Joanna Johnston | Clothes on Film

From Chris Laverty’s regular column ‘Fabric of Cinema’ for Arts Illustrated magazine, here is an abridged version of the most recently published essay ‘A Migration of Talent’. The current issue of Arts Illustrated focuses on those that have moved across geographical boundaries to expand the scope of their work. It has long been the norm for costume designers from the UK to relocate, not necessarily permanently, to Hollywood. Their careers have been forged by the demands of the business they compete in. But what would have happened if, say, Sandy Powell (Shakespeare in Love), or Joanna Johnston (Who Framed Roger Rabbit) had never worked beyond these shores? How would their…

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…

Costume designer Ellen Mirojnick brings Liberace back to life on stage and off.

Joanna Johnston chats about her work on Lincoln and what we can we can expect from her latest project Jack the Giant Slayer.

The biggest compliment that can be paid to Joanna Johnston’s costumes in Lincoln is that you will hardly notice them.

The Costume Designers Guild Award nominations right some wrongs and ignore quite a few others.

Oscar announces their Costume Design nominees and at least make up for one BAFTA shortfall.

BAFTA Costume design nominations announced. Worthy, but no surprises.

Not the only book you should buy about costume design, but probably the best.

Clothes on Film had an exclusive conversation with costume designer Joanna Johnston about her work on War Horse.

Kathleen Kennedy chats exclusively to Clothes on Film about her experiences and understanding of costume design.

Costume designer Joanna Johnston has recreated WW1 with staunch accuracy.