Ann Roth’s Emmy nominated costume design for Mildred Pierce has received considerable press, mainly for Kate Winslet’s richly tailored suits and Evan Rachel Wood’s glamorous Katharine Hepburn-esque lounge ensembles. Yet the show’s outwardly dowdy housedresses and waitress uniforms are just as interesting. Further to our earlier essay on the former, we shall analyse the displaced sex appeal of the latter. The sex appeal of the uniform, in this case Mildred’s plain white cotton waitress uniform, buttons at the front, trimmed in brown gingham with a simple rever collar, is entirely one-sided. Lecherous customers grope Mildred as if they have somehow earned the right. These men are aroused by Mildred’s uniform,…

A rose tinted view of the Roaring Twenties, Sonia Grande’s costume design for Midnight in Paris (2011, directed by Woody Allen) offers everything we expect of the era, e.g. achingly fashionable female trends and the increasing Anglophile influence in male suits, yet does not become bogged down in a precise timeframe. Furthermore as the story segues from past to the present, a non specific retro vibe remains palpable, especially in Rachel McAdams’ loose fitting shirt dresses and Owen Wilson’s nubby tweed jackets. Wilson’s Gil is obviously intended to resemble Woody Allen during his late 1970s heyday, wearing natural waist trousers with brown leather belt, casual shirts and either two or…

Of course Rear Window (1954) wasn’t all about Grace Kelly… Just a quick mention then for Miss Lonelyheart played with such empathy by Judith Evelyn, and her dashing green dress. This outfit might look passé compared to the haute couture of Grace Kelly’s Lisa, yet it is probably what her character was wearing eighteen months earlier: Emerald green evening dress with large wing collar and a full skirt that ends just below the knee. As with Grace Kelly’s wardrobe Judith Evelyn’s dress was designed by Edith Head, director Alfred Hitchcock’s favourite costume designer. Not 100% certain of the dress’ fabric – possibly silk taffeta, or even rayon taffeta being as…

Featuring exclusive insight from Sherlock Holmes costume designer Jenny Beavan, we commence our sartorial analysis of Guy Ritchie’s Victorian-set mystery adventure, and with not a deerstalker in sight. “Wear a jacket” barks Dr. Watson. “You wear a jacket!” retorts Sherlock Holmes. And he does. Watson sits down to dinner with Holmes and bride-to-be Mary Morstan wearing arguably the most unusual and interesting jacket in the entire film. It is dark blue with a stand collar and pleats across the chest. But more on that later. Sherlock Holmes (2009) is Guy Ritchie’s re-imagining, re-boot, re-whatever of Arthur Conan Doyle’s renowned fictional detective. It’s greater fun than any of us dared hope…

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…

Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt Directed By: Rian Johnson Often wildly preposterous as it leaps from sci-fi to horror and back again, Looper is still accessible thanks to an engaging plot, excellent chemistry between Gordon-Levitt and Willis, and gently futuristic costume design by Sharen Davis. Davis (The Help, Django Unchained) strikes right at the heart of character personification. Joseph Gordon-Levitt as ‘looper’ Joe Simmons in a fitted leather jacket, white shirt and tie is flashy and full of himself. With the ignorance of youth, his look channels the 20th century as a rejection of the present (2042). Joe believes he can buy his way to happiness, yet emotional…

The gangster genre’s central protagonist (antagonist?) is conspicuous in his journey from street kid to street king by coveting the finest fabrics and tailoring that money can buy. He becomes a vain, petty man destroyed by inability to reconcile his old simpler world with the politics of his new one. It is no accident that most of the principal characters in gangster films are minorities, symbolising a detachment from society and upending of the American dream. He/she can be as rich and powerful as he/she wants, but for those born on the wrong side of the tracks (i.e. minorities, if conforming to the genre model), the only way to fulfil…

The 1945 cinematic adaptation of Mildred Pierce, directed by Michael Curtiz and starring, of course, Joan Crawford, is a very different beast to the 2011 HBO mini-series starring Kate Winslet. In all honestly it is not as good, but more significantly it is very different in terms of costume. Interestingly enough the mini-series, which is evidently a period piece, is closer in terms of historical accuracy than the near contemporary set Crawford version. This is not the be all and end all, because while Winslet’s Pierce may feel more real in terms of costume and setting, Crawford’s is arguably more fun. If for no other reason than to exemplify how…

So much has been written about H.R. Giger’s justly-renowned xenomorph design that the human costume design in the Alien movies goes largely unnoticed, argues film critic Simon Kinnear. In the first of a two-part special, we revisit the saga on Blu-ray to look at just how important these costumes are in contextualising primal terror. Traditionally, costume designers in science-fiction movies depicted the future as being utilitarian, uniform and very clinical: think of Forbidden Planet (1956) or 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) for good examples of the space-faring look. The early 1970s saw a slight sea-change when Dark Star (1974), the John Carpenter film scripted by future Alien creator Dan O’Bannon,…

The green suit worn by Tippi Hedren as Melanie Daniels in The Birds (1963) has become increasingly symbolic in recent years as we delve ever deeper into the semiotics of film. In this case it is hardly surprising as Hedren only wears three costumes in total; the suit is so visible we cannot fail to draw meaning from its presence. But what was director Alfred Hitchcock trying to say with it, and more importantly, why? If you visited the V&A’s Hollywood Costume exhibition (now closed in London but moved to Australia and the U.S.), seeing The Birds’ suit would likely have stuck in your mind. It was given prominent placing…