halterneck | Clothes on Film

Moments of sartorial significance, and that glimmer of recognition that we feel upon seeing an onscreen outfit worn more than once are found throughout Smooth Talk, Joyce Chopra’s underseen 1986 adaptation of a Joyce Carol Oates short story. The film is rife with all the monotony of life and charming ensembles we expect of a teenage girl in the summer, yet it simultaneously offers complexity and creepiness. Laura Dern plays Connie, an ingénue spending her days as an “unfinished girl, waiting for completion of some sort” (Quart 74). In her essay, “Smoothing Out the Rough Spots: The Film Adaptation of ‘Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?’” Rebecca Sumner…

The arrival of Scarface on Blu-ray grants ideal opportunity to indulge in Patricia Norris’ exemplary, disco couture costumes.

Old fashioned and sentimental, Water for Elephants still has much to offer with its very readable costume design.

This is the most fun and elaborate outfit Grace Kelly wears in To Catch a Thief.

The blue towelling playsuit in Goldfinger is typically remembered as Bond’s one sartorial disaster. Yet it might be worthy of reconsideration.

Some images and the latest trailer from Water for Elephants. Period costume design by Jacqueline West.

Carice van Houten is a Resistance beauty of Jean Harlow-esque proportions in an unmissable red halterneck dress.

One of the most famous costumes in Grease comes from Cha-Cha DiGregorio in her ruffled Flamenco-style dress at the dance-off.