Director Peter Jackson’s new movie The Lovely Bones has been chosen for this year’s Royal Gala screening at London’s Leicester Square in late November. This is a world charity premiere in aid of the Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund two months before the scheduled release date. Now this may not mean much unless you have a ticket, but it does give us an excuse to revisit the film’s trailer. Watch it HERE The Lovely Bones is set in 1973, retaining its retro setting from Alice Sebold’s 2002 source novel. A fantastical yet emotionally challenging idea, the plot concerns young Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan) who is raped and murdered by her…

Some official images have surfaced for director Mathew Vaughn’s adaptation of Marvel comic X-Men: First Class. Plot details are still sketchy, but we do know that the story is set at some point during 1960s (mid?) and concentrates on the relationship between young Professor Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik Lehnsherr / mutant guise Magneto (Michael Fassbender). Their ‘civvie’ costumes by Sammy Sheldon (Kick-Ass, Stardust) are not excessively sixties in tone, however. Only a handful of details give the film away as not set in the present day, most notably on January Jones as Emma Frost and Kevin Bacon’s ‘Hellfire Club’ leader Sebastian Shaw. A white, belted PVC catsuit channels…

Starring: Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Asa Butterfield Directed By: Martin Scorsese Acclaimed director Martin Scorsese concocts a cracking children’s fantasy in homage to silent movie magician Georges Méliès; his beloved Hugo barely drops a cog in its methodically realised mechanical world. Scorsese has unmistakably made a children’s movie. Some may argue not as it is crammed full of references to early moving pictures that only adults could probably recognise. Yet Scorsese’s purpose, like that of his hero Méliès, is to entertain and inform. For all the po-faced wittering by cinema scholars that Hugo is meant for them, one has to wonder if deep down Scorsese really cares if any…

Clio Barnard’s stark yet heart-wrenching film The Selfish Giant (2013, UK) offers two fantastic performances from its young stars in their acting debut. Matt Price discusses how his costume design for the film reflects the strong, relatable characters so well… It is lunchtime in London as costume designer Matthew Price shuffles into the Curzon, Soho. Recently collaborating with Clio Barnard on the Bafta nominated film, The Selfish Giant, reuniting after experimental documentary The Arbour, Price is surprisingly reserved about his work. “I wasn’t really sure if they’d take me on again,” he says of Barnard and producer Tracey O’Riordan. “The Arbour did quite well so I didn’t know if they’d…

Director Brian Helgeland’s Legend (2015) tells the based-on true story of Ronald and Reggie Kray: twins (both played by Tom Hardy), East End boys, racketeers, murderers, icons. The Krays were shaped during the 1960s, a post World War II boom for England. They came to symbolise the smartly dressed gangster for a new youth-orientated generation. They had money and they wanted to flaunt it – and that meant suits and a lot of jewellery. Costume designer for Legend, Caroline Harris, boasting over 20 years experience in both film and television with credits such as Mr Nice (2010), Red Riding (2009) and Fleming (2014), here chats exclusively to Clothes on Film…

Pretty Woman (1990) is your typical Hollywood rags to riches story. Vivian Ward (Julia Roberts) is a young woman who finds herself down and out; struggling financially, unable to make the rent and ‘forced’ to sell her body on the street. By dramatic coincidence she happens to enter the car (and world) of newly single, and rich, businessman Edward Lewis (Richard Gere) Vivian’s transformation from prostitute to elegant lady of luxury is highlighted through her clothes. Costume designer Marilyn Vance-Straker and her team created an array of stylish and contemporary outfits, beginning with the white and blue revealing dress with thigh-high boots that Roberts dons at the start of the…

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.[…] Happy New Ye- oh we’ve done that already. Carry on. ‘How Hollywood is ruining a Billion Dollar Industry’ Amber Jane Butchart found this amazing article from 1938 and it is essential, and occasionally shocking, reading.[…] Two-part BBC drama The 7.39 could have been your average ‘man meets woman and has an affair’ tale. However, the overall verdict has been one of admiration at not only the amazing acting from its[…] ‘Disney’s Muppets Most Wanted takes…

As curator of Entertainment History at the Smithsonian, Dwight Blocker Bowers spends his days surrounded by movie costumes and props from past and present, including the Lone Ranger’s mask and those famous red shoes worn by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz (1939). Speaking recently to The Collectors Weekly, Blocker Bowers explains what his job entails, the most popular exhibits at the museum and why Carol Burnett wore a dress with a curtain road attached. Entertainment Curator… Blocker Bowers: I’ve been at the Smithsonian for 28 years—I never thought I’d stay that long! The first job I had was as a producer and annotator of recordings. We used to…

Pleasant surprise of the day, the first official photo for The A-Team movie has gone online – and it looks rather good. Obviously there has been some updating going on, the original TV show began in 1983 don’t forget. Overall though there is nothing too jarring here, it is recognisably The A-Team, no question. But let’s analyse exactly what has changed in twenty six years… Bradley Cooper as Templeton Peck, aka ‘Faceman’ Wearing a smart grey mohair suit, open neck white shirt and black oxford lace-ups, Cooper looks similar to his character in The Hangover (2009), apart from the machine gun accessory of course. When not in disguise, Dirk Benedict’s…

Costume designer Mark Bridges described There Will Be Blood (2007) as his most challenging film, referring to the difficulties he faced in transporting costumes to the remote location in West Texas, after director Paul Thomas Anderson called for a new concept three days before a re-shoot. However these challenges seem to channel the themes of the film itself: hardship, isolation, and the determination to overcome any obstacle to fulfil a goal. Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) is a turn-of-the-century prospector, who receives a tip about a giant oil deposit under a family farm in California. The family includes Eli Sunday, a zealous preacher and faith healer who wants the money from…