Clothes on film

Directed by Jon Favreau Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Mickey Rourke, Gwyneth Paltrow Summer blockbuster season has officially kicked off with one of the most anticipated releases of the year – Iron Man 2. The first Iron Man was a surprise hit of 2008, it resurrected Robert Downey Jr.’s career and even made AC/DC cool again. Taking a different tact to The Dark Knight, it kept the tone light and went down a storm with critics and fans alike. Two years later, we have the sequel. The story picks up six months after events of the first film; Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is trying adjust after revealing his secret identity…

A new VLOG looking back over the still stunning costume design on of Inception. We revisit sci-fi classic Inception a decade after its release with MVP, costume designer Jeffrey Kurland. A new trailer for Christopher Nolan’s Tenet has dropped and it’s undoubtedly going to be the best film EVER. Finally we have a trailer for Tom Hardy’s Capone and it looks jim-jam tastic. How Richard Burton’s character in Villain (1971) dresses to impress and intimidate. Contributor Birdie McAra explores the fantabulously non-male gazey world of Birds of Prey. Join Clothes on Film editor Christopher Laverty for a special Oscars Red Carpet Livestream. You better believe he’s wearing a custom made…

As Get on Up, director Tate Taylor’s look at the life of singing legend James Brown, hits UK screens we have some fantastic sketches to share of the film’s costuming. Costume designer for Get on Up is the one and only Sharen Davis, who previously worked with Taylor on The Help, although you may know her better for Devil in a Blue Dress, Dreamgirls, Ray and Django Unchained. Davis is absurdly talented and every single project she undertakes should be greeted with cheers by any costume fan. Get on Up with its collective of lowly, stage and civvie ensembles worn by Chadwick Boseman as adult James Joseph Brown (60+changes) is…

Director Bryan Singer has tweeted a revealing photograph of James McAvoy in costume as Charles Xavier on set of X-Men: Days of Future Past. UPDATE (13/05/13): And now he has added another pic, this time of Nicholas Hoult as Hank McCoy and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. Days of Future Past is based on an Uncanny X-Men story published in 1981; part of the story takes place during 1973, part in the future as the original X-Men cast zip through time to stop the world being attacked by mutant sentinels. Xavier seems to be nursing a hippie hangover in this photo, somewhat reminiscent of a scruffier John Tavolta in Saturday Night…

MILD SPOILERS Costume designer Michael Wilkinson’s main accomplishment with American Hustle has largely been overlooked in favour of praising him as some kind of vintage stylist with an eye for provocative gowns and desirable heels. The truth is he has carefully brought to life a world, not of parties and glamour, but cheap sex and dirty desperation. The costumes in American Hustle do tell a story, particularly through their ever darkening colour palette, yet Wilkinson’s deftest skill is reflecting an era when fashion was as confused as the politics surrounding it. American Hustle is an unapologetic tale of low down dirty double-crossers whose clothes, like them, were a lie. A…

We chat to costume designer Caroline Eselin-Schaefer about her work on terrific new Amazon comedy, Troop Zero.

MINOR SPOILERS Villains have long been dandies. Dressing loud is an established method of implying wealth and standing, particularly for ‘new money’. In a modern day context, this largely began with real life gangsters echoing the obnoxious outfits of Hollywood gangsters like Edward G. Robinson in Little Caesar (1931), James Cagney in The Public Enemy (1931) and Paul Muni in Scarface (1932). Conversely the actors’ looks in these movies was also drawn from real life crooks – Al Capone, for example, long known for his love of matching silk pocket squares and neckties. It is a chicken and egg situation as to which came first: the dandy gangster gangster or…

Amongst staggering aural and visual assault, perhaps one of the quietest aspects of Dunkirk (2017, directed by Christopher Nolan) are its costumes – and this is to its credit. Dunkirk is the type of film that requires you to engage quickly with everything you see on screen. Jeffrey Kurland’s costume design is masterful in this regard. A sea of subtly differentiated green and brown with the pop of naval uniforms and briefly glimpsed civilian wear. This is 1940 at its most spare and rudimentary. Here, Jeffrey Kurland chats exclusively to Clothes on Film about his process for creating the world of Dunkirk: SPOILERS THROUGHOUT Clothes on Film: How did you……

We chat about why James Bond wearing a Tom Ford suit is almost a waste of time for the From Tailors with Love podcast. So what’s been happening this week then? Blue Jasmine ‘In costuming the past we lose the present.’ Wonder Woman Michael Wilkinson has basically said nothing about Wonder Woman’s outfit, yet we’re still hanging on his every word. Mad Men Jessica Paré chats about the show’s costumes and her own ‘French with a rock edge’ style. Dallas Costume designer Rachel Sage talks about her work on the TNT reboot. The Oscars Catherine Martin wins and wins BIG. Kudos. Red carpet fashion Tyranny of Style casts his educated…

The highly anticipated season five premiere of Game of Thrones aired across the globe this week, giving us tantalising glimpses of where our favorite characters are now. We saw two brief scenes of Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner), who had a major makeover at the end of Season Four. With this new direction in her character, where will she end up in Season Five? In this little addendum to our previous analysis of her wardrobe, we explore the character clues in Sansa’s striking new look (costume design by Michele Clapton). Sansa has not had it easy so far. During the last few seasons she has been trapped in King’s Landing, tortured…