Interviews | Clothes on Film – Part 3

Interviews with directors and costume designers

As Get on Up, director Tate Taylor’s look at the life of singing legend James Brown, hits UK screens we have some fantastic sketches to share of the film’s costuming. Costume designer for Get on Up is the one and only Sharen Davis, who previously worked with Taylor on The Help, although you may know her better for Devil in a Blue Dress, Dreamgirls, Ray and Django Unchained. Davis is absurdly talented and every single project she undertakes should be greeted with cheers by any costume fan. Get on Up with its collective of lowly, stage and civvie ensembles worn by Chadwick Boseman as adult James Joseph Brown (60+changes) is…
Director Brian De Palma has made movies heavily influenced by Alfred Hitchcock before, but Passion (2012) is the first one whose characters look like they stepped out of one of Hitchcock’s classic films. Karen Muller-Serreau’s bold and colourful costumes communicate the characters’ hidden desires and make watching Passion a sensory experience. This melodrama centres on two ad executives, Isabelle (Noomi Rapace) and her boss Christine (Rachel McAdams), who have a deadline to come up with an ad campaign for a new smartphone. In her sleep, Isabelle thinks of a great idea. The two other principal characters are Isabelle’s assistant Dani (Karoline Herfurth) and Christine’s boyfriend Dirk (Paul Anderson) who get…
Part two of our essay looking at sartorial identity in Sons of Anarchy, featuring exclusive insight from series costume designer Kelli Jones. Catch up with part 1 HERE. The women of SAMCRO include porn stars and pole dancers, but the club matriarch is Gemma played by Katey Sagal, formerly known as Peg Bundy in Married with Children. Gemma is the Queen of this world so her look is regal rock chick, “to make her look badass without looking like a slut. This sexy mama bitch doesn’t need to TRY” costume designer Kelli Jones says. With her background in music (she has performed with the likes of Bette Midler, Gene Simmons…
Sons of Anarchy portrays the fictionalised world of an outlaw motorcycle club; although the plots are dramatic in the extreme, many of the details are firmly based in realism, including the costuming. Series creator Kurt Sutter has described it as pure soap opera, but this family drama has earned the tag of “Hamlet on Motorcycles”. It has been embraced by pop culture and by the biker community, and spurred an upsurge in sales of Harley Davidsons (and a $25k SOA branded bike). Motorcycle club culture took off after WW2, when returning veterans with experience of riding bikes on service, and often undiagnosed post-traumatic stress, took to the lifestyle looking for…
Chances are you have not seen Snowpiercer yet due to its limited availability and release fiasco. If so, skip this interview and watch the film first. Go in clean, because Snowpiercer really is as good as everyone’s telling you. Based on the French graphic novel Le Transperceneige, it is essentially a dark (often literally) sci-fi thriller about a perpetual motion train carrying the last remnants of society after a global ice age. Themes of cruelty, disparity and sacrifice abound, and strong, sometimes horrific visual references bombard the screen. The exceptional costume design by Catherine George ties all this together in a way that is readable and indicative, yet never threatens…
Clio Barnard’s stark yet heart-wrenching film The Selfish Giant (2013, UK) offers two fantastic performances from its young stars in their acting debut. Matt Price discusses how his costume design for the film reflects the strong, relatable characters so well… It is lunchtime in London as costume designer Matthew Price shuffles into the Curzon, Soho. Recently collaborating with Clio Barnard on the Bafta nominated film, The Selfish Giant, reuniting after experimental documentary The Arbour, Price is surprisingly reserved about his work. “I wasn’t really sure if they’d take me on again,” he says of Barnard and producer Tracey O’Riordan. “The Arbour did quite well so I didn’t know if they’d…
While science-fiction and period costume can sell to collectors at auction for tens of thousands of dollars, the future of contemporary costume from the contemporary drama, comedy and thriller genres is unclear. Costumes from films set in the modern age are not valued as highly. Sourced from costume houses, high-street stores, and even actor’s own wardrobes, these pieces could be lost for good for future generations of collectors and fans if current mentality doesn’t change. Contemporary costume, even from popular movies, is surprisingly hard to trace. What has happened to George Clooney’s Aloha shirts from The Descendants? The film’s costume designer Wendy Chuck isn’t sure. “I have no idea where…
Where to start with Penny Rose? Pirates of the Caribbean? Evita? King Arthur? Most recently of course 47 Ronin (directed by Carl Rinsch). You do not hire Penny Rose for something small. This is not to say she won’t work on independent and low budget projects, just that her CV is becoming increasingly packed with huge scale period and/or fantasy studio movies – basically the kind of pictures that would make most costume designers weep. Multiples, armour, uniforms, plus Ms. Rose practically always builds from scratch. Not a fan of ‘shopping’ or even slightly interested in fashion, Penny Rose is old-school hands on, no-nonsense and no fear. Nonetheless, there is…
A fortnight ago to the day, Clothes on Film creator and editor Christopher Laverty joined fashion historian Amber Jane Butchart to give one of two talks and a Q&A chat at The British Library in London. The subjects under discussion were, respectively, the unexpectedly colourful clothing of Prohibition era gangsters as portrayed in the HBO television series Boardwalk Empire, and the influence of movies and movie star style on fashion during The Jazz Age. After Christopher and Amber finished their talks to a delighted audience (they clapped), everyone reconvened to the elegant backdrop of the main library grounds to swig cocktails and dance the night away to Alex Mendham &…
For this month’s Fabric of Cinema column in pan-India publication Arts Illustrated, Clothes on Film editor Christopher Laverty discussed the game changing costume design work of Trish Summerville. This makes that terrible title pun you’ve just read almost acceptable. The theme of the issue was women, specifically women approaching their role in society with a powerful, fresh perspective. This is sex rather than gender based, as none of the women featured conform to pre-established definitions of masculine or feminine. They are creatives achieving wonderful things not because of their sex, or in spite of it, but because of raw, unabashed talent. Costume designer Trish Summerville is this month’s Arts Illustrated…
Here’s a bit of justified promotion for an event you will absolutely want to see: fashion historian, DJ for Jazz FM, author and Clothes on Film contributor, Amber Jane Butchart, teams up with your very own editor, Christopher Laverty, for an exquisite evening entitled Puttin’ on the Glitz on 28th March in London. Taking place at the sumptuous, gorgeous, you-really-should-have-been-there-by-now British Library, Amber and Christopher present two separate talks pertaining to the 1920/30’s Jazz Era before coming together to answer questions from the audience. After that, there will be cocktails and period frivolities courtesy of The Vintage Mafia. It all starts at 6.30 pm and finishes around 10.30, so plenty…
Marina Roberti is the costume designer of the Italian box office hit Sole a Catinelle. She has worked in the US with the likes of Milena Canonero, Sandy Powell and Dante Ferretti… How did you become a costume designer? When I was a kid I was a bumbler at school. I spent all the time drawing and reading. My parents were kind of worried so they decided to enroll me at a fashion college in Turin, my home town. During my last school year they took us to Rome to visit the National Film School. Next year I decided to try and join the school. I thought I could never…