Clothes on Film were fortunate enough to be invited to a display of costumes from the latest adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express (2017), plus interview its costume designer Alexandra Byrne. An Oscar winner for Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2008), and well known for her period design work, since 2011 Byrne has become connected to the world of Marvel, her most recent project being Doctor Strange in 2016. Here she chats candidly about recreating the (mainly) glamorous side of the early 1930s and the challenges that faced her and her team. Alexandra Byrne on shooting in 70 mm: “Director Ken (Branagh) and I did Hamlet (1996) together which was…

The (somewhat) recently debuted trailer for director Paul W.S. Anderson’s adaptation of The Three Musketeers affords just the briefest, intensely edited peek at those 17th century costumes in motion. It’s a lace and linen fest. Alexandre Dumas père’s original story of The Three Musketeers takes place in France before the opulent reign of Louis XIV. This is important because in costume terms the overall style was considerably more sober than in both Henry VIII’s Tudor reign and the French sartorial dominance of the world that was to follow. During the 17th century, fashion was ever changing and evolving, though judging by this trailer costume designer Pierre-Yves Gayraud (The Bourne Identity)…

Man of Steel recently hit cinema screens amidst a blaze of controversy, with many questioning director Zach Snyder’s dark and humourless take on the Superman legend. Conversely some have praised his approach as the breath of fresh air the character needed. If the film itself has been splitting audiences so too has the costume design. Principally this stems from Superman’s overhauled hero suit. Depending on who you ask it is either bravely innovative or missing a pair of red underpants. We speculated that this revamped suit is actually underwear, a foundation garment worn by all Krypton men beneath their armour or robes. However, even though this was our interpretation, it…

Innovative costume designer and art director Eiko Ishioka has died aged 73. Ms Ishioka will surely be best remembered for her Oscar winning costumes in Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), which included Vlad III the Impaler’s (Gary Oldman) eye-popping suit of armour that resembled the structural configuration of human muscles and provocative Gothic dresses worn by The Brides. Tokyo born Eiko Ishioka also designed costumes for 2011 fantasy drama Immortals. Regular collaborator, director Tarsem Singh, known for his judicious use of extravagant headwear, employed Ms Ishioka to create an array of imaginative ensembles based on Greek mythology. A modest résumé of ten feature films takes nothing away from Eiko Ishioka’s influence…

Poor Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner). She is only a young teenager and yet like most characters in Game of Thrones she has been forced to grow up far too fast. This ongoing character development is echoed in her clothes by series costume designer Michele Clapton. We first meet Sansa in season 1 of Game of Thrones at her home in Winterfell. Her clothes are simple. The knotted decoration around the neckline of her dresses and the harsher fabrics echo the rough terrain of the North. She chooses shades of grey and blue, matching the murky colours of her environment. The dress she wears for the party held in honor of…

It’s ironic that director Zach Snyder was against using those famous red pants for the outside of Superman’s new costume when the suit itself is underwear. This bizarre notion actually makes sense as all costume choices in Man of Steel are intended as functional, at least contextually so. There was no need to wear pants over pants as it were; Superman is already half-undressed as it is. When M. Night Shyamalan’s sci-fi thriller After Earth was released a few weeks ago it received a critical bashing for, among other things, poor special effects, weak acting and clunky dialogue. After watching Man of Steel these feel like unfair assertions. In many…

In 1958 Paramount released Vertigo, Alfred Hitchcock’s disturbing tale of death and obsession, love and loneliness. Receiving only average reviews on its release, Vertigo is now hailed as a cinematic masterpiece. Hitchcock’s direction, Bernard Hermann’s score and Robert Burks’ cinematography are particularly praised. Less often celebrated, argues art critic Iris Veysey, is Edith Head’s costume design. Head’s work, particularly in dressing Kim Novak, helped to ground characters and signpost the narrative in a complex and convoluted plot. Dressing Novak in the dual role of Madeleine/Judy, Head’s designs successfully define two distinct characters, one polished and sophisticated, the other brassy and cheap. Madeleine is introduced as a wealthy shipping heiress and…

It does not take long to realise all the recurring themes in Desperately Seeking Susan (1985), are explicably linked to one jacket that may or may not have been worn by Jimi Hendrix, and now worn by infamous Susan (Madonna), a New York drifter whose carefree life is followed via the personals section in a tabloid by a bored suburban housewife living in New Jersey named Roberta (Rosanna Arquette). The film’s costume designer is Santo Loquasto, but the jacket in question is unmistakably Madonna, in that it’s totally unique and difficult to forget. The khaki green metallic fabric is perfectly offset by a brash black and gold swirling pattern on…

Part two of a Dual Analysis with KB from FrockTalk.com. This movie is brilliantly designed in that the characters are concisely and efficiently illustrated. These characters are clearly defined from the beginning, and their costumes tell us exactly who they are from the moment we meet them. In this sense, they are archetypes, strongly drawn and easily recognized. For a movie as wacky and all over the place as The Big Lebowski, the visual simplicity of these characters helps the audience to stay engaged. Example: Jeffrey “The Dude” Lebowski. Here is what he wears when we first meet him: He’s in public, wearing a bathrobe, buying half and half, paying…

Who could ever suggest James Bond never puts a foot wrong sartorially? While it tends to be Roger Moore’s seventies incarnation receiving most disdain, this baby blue towelling playsuit worn by Sean Connery in Goldfinger (1964, directed by Guy Hamilton) is commonly remembered as the actor’s one costume disaster. Yet, seen in period context and motion, plus modelled by one of the most handsome gentlemen who ever graced the screen, it might be worthy of reconsideration. Worn for the film’s first post-credits scene, whereby Bond is introduced, informally, to megalomaniac villain Auric Goldfinger (Gert Frobe), this diminutive, crotch wrangling ‘beach wear’ is not especially typical for the time. Here featuring…