has finally been rewarded, with a Costume Designers Guild (CDG) Award for Excellence in Contemporary Film. This was a tough category, too. Jeffrey Kurland has hardly been mentioned, apart from by the public, regarding his almost entirely bespoke costumes for Inception. Have the Guild responded to the recent, very public controversy between Westcott and Black Swan contributors Kate and Laura Mulleavy, i.e. Rodarte? Perhaps, yes, and we would not begin to suggest this is a bad thing either. Moreover the effectiveness of the CDG lies in their broad distinction between genres,…

Throughout eight episodes of The Kennedys, Katie Holmes evolves her style as Jacqueline ‘Jackie’ Bouvier, Kennedy and then Onassis from New Look debutante to elegant socialite hidden behind huge plastic sunglasses. Unquestionably her most important outfit is a Chez Ninon pink wool suit for JFK’s fateful trip to Dallas, recreated here by Giorgio Armani under guidance from The Kennedys costume designer Christopher Hargadon. The real suit, still covered in President Kennedy’s blood, is housed at the Maryland National Archives; however the accompanying pillbox was lost at Parkland Memorial Hospital where he died. This suit is symbolic of a tumultuous period in American history and of an eternally glamorous woman who…

The leggy lure of Bombshell. There has been an insane amount of discussion online about Bryce Dallas Howard’s character, Claire Dearing, since the release of Jurassic World (2015, costume designed Daniel Orlandi), mostly concerning the ‘running in heels’ sequences. I felt it would be interesting to take a broader look at the costumes of the female leads in both the original Jurassic Park (1993, costume supervised by Sue Moore) and Jurassic World and contrast in the characters. Dr Ellie Sattler the Paleobotanist as played by Laura Dern in the original movie is a hugely underrated feminist action hero. She is allowed to be clever, brave, practical and physical yet display…

For most cinemagoers Piper Perabo arrived on the big screen in her breakout role for Coyote Ugly (2000). Since then she has worked in television, on Broadway and continuously in movies. Costume wise Ms. Perabo has mixed period with contemporary though tends to work in the latter. For Looper she plays Suzie, a nightclub dancer struggling to bring up her young son in a decaying near future, and the lover of Joe (Joseph Gordon Levitt) before he attempts to mend his hedonistic ways. Speaking exclusively to Clothes on Film, Piper Perabo talks dressing the character of Suzie and working with costume designer Sharen Davis: “The stage wear was my favourite…