MINOR SPOILERS For all the inevitable chrysalis transformation of singer Ally (Lady Gaga) during A Star is Born (2018, directed by Bradley Cooper), the most subtle, yet real sartorial reflection of character belongs to her mentor and lover Jack (Cooper). Costumed by Erin Benach (Drive, A Place Beyond the Pines), Jack is the epitome of the casual rock star. Stage wear, day wear, evening wear, drinking wear, sleeping wear – it’s all the same. His simple clothes mask a mind so damaged it can only be subdued with the bottle. Jack lives in t-shirts (plain, dark or neutral colours), untucked shirts (dark or a green graph-check), brown calf leather jacket,……

A few days back, Warner Bros. released the first official image and synopsis from The Hangover Part II – Todd Philips’ follow up to his own mega success comedy. You have no doubt read/seen both by now, but we do have a little something to add… Clothes on Film recently had a quick chat with costume designer Louise Mingenbach as she was shooting The Hangover: Part II in Thailand. According to Louise, a safari suit with sandals and socks were exactly what she considered Zach Galifianakis’ character, well intentioned man-child Alan, would deem appropriate for a trip to southeast Asia (note, too ,what appears to be Louis Vuitton luggage). Moreover…

Want another look at Janty Yates’ costume design work for Ridley Scott’s upcoming Robin Hood? Thought you might. Most of the ensembles seem to be late Medieval inspired, though we must also factor in creative license and a diverse historical timeline behind the original folk story. This is the origin of outlaw Robin Hood without the singing and probably with a lot of pummeling. Difficult for Janty Yates, as the setting predetermines what we expect to see, yet we also want something new. In other words, it has to look like traditional Robin Hood with a ‘modern’ twist – and that does not mean Reebok in the Hood Pumps and…

Moxy Creative has designed an extraordinary collection of movie posters based on iconic male costume. Whet your appetite here then pop over to EveryGuyed to view the rest. They are all superb, but our personal favourite is this one for Dumb and Dumber (1994). A vastly overlooked film in terms of costume design; Mary Zophres’ barmy formal attire for Lloyd Christmas (Jim Carrey) and Harry Dunne (Jeff Daniels) is hilarious. This poster uses just a pair of plain black Derby shoes – an obvious nod to Verbal Kint’s (Kevin Spacey) costume as created by Louise Mingenbach for The Usual Suspects (1995). With one shoe cocked to the side, nothing more…

Directed By: Tom Hooper Starring: Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter The King’s Speech is a majestic tale set in a world of buttoned-up repression and austere buildings that creak as much as their inhabitants. Tom Hooper’s direction is confident and explicit. There is little subtext beyond the obvious contrast with our current royal family and the media control over their lives. Opting for reflection rather than display, plus no doubt hampered by a minuscule budget, costume designer Jenny Beavan speculates the 1925–39 setting rather than recreates it. For example, Colin Firth as frustrated King George VI, or ‘Bertie’ to those he held dear, was a Naval officer, a…

Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, John Turturro Directed by: Michael Bay Here is something you might never have thought possible with a Michael Bay movie, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is very, very boring. With so much impenetrable (often inaudible) dialogue between bouts of sporadic, confusing action, about the only thing left to keep your attention is a healthy dose of humour. Yet most of this is bizarre at best. There are two bickering Autobots, Mudlfap and Skids (both voiced by Tom Kenny), who exchange insults in a spectacularly dated ‘hip speak’ manner that would be racist if it wasn’t so ignorant. This is an uncomfortable watch, particularly as Revenge…

This quite brilliant video is available exclusively on the Hardy Amies website. It discusses the famous designer’s (he was once Royal outfitter to Queen Elizabeth II) involvement creating costumes for Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). SEE THE VIDEO HERE We could go into details, though frankly you would be better off just watching the video for yourself. It is around 16 minutes long and worth every second. Look out for some very interesting titbits concerning the famous Pan-Am ‘grip shoes’, where Amies gathered inspiration and how scary but talented milliner Freddie Fox (also The Queen’s outfitter) created those wonderful egg-shaped helmets. Incidentally, an exhibition of Hardy Amies’…

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston Directed By: Nicolas Winding Refn On the surface, Drive is effortlessly stylish, old-school filmmaking that luxuriates in its retro fashion. Yet, as Simon Kinnear reveals, underneath the hood, lurks a troubling character study. It has become something of a cliché to acknowledge the debt owed by the Movie Brats of the 1970s to the European auteurs of the 1950s and 1960s. Woody Allen idolised Ingmar Bergman, Paul Schrader wrote a book about Bresson and Dreyer, both Brian De Palma and Francis Ford Coppola ripped-off Antonioni’s Blow-Up, and Scorsese littered his films with allusions to Godard and Visconti. Yet arguably the most blatant steal…

File under ‘seriously intriguing’, mainly because it is in part a period piece, here is our first decent, non grainy scanned look at Chris Evans as Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, courtesy of Entertainment Weekly. Captain America: The First Avenger is directed by Joe Johnston, adapted/written by Joss Whedon and most tantalising of all for this particular site, costumed by Jeffery Kurland (Inception) and Anna B. Sheppard (Inglourious Basterds). Quite how this panned out in practical terms, i.e. did Sheppard handle the period costumes and Kurland modern day, is something we will close in on nearer the release date. Judging by the early official images that turned up before Christmas,…

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway Directed By: Tom Hooper Lingering death scenes, honourable gentlemen with puffed out chests, a little girl in rags sweeping the floor; to say Les Misérables takes itself very, very seriously is an understatement. Victor Hugo’s original novel is not known for its slapstick either (the clue is in the title), yet director Tom Hooper’s adaptation is so earnest as to verge on parody. This is Carol Reed’s Oliver! only with a good deal more rain and tears, and a lot less Oom-Pah-Pah. To Hooper’s credit, Les Misérables never strives to be something it is not. Dramatic musical theatre on a grand scale should…