Posted by Chris Laverty on June 6, 2009 Having recently caught the video for ‘Great DJ’ by The Ting Tings again on TV, two things hit home: 1) How sexy lead singer Katie White looks in her retro jersey dress and 2) How technically redundant the word ‘retro’ has become. Of course all fashion is retro; everything we wear is influenced by what has gone before. That’s the point; we band the word around as a kind of generic reference to anything that’s old and hip, often without ever assigning a specific era. If it looks like something your mum and dad would have worn, well then it’s retro. Take…

Posted by Chris Laverty on October 19, 2009 Starring: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston Directed by: Roman Polanski This bleak detective noir follows luxuriously suited P.I. or ’snoop’ (he gathers evidence on cheating spouses) J.J. ‘Jake’ Gittes (Jack Nicolson) as he investigates corrupt water rights and Evelyn Mulwray’s (Faye Dunaway) dark family secrets in 1930s Los Angeles. It’s an exquisite piece, based on Robert Towne’s technically flawless screenplay and directed with knowing panache by Roman Polanski. Just note how Gittes appears in every single scene, a difficult cinematic device akin to the novels of Raymond Chandler from which the film draws such heavy inspiration. Towne and Polanski may have…

The aim of this blog is to examine fashion and identity on film. With articles on specific outfits, essays, reviews, news and whatever else seems to fit, I and some contributors will create a mini-library of movie clothes for you to drop by and peruse whenever you like. If you feel an article has overlooked an important point or is just plain wrong, please email at the address below to set me straight (nobody here is getting paid though, so don’t be rude). Furthermore if there is a specific outfit/film not yet featured that you would like to talk about yourself, get in contact and hopefully we can put something…

Posted by Chris Laverty on September 15, 2009 Ghostbusters (1987) is perhaps best known as the first ever big budget FX comedy and not for making any serious style statements. Yet tucked amongst the fluffy hair and khaki jump-suits sported by the Ghostbusters themselves is a classic example of mid-1980s opulence – Sigourney Weaver’s oversized cape coat: Full-length cape coat in blue wool with horizontal and intersecting vertical maroon stripes. Wide three-quarter length sleeves, stand collar, big button fastening. Matching cape running to a three-quarter point of the back. All contemporary women’s wear descended from male clothing, and nearly all male clothing descended from military dress. Sigourney Weaver’s cape coat…

Posted by Chris Laverty on September 4, 2009 The Untouchables (1987) director Brian De Palma’s prohibition era Chicago crime thriller is remembered for, amongst other things, Sean Connery’s accent, the controversial Ennio Morricone score, that Battleship Potemkin scene with the pram, plus a rather lavish Giorgio Armani designed wardrobe. And if this is how cops dressed in the 1930s, it is a wonder anybody wanted to be a gangster. More…

Posted by Chris Laverty on July 18, 2009 Matt Damon as Jason Bourne dons the simplistic sophistication of a well-fitted Crombie later on during The Bourne Supremacy (2004), but Karl Urban kicks off proceedings with near 007 chic dressed in a natural linen tunic shirt – perfect attire for the travelling assassin in Goa. Natural linen overhead tunic shirt, rever collar with two button fastening, notched hem, full length sleeves turned up slightly, plain cuffs. Ethnic styled bracelets and necklace to compliment. More…

Posted by Chris Laverty on October 8, 2009 As Little Junior Brown, Nicolas Cage puts in the kind of over the top performance that was in vogue during the early nineties (see also Robert De Niro in Cape Fear, 1991). Cage himself admits that muscle-bound gangster Junior is ‘larger than life’, so why not the same for his fashion sense? Kiss of Death was made in 1993/94 and released in 1995, but even taking this into account Junior’s monochrome wardrobe is still blatantly outdated and vulgar. More…

Posted by Chris Laverty on September 18, 2009 Second in a two part journey through the Giorgio Armani fashions of The Untouchables (1987). Sean Connery’s character Malone prefers a more relaxed style of dress to Elliot Ness, as illustrated the first time we see him out of beat uniform in civvies: Norfolk jacket in brown twill tweed. Light green shirt with pointed collars and single button cuffs. Red cable knit waistcoat. Brown tweed peaked cap. Dark green loose fitting wool trousers. Black lace-up leather shoes. More…

Posted by Chris Laverty on July 18, 2009 Matt Damon as Jason Bourne dons the simplistic sophistication of a well-fitted Crombie later on during The Bourne Supremacy (2004), but Karl Urban kicks off proceedings with near 007 chic dressed in a natural linen tunic shirt – perfect attire for the travelling assassin in Goa. Natural linen overhead tunic shirt, rever collar with two button fastening, notched hem, full length sleeves turned up slightly, plain cuffs. Ethnic styled bracelets and necklace to compliment. More…

Posted by Chris Laverty on September 4, 2009 The Untouchables (1987) director Brian De Palma’s prohibition era Chicago crime thriller is remembered for, amongst other things, Sean Connery’s accent, the controversial Ennio Morricone score, that Battleship Potemkin scene with the pram, plus a rather lavish Giorgio Armani designed wardrobe. And if this is how cops dressed in the 1930s, it is a wonder anybody wanted to be a gangster. More…