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 Marlowe is a man out of place and time. Everything from his car to apartment to clothes is indicative of the P.I’s golden age; a world of cocktails, dames and pinstripe suits, not cat food, hippies and polyester. Hollywood’s effortless private detective was created in the post-Prohibition era of the 1930s-40s, and into…

Our first Dual Analysis with Costumer’s Guide. To kick off, here is what Chris from Clothes on Film had to say.

This is part 2 (part 1 HERE) of an expanded article Clothes on Film editor Christopher Laverty wrote for men’s style resource MR PORTER analysing Michael Caine’s suits in The Italian Job. This post covers all the costumes he wore during the film. We rejoin Charlie and his ragtag crew at the big meeting when the gang are all introduced to each other. It had to be a Doug Hayward moment and thankfully does not disappoint. In actual fact it is probably Michael Caine’s best fitting suit in the whole movie: Dark blue worsted wool suit; double breasted jacket, wide peaked lapels, 6 on 2 fastening, slanted hip pockets, ticket……

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…

Our first Dual Analysis with Costumer’s Guide. To kick off, here is what Chris from Clothes on Film had to say.

Ghostbusters (1984) is perhaps best known as the first ever big budget FX comedy and not for making any serious style statements. Yet tucked amongst the fluffy hair and khaki jump-suits sported by the Ghostbusters themselves is a classic example of mid-1980s opulence – Sigourney Weaver’s oversized cape coat: Full-length cape coat in blue wool with horizontal and intersecting vertical maroon stripes. Wide three-quarter length sleeves, stand collar, big button fastening. Matching cape running to three-quarter point at the rear. All contemporary women’s wear descended from male clothing, and nearly all male clothing descended from military dress. Sigourney Weaver’s cape coat is no exception. Based on a 19th century Garrick…

The Counsellor trailer hits with high-shine sartorial gloss. Costume designer Michael Kaplan reminisces with Clothes on Film about creating dark tourist Marla Singer in Fight Club. Spoiler warning: We examine the use of suits, iron or otherwise, in Iron Man 3 to conceal and recreate identity. Armour and indecisiveness: Audrey Hepburn is more than a little black dress in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Cosmopolis satisfies as everything avant-garde cinema should be; an immaculate journey into weird. The religious and cultural significance of the costume design in foreign language Oscar winner A Separation. Watch the first trailer for Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows and burst with costume excitement. Gena Rowlands’ costumes as Gloria…

We chat to costume designer Caroline Eselin-Schaefer about her work on terrific new Amazon comedy, Troop Zero.

Well, if like Clothes on Film you followed the exciting Debbie Reynolds costume auction online, thanks to a couple of days’ decaf you may have calmed down enough to process the results. $4,600,000 (plus $1,058,000 in taxes and fees) for Marilyn Monroe’s Travilla ‘subway’ dress from The Seven Year Itch (1955) was just one mega bid of many. Hollywood legend Debbie Reynolds has been collecting movie costumes, props and memorabilia for over fifty years. She had a dream of displaying her acquisitions in a specially created museum, but sadly this never happened. Instead she put the collection up for auction on 18th June in Los Angeles (with another to follow…

Matt Spaiser, creator of The Suits of James Bond blog, analyses the style of 007 in the film that started it all – Dr. No.