Clothes on film

Not so much Clothes on Film as Underwear on Film, but far from just an excuse to show off a girl in her smalls, classic Mod era film Quadrophenia (1979) illustrates an interesting point concerning female hosiery in the 1960s. The sixties was the decade for tights. They were an ideal accompaniment to the mini skirt and came in a wide variety of colours, normally as bright and garish as possible. Thanks to innovations in textile production, tights (or pantyhose in the U.S.) were straightforward to produce and even easier to wear. Plus with mini skirt hems rising all the time, even the most confident of girls might have baulked…

Costume designer Catherine Marie Thomas proves that Sandra Bullock’s character in The Proposal (2009, directed by Anne Fletcher) does not need a closet full of clothes to make her mark. Here Catherine Marie Thomas discusses exclusively with Jill Burgess for Clothes on Film just why the film is so special to her. Margaret Tate (Sandra Bullock) is a big shot New York book editor, making life hell for her assistant Andrew Paxton (Ryan Reynolds). One morning Margaret is informed by her bosses that she has lost her visa status and will be deported to her native Canada. When Andrew appears to whisk her away from the meeting, Margaret announces to…

The first trailer for Skyfall hits with several suits, an overcoat, sportswear and a beanie. Enjoyably daft fare with enough fast cars and desirable clobber to keep you cooing until the credits. Think Lulu’s theme song is the loudest thing in The Man with the Golden Gun? Think again. Michael Caine created Jack Carter, yet his immaculate blue mohair suit was more than a little responsible for creating the myth. Looking so sexy that the finished film can be nothing but a huge disappointment, this teaser for Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy ticks all the right 70’s boxes. As TracyDi Vicenzo in OHMSS, Diana Rigg wore a daring 1960s wedding ensemble.…

Not much to go on, but this project is already looking a bit WOW. Director Christophe Gans is adapting French fairytale La belle & la bête for the screen starring Léa Seydoux as the Belle and Vincent Cassel as the Beast. Costumes are by Pierre-Yves Gayraud (Cloud Atlas, The Bourne Identity), seemingly channelling fantasy via mid-late 18th century France, which is roughly when the original story is set, plus a tiny bit of Eiko Ishioka thrown in for good measure. Gans directed Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001), an insane yet quite brilliant adventure/horror, based on a true story and also set in late 1700s France. Costumes for that film were…

A seven minute interview with Harold Ramis by movie site Making Of has just gone online. Here Ramis talks candidly about Ghostbusters 3, why he doesn’t want another Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, that none of the original cast need the work, and how committed he is to making the film (if it officially goes ahead) just as great as it can be. Watch it HERE This provides the perfect opportunity then for a tenaciously related look at the Ghostbusters’ iconic work uniform – the jumpsuit. Despite best efforts of couture designers, the jumpsuit has never really made the ‘jump’ from high fashion to high street.…

The gangster genre’s central protagonist (antagonist?) is conspicuous in his journey from street kid to street king by coveting the finest fabrics and tailoring that money can buy. He becomes a vain, petty man destroyed by inability to reconcile his old simpler world with the politics of his new one. It is no accident that most of the principal characters in gangster films are minorities, symbolising a detachment from society and upending of the American dream. He/she can be as rich and powerful as he/she wants, but for those born on the wrong side of the tracks (i.e. minorities, if conforming to the genre model), the only way to fulfil…

This week you may have missed… Ingenious Costume Design Good list from Rebecca Clough at Den of Geek of ingenious movie costume design. And while we’re about it, congratulations to another of their regular writers, Ryan Lambie, for his FDA Richard Attenborough Blogger of the Year Award. Inside Llewyn Davis Kristin M. Burke has a chat with the Coen brothers’ regular costume designer Mary Zophres. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 Trish Summerville out, Kurt & Bart in for the third Hunger Games movie. Odd after Summerville being such a successful choice, but we get the feeling this is most intentional. Cash hungry producers have realised Katniss’ costume designers are…

HBO’s five part adaptation of Mildred Pierce starring Kate Winslet debuted 25th June on Sky Atlantic. A prevalent theme in the first episode is how domestic costume, specifically the housedress, can be read as a signal for sexual availability. Mildred Pierce (Winslet) is abandoned by her husband at the start of the story and left to bring up her two daughters alone during America’s Great Depression. At present there is little cause for Mildred to choose anything other than rudimentary housedresses. As costumed by Ann Roth, Winslet wears three such dresses in total. One is calf length in brown floral crepe, belted with long slashed sleeves and high round neckline.…

If you thought a scorpion embroidered bomber jacket was tough to pull off, just wait until you see Ryan Gosling in The Place Beyond the Pines. Trailer number one for The Wolverine and he appears to be dressed as a Yakuza. A mishmash of sci-fi conventions and clichés cobbled together as something we have never quite seen before. “Fashion victim” or “ensemble-y challenged”. Examining the legacy of Mona May’s costume design for Clueless. Betsy Heimann chats exclusively about one of the most iconic costumes of the 1990s. The glamorous look of the mid-1930s threads its way through dual love stories in W.E. Win a pair of tickets to see Madonna’s…

Somewhat misleading as nowhere is this pic officially tagged as being ‘Catwoman’; officially this is our first shot of Anne Hathway as Selina Kyle. Looking so sexy that the finished film can be nothing but a huge disappointment, this teaser for Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy ticks all the right 70’s boxes. Jeffrey Kurland has once again spoken exclusively to Clothes on Film about his inspiring costume design for Inception. Jeffrey Kurland explains his costume choices for Inception exclusively to Clothes on Film. Roll with the journey and trust that it will take you where you want to go.