Costumes! Read all about it! Fifty Shades of Grey Will Victoria Beckham be the film’s costume designer? Oh dear, we smell another Black Swan situation. X-Men: First Class Part two of Gavia Baker’s superb costume round up. This time: menswear. Gwen Russell The costume maker of Dangerous Liaisons (not the costume DESIGNER like this sloppy article states) – she lives in Croydon, don’t cha know? Camera Ready In development TV show by Syfy, where 10 costume designers compete to create works of sartorial art for film, TV and music videos. Blue Jasmine Insightful guide to Cate Blanchett’s terribly chic and expensive costumes. Marathon Man Mode Parade has something interesting to…

Yes, amazingly, Anna B. Sheppard’s much talked about work on Inglourious Basterds has been overlooked by the Costume Designers Guild (CDG). Though this is not the only surprise announcement… Marina Draghici has been given the nod for Precious, which is perhaps a shock considering the very ordinary, albeit period, costumes worn by the cast (including queen diva Mariah Carey no less). Yet this is what costume design is all about; sometimes intentionally visible, sometimes intentionally invisible. The Costume Designers Guild, and this is reassuring given their name, can clearly tell the difference. The CDG separate their nominations into three categories: Period, Contemporary and Fantasy. Inglourious Basterds is the obviously controversial…

Last week Clothes on Film visited the Grace Kelly: Style Icon exhibition at London’s V&A museum. This is what we found out. Grace Kelly is mostly known for her ‘blossoming flower’, 50’s New Look dresses with tiny waists and huge, poufy skirts. Yet these only represent one period in her life, essentially the big movie star years 1954-56 and early marriage to Prince Rainier III of Monaco. There was far more to Grace Kelly’s enduring chic than silk organza, although two constants did remain throughout: clean, simple. She rarely deviated from this style. That the Victoria and Albert museum (that’s the V&A in case you were unsure) have recognised her…

Jacques D’Azur is missing. So what are you going to do about it? Take his place, that’s what. Here are some tips from the flicks on how to succeed that sultan of sophistication. Sans Tie: First things first, ditch the tie. It’s Cannes, it’s sunny, and you need to breathe. Try following the late, great Cary Grant’s example and wear a scarf instead. Playing cat burglar John Robie in To Catch a Thief (1955), Grant added a spotted red silk scarf to his matelot top and grey slacks ensemble after scouring boutiques along the Riviera. You won’t look as good as him, but at least they won’t send you off…

Angelina Jolie is apparently being courted by Ridley Scott to star in ‘Gucci’; a film charting internal power struggles to control the fashion empire. Would love to see the costume budget for this one. During the 1970s-80’s the Gucci brand nearly collapsed amidst a bitter family feud; a feud that ended with Maurizio, grandson of founder Guccio Gucci, being assassinated outside his Milan apartment in 1995. Jolie is in talks to play Patrizia Reggiani, Maurizio’s ex-wife, currently banged-up in prison for plotting his murder. Leonardo DiCaprio is another name thrown about as a possible sign-up. Should he ever commit, DiCaprio would likely play Maurizio. Scott worked with the Oscar nominated…

Really though, there were no big surprises in the 82nd Annual Academy Awards. Apart from The Hurt Locker winning Best Picture, that was huge. As this is a movie costume website, however, we shall start with that. It was BAFTA/CDG all over again as Sandy Powell won Best Costume Design for The Young Victoria. Well, we did say there were no big surprises. Cannot fault Sandy Powell and her team for their incredibly detailed work on a movie that, frankly, demanded it, but when will the Academy reward costume design that isn’t period? Do casual moviegoers even realise that ‘costume’ is whatever a character wears, and that does not have…

Having created some of the most recognisable contemporary costume design of the 20th century for Wall Street in 1987, Ellen Mirojnick returns to dress belated sequel Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. But how has time altered the broker’s look and what sartorial influences does the current economic climate bring to the new world of finance? Talking exclusively to Clothes on Film, costume designer Ellen Mirojnick tells us exactly what to expect when director Oliver Stone’s much anticipated follow up hits cinema screens next month. All the principals’ shirts in the film were made by Anto of Beverly Hills. Clothes on Film, Chris: How has Wall Street trader attire evolved since…

As it is the weekend how about some photos from Universal’s upcoming The Wolfman starring Benicio del Toro and Anthony Hopkins. The Wolfman is director Joe Johnston’s remake of a 1941 film of the same name. It is set during the Victorian era, late 1880s to be precise. The costume design is by Milena Canonero (Ocean’s 12, The Darjeeling Limited). We have Benicio del Toro in the title role as Lawrence Talbot, a man inflicted with the curse of the werewolf. Anthony Hopkins plays his estranged father, Hugo Weaving a Scotland Yard police inspector sent to investigate mysterious deaths in the hamlet of Blackmoore, while Emily Blunt rounds out the…

The Iron Lady (2011) is a film full of interesting sartorial clues put in place by costume designer Consolata Boyle. While it chooses not to deal in depth with the career of Margaret Thatcher, instead focusing on a story of a sick and lonely old woman remembering a rose tinted past, it certainly employs colour and clothing as indicators of mood, gender, power, emotion and, of course, political allegiance. The first shot of The Iron Lady depicts an almost unrecognisable Margaret Thatcher (Meryl Streep) buying a pint of milk. She is dressed in a loose fitted beige anorak, beige floral print headscarf and sensible flat shoes; she is the picture…

The Academy Awards go one smarter than BAFTA by including the late Eiko Ishioka for Mirror, Mirror in their Best Costume Design nominees. Otherwise it is business as usual for all the big hitters. However one other costume designer on this list especially deserves her statuette (clue: amazingly she has never been nominated before)… Anna Karenina – Jacqueline Durran Les Misérables – Paco Delgado Lincoln – Joanna Johnston Mirror, Mirror – Eiko Ishioka Snow White and the Huntsman – Colleen Atwood Django Unchained: Where on earth is Sharen Davis..? We have already covered the issue of only big name, big budget period and fantasy films getting a look-in for Costume…