To tie-in with the release of Disney’s new live-action version of Beauty and Beast, the project’s Oscar winning costume designer Jacqueline Durran teamed up with students from Central Saint Martin’s college in London to reinterpret ensembles from the film. These are outfits designed in homage to Beauty and the Beast, taking specific elements here and there, a song, colour or concept and creating something entirely new. Whether these are fashion or art pieces is ultimately unclear – what stands out though is their reach beyond that of merely marketing a big movie. Just as an idea it would be fantastic to see more films promoting their costumes in this way.……

See the website HERE Warner Bros’ official website for The Box starring Cameron Diaz and James Marsden has gone live. This is creepy 1970s. Creepy as hell. The Box is director Richard Kelly’s reinterpreting of a 1970 Richard Matheson short story called ‘Button, Button’ (filmed as a Twilight Zone episode in 1986). Kelly’s expanded version sees a cash strapped couple (Diaz and Marsden) left an apparently innocuous box one evening with a solitary button on top. They next day a mysterious stranger (Frank Langella) informs them that by pushing the button they will receive $1,000,000 dollars, but that somebody, somewhere will die. And that’s it. From this point on only…

Troop Zero (2019, directed by Bert & Bertie) is the kind of film you just wish they made more of. A simple, good natured story, well told without an ounce of pretentiousness. A feel-good movie about a ragtag troop of girl scouts called ‘Birdies’? Unless you’ve just fallen into a crocodile infested pit (for heaven’s sake call somebody), Troop Zero cannot fail to make you smile. Costume designer for Troop Zero is Caroline Eselin-Schaefer, she of Moonlight (2016), Under the Silver Lake (2018), If Beale Street Could Talk (2018) and many, many others. Intuitive and meticulous, Caroline Eselin is someone who really ‘feels’ the projects she works on. Troop Zero…

Matt Damon as Jason Bourne dons the simplistic sophistication of a well-fitted Crombie later on during The Bourne Supremacy (2004), but Karl Urban kicks off proceedings with near 007 chic dressed in a natural linen tunic shirt – perfect attire for the travelling assassin in Goa: Natural linen overhead tunic shirt, rever collar with two button fastening, notched hem, full length sleeves turned up slightly, plain cuffs. Ethnic styled bracelets and necklace to compliment. The tunic shirt has experienced a resurgence in recent years, for both men and women. It is now a staple of the summer season and normally sold in either linen, cotton, a linen/cotton mix or treated…

Contributor Birdie McAra explores the fantabulously non-male gazey world of Birds of Prey. Lord Christopher Laverty Comments Off on Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of Just About Everyone) 8 Jul ’11 24 Apr ’13 4 Feb ’11

Finally the Costume Designers Guild (CDG) nominations have been announced, and while they right some of the wrongs made by Oscar and chiefly BAFTA, ample opportunity to reward some really creative and effective costume design has once again been overlooked. We have indicated at length our views on the Academy and BAFTA’s nominations (HERE and HERE) so in the interests of not sounding like a broken record we shall stick to the facts. Well, perhaps just the odd observation… Nominations below: Excellence in Contemporary Film Beasts of the Southern Wild – Stephani Lewis The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel – Louise Stjernsward Silver Linings Playbook – Mark Bridges Skyfall – Jany…

Man of Steel recently hit cinema screens amidst a blaze of controversy, with many questioning director Zach Snyder’s dark and humourless take on the Superman legend. Conversely some have praised his approach as the breath of fresh air the character needed. If the film itself has been splitting audiences so too has the costume design. Principally this stems from Superman’s overhauled hero suit. Depending on who you ask it is either bravely innovative or missing a pair of red underpants. We speculated that this revamped suit is actually underwear, a foundation garment worn by all Krypton men beneath their armour or robes. However, even though this was our interpretation, it…

Outfits worn specifically by female actors on film Filmmaker Nic Fforde discusses how he come to realise the importance of costume design in his projects. Stories in films are all familiar to us in some way, no matter how remote the setting. The hell that unfolds aboard the Nostromo in Alien, LA’s icy criminal underworld in Heat or Rope’s Ivy League dinner party – a good story well told will whisk you away to its own self–contained world. All the tools of filmmaking are there to help create these worlds. What part does costume play in all this? My day job is to make films for advertising. We work on…

After her flimsy pink slip on Skull Island, this is the second most significant outfit Naomi Watts wears as Ann Darrow in King Kong (2005). As simple as evening wear gets (though strictly in the context of the film it is stage wear), Ann’s white gown is authentically period accurate; 1930s was the couture decade to introduce evening dresses in their now familiar form. That a plain cut-on-the-bias dress such as Ann’s could be worn at any formal party function today without raising so much as a martini glass demonstrates the far-reaching influence of thirties designers; major names such as Gilbert Adrian and Edward Molyneux; those who prioritised simplicity and…

Levi’s® Spring Bottom pants are a most fascinating garment. Introduced in 1889 they are essentially jean trousers intended for Victorian (and later Edwardian) gentlemen. This is the first time Levi’s had focused their products on such an audience. Previously their stock in trade was miners and loggers, but this was a very early attempt by the company to branch out. Spring Bottom pants are a classic item of denim history, yet most folk have probably never heard of them. With this in mind we contacted costume designer Jenny Beavan recently and asked if she would consider putting them in the next Sherlock Holmes film. No-one was paying us to do…