In the very opening scene of Rocky (1976, costume designer Robert Cambel), we see the title character in the ring, bare chested, hands encased in boxing gloves, the picture of sporting violence and masculinity. But this is no more than a surface assumption. Not two minutes later, we see Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) shrug on his faded brown towelling dressing gown, with “The Italian Stallion” embroidered on the back, and things start to shift. This is not a macho film concerned with the fight alone, but an exploration of masculinity in all its guises – the assumptions, the pretence and the reality. Clothes play an important part in this, both…

Unquestionably the most historically significant outfit Katie Holmes as Jackie Kennedy wears in the show is her rose pink tweed suit. La Femme Nikita re-defines the little black dress on film. Rachel’s Chanel suit was a personal request from Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner. Last week Clothes on Film visited the Grace Kelly: Style Icon exhibition. This is what we found out. Hollywood starlet Christina Ricci has featured in a short film for The Donna Karan Company called Four Play. It is all to promote their Eldridge handbag. Costume designers need to create a look that is both fashionable and timeless. Not an easy task. Amelia Earhart was known for…

The costumes of Rumble Fish express the importance of teenage dress codes before the segregating journey into adulthood. Clothes on Film have an exclusive chat with Academy Award winning costume designer Janty Yates about her work on Prometheus. Wes Anderson’s most sartorially significant film yet. Clothes on Film had an exclusive conversation with costume designer Joanna Johnston about her work on War Horse. Kathleen Kennedy chats exclusively to Clothes on Film about her experiences and understanding of costume design. Costume designer Joanna Johnston has recreated WW1 with staunch accuracy. The displaced sex appeal of uniforms in Mildred Pierce. Clothes on Film talks exclusively to Tate Taylor about his use of…

The first trailer for Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues steps from the 70’s to the 80’s in vivid style. Lord Christopher Laverty Comments Off on Anchorman 2 Trailer: Ron and Friends Meet the 80’s 1 Sep ’11 26 Feb ’10 25 Jul ’09

Paranormal Activity 2 does look interesting; not least costume wise. In a very ordinary way. Harry subverts his identity to get lost in the crowd during this blistering new trailer for New Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I. The costumes are somewhat…ahem….‘colourful’. A few images from The American starring George Clooney. Contemporary costume design by Suttirat Anne Larlarb. If you like Potter, you are going to like this. Cannot say fairer than that. Want to know exactly what a costume designer does? Let Ellen Mirojnick explain it to you.

We may have to eat our words, but as it stands 12 Years a Slave is unlikely to win the Best Costume Design Oscar. It does tick some of the necessary boxes: it’s period (mid 19th century), features both crinolines and cravats, and is part of the popular ballot. Yet being as the protagonist spends most of his time in just an increasingly distressed tunic shirt, the Academy may just feel costume designer Patricia Norris has really not worked hard enough. Flippancy toward the Academy aside, 12 Years a Slave remains a wonderfully rich costume experience. Every fibre leaps off the screen with detail and feeling. The cool weave of……

A slight but worth watching video about the costume and production design for frothy Walt Disney biography Saving Mr. Banks. If you have not seen the film it won’t spoil anything, and will probably get you wanting to dress in sixties suits and dresses again, like Mad Men did in the early days. Newly released on collectable Blu-ray, The Long Goodbye (1973, directed by Robert Altman) is the kind of film you feel ashamed for not watching more often. Starring Elliot Gould as Raymond Chandler’s pulp private dick Phillip Marlowe, this is a quirky, very seventies re-imagining of the Humphrey Bogart man-in-a-trenchcoat myth. The film is contemporary set, yet Gould’s…

The Counsellor trailer hits with high-shine sartorial gloss. Lord Christopher Laverty 6 Comments 24 Sep ’10 29 Oct ’10 8 Dec ’10

Playing computer hacker, Lisbeth Salander, Noomi Rapace embodies the character in such a way that picturing anyone else in the role is nearly impossible. The displaced sex appeal of uniforms in Mildred Pierce. Groundbreaking film La Dolce Vita offers a conflicting portrayal of masculinity. Potiche confirms that Catherine Deneuve will always be Belle de Jour, only now with added sense of humour. In Malèna, Monica Bellucci plays an impossible vision of beauty; a woman so striking she is immediately sexualised by all who lay eyes on her. A prevalent theme in the first episode of Mildred Pierce starring is how domestic costume can be read as a signal for sexual…

Shocking, but not really considering all the legal wrangling going on recently, Bond 23 has been shelved “indefinitely”.