Clothes on film

When Clothes on Film visited The Muppets Most Wanted set back in March of 2013, we were given a tour of the bustling ‘wardrobe’ (their words) department, as overseen by costume designer Rahel Afiley. You can read more about that HERE, but after chasing Ms. Afiley around the room while she was trying to work, we managed to get a bit more out of her about using designer fashion, i.e. Vivienne Westwood, in the film. As always we are pushing the same old costume/fashion debate, though in this instance hearing from a costume designer on the front line is rather enlightening. Focusing specifically on Miss Piggy, for she is the…

Trailer number one for The Wolverine starring Hugh Jackman. He is joining the Yakuza, fighting the Yakuza; dressed head to toe in black, basically he is trying to fit in. Wolverine, or more accurately Logan, appears to be adopting the paradoxically traditional yet modern uniform of crime organisation the Yakuza, aka the Japanese Mafia. This is black on black shirt, tie, suit and lightweight (slip on) coat with black leather shoes. Despite a past that reaches all the way back to the sixteenth century, the Yakuza of today made most of their money during the 1980s financial boom. Their unofficial uniform is sourced from the French interpretation of classic era…

“We are stardust, we are golden”, sang Joni Mitchell of the Woodstock Music and Art Fair, held August 15-18th 1969, at a dairy farm in the Catskills near the hamlet of White Lake in the town of Bethel, New York. The irony was, she wasn’t even there. A further irony follows in that whilst a myriad of psychedelic colours are synonymous with the Woodstock nation, one of the most revered choices of dress, clearly shown in the documentary Woodstock (1970) is a simple white leather fringed lace-up tunic-style vest and bell bottom trousers. It is worn by one of the first female rock stars, the lead singer of Jefferson Airplane,…

Daphne du Maurier‘s original novel My Cousin Rachel apparently does not specify the exact period in which it’s set, but implies some time toward the end of the 19th century on the Cornish coast. This new version of the story starring Rachel Weisz and Sam Claflin actually positions itself in a specific time frame, as decided upon by director Roger Michell and costume designer Dinah Collin, namely the year 1840. We have an exclusive featurette about the costume design of My Cousin Rachel, which although brief goes into some detail about what to expect from the finished film: What is most fascinating is just why 1840 was chosen. It was…

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…

When Clothes on Film visited The Muppets Most Wanted set back in March of 2013, we were given a tour of the bustling ‘wardrobe’ (their words) department, as overseen by costume designer Rahel Afiley. You can read more about that HERE, but after chasing Ms. Afiley around the room while she was trying to work, we managed to get a bit more out of her about using designer fashion, i.e. Vivienne Westwood, in the film. As always we are pushing the same old costume/fashion debate, though in this instance hearing from a costume designer on the front line is rather enlightening. Focusing specifically on Miss Piggy, for she is the…

In honour of the The Wolverine and his black on black Yakuza uniform, a round up of posts featuring memorable black costumes at Clothes on Film.

Straight away there are overtones of influential crime thriller New Jack City with branded sportswear and 1920s-30’s style hats. Lord Christopher Laverty 5 Comments 9 Sep ’09 13 Mar ’10 16 Sep ’10

When Clothes on Film visited The Muppets Most Wanted set back in March of 2013, we were given a tour of the bustling ‘wardrobe’ (their words) department, as overseen by costume designer Rahel Afiley. You can read more about that HERE, but after chasing Ms. Afiley around the room while she was trying to work, we managed to get a bit more out of her about using designer fashion, i.e. Vivienne Westwood, in the film. As always we are pushing the same old costume/fashion debate, though in this instance hearing from a costume designer on the front line is rather enlightening. Focusing specifically on Miss Piggy, for she is the…

There has been an insane amount of discussion online about Bryce Dallas Howard’s character, Claire Dearing, since the release of Jurassic World (2015, costume designed Daniel Orlandi), mostly concerning the ‘running in heels’ sequences. I felt it would be interesting to take a broader look at the costumes of the female leads in both the original Jurassic Park (1993, costume supervised by Sue Moore) and Jurassic World and contrast in the characters. Dr Ellie Sattler the Paleobotanist as played by Laura Dern in the original movie is a hugely underrated feminist action hero. She is allowed to be clever, brave, practical and physical yet display ‘feminine’ traits at the same…