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),…

What have you missed costume wise this week? Well…. Sandy Powell In conversation with Kinvara Balfour at the Regent Street Apple Store, 18th November. Scandal Lyn Paolo has no intention of becoming a fashion designer. Sleepy Hollow We’re a bit behind with this now but looking forward to a marathon catch up. Here series costume designer Kristin M. Burke answers fan questions posed on Twitter. Bad Grandpa Kristin Burke chats to costume designer Lindsey Kear about working without a script. The Great Gatsby Catherine Martin was initially worried the film would look like “a flapper themed 21st birthday party”. Thor: The Dark World Spoilers abound, but if you’ve seen the…

It’s all about the shoes in Stoker. Lord Christopher Laverty 2 Comments 15 Sep ’14 21 Oct ’10 24 Jul ’13

How Richard Burton’s character in Villain (1971) dresses to impress and intimidate. Lord Christopher Laverty Comments Off on Richard Burton is The Dandy Villain 16 Sep ’10 2 Nov ’17 15 Apr ’16

Jill Burgess analyses how the glamorous fashions of the 1930s thread their way through dual love stories in W.E (2011, directed by Madonna). Throughout W.E. two narratives are intertwined, first that of Wally Winthrop (Abbie Cornish), a lonely Manhattan wife married to handsome and philandering psychiatrist William Winthrop (Richard Coyle), second the infamous love story of Wallis Simpson (Andrea Riseborough) and Edward VIII (James D’Arcy). Wally becomes fascinated with Wallis and Edward during the Sotheby’s auction of their estate in 1998. She visits the exhibit leading up to the auction every day, wandering among the Duke and Duchess of Windsor’s possessions, taking solace from her own shaky marriage. Wally soon…

SPOILERS If you’ve heard anything about Phantom Thread (2017, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson), you are bound to uncover a multitude of thoughts on the astounding Academy Award winning costume work of Mark Bridges or the retirement role of Daniel Day-Lewis as Reynolds Woodcock, 1950s fashion house couturier. But one of the key components to Reynolds is missing from the discussion: Autism. Reynolds’ (Daniel Day-Lewis) daily dressing routine. Phantom Thread opens with Reynolds (Day-Lewis) getting dressed to formalities of the era. Polished shoes, ironed trousers, a fresh button-down shirt, with the addition of long magenta socks to introduce the notion of creativity, or perhaps particularities to the character. The scene…

Costume your life. Caroline Harris Fleming costume designer talks about getting into the business, and if she’d be up for Bond… Pitch Perfect 2 The Mindy Project’s Salvador Perez set to design for Elizabeth Banks’ directional debut. He already collaborated with Banks on Zack and Miri Make a Porno. The Invisible Woman Michael O’Connor chats briefly about his Oscar nominated contribution to the film. The Grandmaster Even more briefly, though no less welcome, William Chang Suk Ping talks about his work on The Grandmaster. Ray Holman Broadchurch, Silk, Doctor Who…have a browse around this always excellent costume designer’s website. Downton Abbey The costumes travel to the U.S. We predict this’ll…

Gangster Squad is a fantasy grounded in reality. One of the coolest costume design names in the business, Mary Zophres, unveils a Los Angeles catwalk circa 1949. Maybe not 100% what actually existed but given the romanticised tone of the movie, exactly what hoped to see. To be clear, Mary Zophres has not ignored historical accuracy. After working on films such as Catch Me if You Can (2002) and True Grit (2010) she is known for her dedication to factual detail, yet never at the expense of telling the story her director wishes to. In this instance director Ruben Fleischer has approached Gangster Squad as an old school matinee. While…

If you live anywhere near the Getty Center in Los Angeles, get yourself along to their ‘Dressing the Part: Historical Costume on Film’ event, not least because it features a panel chaired by former CDG president Deborah Nadoolman Landis. Commencing this Spring, two exhibitions are taking place at the Getty Museum relevant to period costume design in movies: ‘Fashion in the Middle Ages’ analyses how manuscript illuminators depicted dress from tradesmen to kings to pops, while ‘Paris: Life and Luxury’ examines the rich wealth and inventiveness of 18th century Parisian costume. The event gets underway with an introduction to medieval and 18th century fashion by art historian Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell, followed…

For a big budget movie about a lone astronaut who gets stranded on Mars, the spacesuits in The Martian are surprisingly sober in terms of design. There is an attempt here to make everything seem as plausible as possible, costume design especially. Director Ridley Scott’s regular costumer Janty Yates has created possibly the sexiest spacesuits ever seen on screen, and what’s more they are functional. To paraphrase a line in the film, she had to “science the shit out of them”. Yates collaborated with NASA looking specifically at their Z1 and Z2 prototypes to create an EVA (‘Extravehicular Activity’ – any time the crew must go outside) suit and surface…