On first discovering that the late Eiko Ishioka’s costumes for Tarsem Singh’s fairytale update Mirror Mirror: The Untold Adventures of Snow White are to be featured in an ‘app’ for Apple products we were, to put it mildly, sceptical. On further consideration, however, this is actually a fun and really quite sweet idea. Simply titled ‘Dress Up Snow’ this free app showcases several of Ishioka’s most typically imaginative and extravagant outfits for the movie, all worn by Lily Collins as Snow White – alas none for Julia Roberts’ Evil Queen. Users can alter a cutesy rendered image of Collins wearing different ensembles, in addition to changing the scenery, adding accessories,…

Betsy Heimann’s costume design for Reservoir Dogs (1992) spawned a legacy in pop culture and fashion that is still being felt today. Heimann and director Quentin Tarantino determined a cinematic sub-genre by redefining the appearance of the petty gangster. From shambolic to symbolic; a man in a black suit, white shirt and black tie walking in slow motion is possibly the single most memorable costume image of the nineties. Here, talking exclusively to Clothes on Film, Ms. Heimann describes how the Reservoir Dogs look came together: “I am very pleased that the narrow silhouette I created influenced and still influences men’s fashion” she offers. “I think that Quentin is responsible…

MILD SPOILERS Costume designer Michael Wilkinson’s main accomplishment with American Hustle has largely been overlooked in favour of praising him as some kind of vintage stylist with an eye for provocative gowns and desirable heels. The truth is he has carefully brought to life a world, not of parties and glamour, but cheap sex and dirty desperation. The costumes in American Hustle do tell a story, particularly through their ever darkening colour palette, yet Wilkinson’s deftest skill is reflecting an era when fashion was as confused as the politics surrounding it. American Hustle is an unapologetic tale of low down dirty double-crossers whose clothes, like them, were a lie. A…

With the release of Disney/Pixar’s latest adventure Brave (directed by Brenda Chapman and Mark Andrews); featuring colourful tartan cloaks and the Tudor-esque dresses of its heroine Merida (voiced by Kelly Macdonald), it is worth considering exactly what role costume plays in animated film. Does this craft even exist for animation? Clothes on Film talk exclusively to simulation supervisor for Brave, Claudia Chung, about this process and whether or not costume truly has a viable, practical function outside of live action cinema: Educated at University of California-Berkeley, Claudia Chung joined Pixar in 2002 after interning for summer in 2001. Her first role was as rendering technical director on Finding Nemo (2003),…

Check out the trailer HERE A thumping good trailer for Brooklyn’s Finest starring Richard Gere and Don Cheadle has hit town. Write this off as ’just another cop drama’ at your peril. Straightaway there are overtones of influential nineties crime thriller New Jack City (1990) with branded sportswear, expensive loose fit shirts, 1920s-30’s style hats and heavy bling. Plus note how leather is used to signify the dark side of human nature. Don Cheadle, playing a cop who has been undercover too long and journeyed too deep, in an omnipresent leather flat cap; also when Ethan Hawke’s financially burdened officer ‘goes bad’ he dons a black leather blazer. This sort…

Clothes from films set during 1970s Less a costume movie and more a fashion one, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls is typical of its naughty director Russ Meyer in all the best ways. To celebrate Grease Sing-a-Long coming to Vue cinemas this month, we have five goodie bags to give away. Go Rydell! Costume designer Carloine Harris has recreates the vibrant look of the 1970s. Despite its routine ending, The Runaways is a music biopic to be reckoned with. Michael Caine is the epitome of badly folded cool. If you have never found Star Wars in the least bit kinky before, prepare to loosen your breeches. The Big Lebowski…

A 13 minute Man of Steel featurette has just been released discussing the suit. The first still from Beauty and the Beast, aka La belle & la bête. Costumes by Pierre-Yves Gayraud. Star Trek’s Michael Kaplan confirmed as costume designer for Star Wars Episode VII. Michael Kaplan gives Clothes on Film the lowdown on his Star Trek Into Darkness costumes. Director Bryan Singer has tweeted photographs of Nicholas Hoult, Hugh Jackman and James McAvoy in 1973 costume on set of X-Men: Days of Future Past. Spoiler warning: The costume clues and details of Star Trek Into Darkness. Spoiler warning: We examine the use of suits, iron or otherwise, in Iron…

Joanna Johnston is a multi-award nominated costume designer with an excitingly eclectic filmography. From Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), Back to the Future Part II (1989) and The Sixth Sense (1999) to About a Boy (2002) and Valkyrie (2008). Including most famously Saving Private Ryan (1998), she is now carving a niche in military dress and uniform. Although, considering the subtlety of all Ms. Johnston’s costume design – the cleverly unchanging ensemble worn by Bruce Willis in The Sixth Sense for example – this is only a small part of her work. Clothes on Film called up Joanna Johnston for a chat about her most recently released project, War Horse…

For what is certainly the best remembered costume in Saturday Night Fever (1977), John Travolta as Tony Manero wears a brilliant white 3-piece suit to dazzle the disco dance floor. His look defined an era: smart, yet somehow scruffy; classy yet somehow cheap. To keep costs down the film’s director John Badham insisted costume designer Patrizia von Brandenstein procure all outfits off the peg and not make them from scratch. Furthermore this added to realism as Tony could never have afforded bespoke. Interestingly despite the pristine first appearance of Tony’s suit it never really looks clean. Just like the disco scene itself his costume is sullied from the sweaty self-indulgence…

Clothes from films set during 1980s Beetle Juice was a wakeup call; the so-called ‘goth’ look had been dragged out from obscurity and put on to the big screen. Attesting that upbeat and silly often go hand in hand, Beetle Juice stands as one of director Tim Burton’s most cheerfully insane projects. A classic example of mid-eighties opulence – Sigourney Weaver’s oversized cape coat. Flashdance has garnered a considerable costume following in recent years. A capitalist wet dream; one that we have long since woken up from screaming.