Following a teaser trailer that relied heavily on atmosphere and showed us little, we now have our first real glimpse of M. Night Shyamalan’s make or break sci-fi thriller After Earth – and it looks good. Sartorial highlight is undoubtedly the ‘life suit’, which costume designer Amy Westcott confirms is more than just a way to keep warm. The story is set 1,000 years in the future. Humanity has been forced to abandon earth so we now live on ‘Nova Prime’. Will Smith’s military general, the magnificently named Cypher Raige returns from a tour of duty ready to reconnect with his family, especially Kitai (real life son Jaden Smith). But…

Colleen Atwood does it AGAIN. Yep, no surprises that the very ‘costumey’ delights of Snow White & The Huntsman are every bit as jaw dropping as hoped. Frankly, the trailer is brilliant. This is Snow White, but not as you know it, as Kristen Stewart steps into the lead role displaying all the grit and steely bad-ass she can muster. Even more impressive is Charlize Theron as Ravenna, the Evil Queen. Her costume swathed in lustrous gold, feathers or fur, silky superior voice echoing throughout; she may outwardly recall a certain Dior perfume advert, but with such promise as to what a vindictive vixen her jealous Queen will be. Chris…

The full trailer for Sucker Punch has arrived in all its steampunk, cutsey, fairytale and ass kicking glory. A power play of sexual politics set in the heightened blood, sweat and tears world of professional theatre.

Fred Williamson as Tommy Gibbs adopts the gangster codes of 1930s cinema in blaxploitation classic Black Caesar. Lord Christopher Laverty Comments Off on Black Caesar: Blaxploitation Gangster 28 May ’13 29 Aug ’13 26 Oct ’11

Hit the trailer HERE Trailer No.2 for Angelina Jolie’s punch, leap and run espionage thriller Salt has arrived. She is staggeringly beautiful, as always, yet her character is definitely of the look but don’t touch variety. Costume design by Sarah Edwards. You’ll want that coat. Angelina Jolie plays Evelyn Salt, a CIA agent wrongly accused of being a KGB spy (are we back in the eighties?!) and forced to go on the run, while sporting a wicked black fringe and smacking people hard in order to clear her name. The film is directed by Philip Noyce (Clear and Present Danger, The Quiet American), and it is good to see in…

A new web documentary analysing the look of James Bond has been released to coincide with the Designing 007 exhibition in London. It is well worth watching as costume designer Lindy Hemming, a veteran of five Bond films, discusses her approach for both Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig; essentially that Brosnan’s suits were deliberately ‘European’ and Craig’s were intended to ‘pull him in’. There are further notes from David Mason (Anthony Sinclair tailors) and Ritchie Charlton (Douglas Hayward tailors) as to why they believe Bond is still such a sartorial icon. Anthony Sinclair have recently undertaken remaking Sean Connery’s midnight tuxedo with turnback cuffs from Dr. No (1962) to display…

Kathleen Kennedy chats exclusively to Clothes on Film about her experiences and understanding of costume design. Lord Christopher Laverty 2 Comments 11 Jan ’13 4 Jun ’14 19 May ’09 Costume designer Joanna Johnston has recreated WW1 with staunch accuracy. Lord Christopher Laverty 1 Comment 23 Oct ’12 5 Oct ’10 20 Dec ’12 The first trailer for Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of War Horse gallops online and it looks sumptuous. Lord Christopher Laverty Comments Off on Spielberg’s War Horse: First Trailer Arrives 15 Dec ’17 28 Jul ’10 17 May ’10

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……

Twenty-five years ago, costume designer Margot Wilson was a student living in Paris when she picked up a roll of red, moire silk fabric during a shopping trip to Milan. She didn’t know why, or what for; she wasn’t even a costume designer then, just a talented young fashion grad from East Sydney Tech on a six-month scholarship to France. When it was time to go home, she took the beautiful roll of fabric back down under with her. Fast forward three decades and a couple of dozen films later (including Lantana, Bran Nue Dae and Lawless), and Wilson has finally found a screen role for her magnificent weave –……

Clothes on Film chatted with Darren Aronofsky about the challenges of portraying perfection in Black Swan, method acting and The Wolverine.