House of Tolerance (original French title L’Apollonide: Souvenirs de la maison close, 2011) is set in a Paris brothel during the twilight of 19th century/eve of 20th century. The story focuses entirely on twelve females aged around 16-30 living and working in the brothel as prostitutes. This is not a ‘knocking shop’, as Madame Marie-France (Noémie Lvovsky) is keen to impress, but a respectable establishment where elegant, if sometimes dangerous men go to meet elegant woman bedecked in semi-revealing Belle Époque fashions and fine silk lingerie. Costume designer for House of Tolerance, Anaïs Romand (César award winner), approached the project with a view that true period authenticity can never be…

A final favourite selection of Audrey Hepburn outfits from Two for the Road (1967). Again if you have not seen the film, give it go. Even if you don’t like the look of the clothes, it is like no Audrey film you have ever come across, guaranteed. Swirly Print Dress Multi-coloured psychedelic print mini-dress with bateau neck and flared sleeves. Pink high heel shoes. This is Riviera chic for a point in the film where Audrey’s character is as rich and discontent as she is ever going to be. The swirly geometric print is similar to Emilio Pucci’s signature creations from the mid-sixties onwards. His dresses were, and still are,…

Recently we were fortunate enough to get our hands on Amber Jane Butchart’s new book, her ‘Fashion Miscellany’, which has just been published by The IIex Press. If you don’t already know, Amber is a contributor to Clothes on Film and will soon be teaming up with editor Christopher Laverty for an evening of Jazz Era discussion at the British Library. Her book, by the way, is flippin’ brilliant. If you care even slightly about what we wear and why, AJBFM is an indispensable purchase. The layout of it is simple enough. It’s basically designed as a dip-in-and-out for research, or whenever you fancy a flick though. We’d call this…

Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) has undergone one of the most dramatic transformations over the past three seasons of Game of Thrones. She begins a helpless pawn, but grows into the Mother of Dragons and a conquering hero. Like Sansa Stark, Daenerys’ character development is visually shown in her costumes, designed by Michele Clapton. At the beginning of Game of Thrones, Daenerys is under the tight control of her brother, Viserys. Viserys sees her as nothing more than a tool to get what he wants, arranging a marriage to a terrifying war lord just so he can build himself an army to fight for the Iron Throne. Daenerys is weak and…

Bit late to the party for this one, but what the hey. Did you know that Calvin Klein has re-released the white shift dress that Alicia Silverstone made famous in Clueless? Yes, you probably did. Thanks to Mona May’s costume design reinventing the look of an era, replacing baggy jeans and grunge with brightly coloured femininity and for (rich) boys, 1950s drape jackets and high-waisted trousers, Clueless (1995) remains a sartorial time capsule. That May went onto design for the 1996-97 television series demonstrates just how important her fashion contribution was at that time. Perhaps unsurprisingly Alicia Silverstone’s Cher is the most memorable character in terms of costume for a…

What a busy twelve months it’s been for costume design. Really though, this art, or craft, or business (Deborah Nadoolman Landis insists it is definitely a business) gets more talked about each year. 2013 was especially exciting however as it seemed every month something even more thrilling arrived to fawn over. In the last few weeks alone we have had The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and Sleepy Hollow, and now American Hustle and The Wolf of Wall Street on the horizon. Dipping back further, it was Stoker that got us excited about subtext, The Great Gatsby that slammed the lid on that twenties revival once and for all, and Behind…

Part two of a new Dual Analysis costume film review. Beetle Juice (1988) is one of the landmark films in my life. There is “Before Beetle Juice” and there is “After Beetle Juice”. The film is important to me because it was the first film to reflect a subculture that I recognized firsthand: goth. I was a teenager in 1988, and the gothic movement had started (on the West Coast of California, in any case) in about 1984 – 1985. It wasn’t called goth, or gothic, at that point. In fact, I don’t even remember hearing the term ‘goth’ to describe this look until the mid-nineties, when the movement had…

Notably since London Fashion Week (15th – 19th February), Disney has extensively promoted costumes from Oz the Great and Powerful. During Fashion Week, William Tempest and Deniz Berdan ‘inspired by’ dresses were featured along with Nicholas Kirkwood shoes made in conjunction with Selfridges. Since 28th February, four costumes from Oz have been on display at Selfridges’ flagship store in London: a dark grey period suit worn by James Franco as Oscar Diggs, a green sequin dress worn by Rachel Weisz as Evanora, a white tulle dress worn by Michelle Williams as Glinda, and the Wicked Witch costume worn by… well, go see the movie. All costumes in Oz the Great…

Judging by this trailer for Amelia, Mira Nair’s dramatisation of female aviator Amelia Earhart’s extraordinary life starring Hilary Swank, vintage fashion fans are in for a serious treat. The costumes look accurate and, most important of all, not overdone. Amelia Earhart was known for her practical and modernistic sense of style throughout the 1920s – early 1930s. Yet she still retained femininity by reappropriating rather than flat out rejecting trends of the time. She was a radical, not a revolutionist. In addition to the ubiquitous leather flying jacket and fur-topped leather trench, expect (deep breath) dropped waist just-below-the-knee dresses with relaxed bodices, short hair, short pants, day slacks, jodhpurs, plain…

Drip-fed over several days, these costume glimpses will likely cause some major appetite whetting. Remember however, The Hunger Games’ sequel Catching Fire does not even hit cinemas until November. Long wait. Catching Fire costume designer is Trish Summerville, who after winning a Contemporary Costume Designer’s Guild award for her fashionable work on The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in 2012 is a hot name right now. Summerville replaces The Hunger Games’ costume designer Judianna Makovsky, a two time CDG recipient this year, who laid the franchise groundwork with some enjoyable nods to wacky runway trends. Available via Lionsgate’s ‘Capitol Couture’ tumblr, these portraits lack context so obviously do not reveal…