Cate Blanchett | Clothes on Film

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 lot of fashionable garments such as The Devil Wears Prada (2006), Clueless (1995) and Funny Face…

The first full-length trailer for Disney’s new live-action adaptation of Cinderella was this week and featured tantalising glimpses of what promises to be a visually gorgeous film. The costumes, designed by three time Academy Award winner Sandy Powell, appear to be absolutely stunning. With a clever mix of the eighteenth century, the 1830s, and a little 1950s couture thrown in for good measure (Powell has been quoted as saying she was aiming for the look of “a nineteenth-century period film made in the 1940s or ’50s”), Powell has created another jewel to add to her already over-bling crown. Here is a quick rundown of some of the looks we’ve been…

Suzy Benzinger, the costume designer of Blue Jasmine, chose iconic brands like Hermès, Louis Vuitton, and Missoni to serve as visual shorthand of what the modern-day wealthy socialite wears, but it is the white Chanel jacket that follows Jasmine from the beginning of the movie to the end which tells its own tale of what is happening to its owner. When we first see Jasmine (Cate Blanchett) she is flying first-class from New York to San Francisco to see her sister Ginger (Sally Hawkins). On the flight she dazzles a fellow passenger with the story of how she met her wealthy businessman husband Hal (Alec Baldwin). Or so she thinks.…

Costumes! Read all about it! Fifty Shades of Grey Will Victoria Beckham be the film’s costume designer? Oh dear, we smell another Black Swan situation. X-Men: First Class Part two of Gavia Baker’s superb costume round up. This time: menswear. Gwen Russell The costume maker of Dangerous Liaisons (not the costume DESIGNER like this sloppy article states) – she lives in Croydon, don’t cha know? Camera Ready In development TV show by Syfy, where 10 costume designers compete to create works of sartorial art for film, TV and music videos. Blue Jasmine Insightful guide to Cate Blanchett’s terribly chic and expensive costumes. Marathon Man Mode Parade has something interesting to…

Tales from the costume crypt. The Talented Mr Ripley Remembering the stellar work of Ann Roth and Gary Jones. Blue Jasmine Costume designer Suzy Benzinger on budgets, Fendi and Cate Blanchett. The Butler Transformations…Ruth Carter discusses mimicking classic fashion designers such as Bill Blass to recreate Nancy Reagan (played by Jane Fonda). Jenn Rogien The Girls’ costume designer is now Gap’s official ‘styled by’ expert. Orange is the New Black More Miss Rogien, this time talking authenticity and maxi-pad shoes. Roman Holiday Just brilliant costume analysis of the film by DTSFT. Elysium A brief chat with costume designer April Ferry. Unsurprisingly, it was Jodie Foster who brought Armani on board.

By no means intended as an exhaustive list, Clothes on Film ponder an overview of 2011 in costume.

Want another look at Janty Yates’ costume design for Robin Hood? Thought you might.

The latest in a queue of trailers for Ridley Scott’s version of Robin Hood has arrived. This one shows some basic plot too.

Make the day disappear faster by checking out some pics from Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood starring Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett.