About | http://clothesonfilm.net

‘Fashion in Film’ by Christopher Laverty – available now.

Clothes on Film was launched by me, Christopher Laverty, in June, 2009. It’s intention was and remains to celebrate the art (or craft? There’s a future debate) of costume design in film and television.

I have always been interested in costume design, though apart from a brief stint in theatre, I’ve never practically worked in the field. My knowledge is all theoretical and analytical. I am very lucky to have met, interviewed and can call friend some of the best and brightest costume designers in the business. I have learned so much about what the process involves and continue to do so every day.

For me it is most important that Clothes on Film looks beyond the surface of costume design to discover its hidden meaning. A t-shirt is never just a t-shirt (look at Drive) and a coat never just a coat (see Penny Lane in Almost Famous). All these choices were made for a reason; there is subtext going on here. Clothes on Film gets to the heart of what costumes mean and their influence on the narrative in play. Personally I do have a stronger bias for contemporary costume because I feel it is often overlooked. This is not to say you won’t see any period clothing analysis on the site. Just visit the archive and you’ll find over 400 essays to sift through about everything from There Will Be Blood to Trainspotting 2.

Originally Clothes on Film published articles, interviews, news items and reviews with far greater frequency than today. This is primarily due to 90% of the content being written by myself and thanks to surge in demand for the discussion of costume, I simply do not have enough time to post as much as I’d like. At this point Clothes on Film is an archive of detailed essays and fascinating interviews. However some new content is and will be added so please keep visiting and subscribing to the feed.

Also do buy a copy of my first book Fashion in Film published by Laurence King. It’s all new content and makes a wonderful companion to the site as well the perfect present for friends and loved ones. That was my feeble attempt at the hard sell.