red dress | Clothes on Film

Costume designer Ann Roth’s template for Working Girl (1988, directed by Mike Nichols) is especially astute with regards to the social and geographical make up of its characters. Protagonist Tess McGill (Melanie Griffith) is a homely girl raised and living in Staten Island, New York. Currently working as a secretary in Manhattan (not ‘executive assistant’, reflecting vernacular of the time), as is her best friend Cynthia (Joan Cusack). Tess, however, has gained a degree through night school and harbours ambitions to use it for more constructive tasks than answering the telephone and fetching toilet paper for bawdy stockbrokers. After being set up for a ‘date’ that turned out to be…

Second and final part of our retrospective of The Grifters with insight from Mark Bridges.

First in our two part retrospective of neo-noir classic The Grifters with exclusive insight from the film’s assistant costume designer Mark Bridges.

Goldie Hawn’s unforgettable debut in hot pants and mini skirts in Cactus Flower.

The glossy costume world of gangster squad is faithful to history, but not a slave to it.

Costume designer Margot Wilson talks exclusively to Clothes on Film about her impeccable work on Lawless.

French costume designer Anaïs Romand discusses her work on House of Tolerance (L’Apollonide: Souvenirs de la maison close).

“Fashion victim” or “ensemble-y challenged”. Examining the legacy of Mona May’s costume design for Clueless.

Ruth E. Carter’s work on Do the Right Thing is a masterclass in how costume can influence the look and feel of a film.

Clothes on Film chats exclusively to Anna B. Sheppard about her work on Captain America: The First Avenger.

Some of the finest superhero costume design ever committed to film.

Beautiful and affecting, even if it does collapse under the weight of its own earnestness at times.