Clothes on film

Goldie Hawn’s unforgettable debut in hot pants and mini skirts in Cactus Flower. Contributor Comments Off on Goldie Hawn in Cactus Flower: Mini Skirts and Mini Suits 5 Aug ’11 7 Mar ’11 25 Sep ’18

Goldie Hawn’s unforgettable debut in hot pants and mini skirts in Cactus Flower. Contributor Comments Off on Goldie Hawn in Cactus Flower: Mini Skirts and Mini Suits 5 Jul ’10 10 Dec ’10 12 Oct ’12

Goldie Hawn’s unforgettable debut in hot pants and mini skirts in Cactus Flower. Contributor Comments Off on Goldie Hawn in Cactus Flower: Mini Skirts and Mini Suits 26 Oct ’11 28 Oct ’14 13 Oct ’09

Further to film critic Simon Kinnear‘s analysis of how Alien’s revolutionary costume design brought a grimy reality to sci-fi, in this second part he concentrates on the Anthology sequels. It is to James Cameron’s credit that, while re-engineering Alien’s haunted house tropes as full-scale war movie, he recognised the important part costume design played in Ridley Scott’s shocker seven years earlier. In the first film, clothing is one of the means by which humans stamp their personality against the dual threat to their identity posed by both the alien and the faceless corporation they work for: Weyland-Yutani. This is a difficult trick to pull off with soldiers; Cameron’s Space Marines…

If you have seen Paranormal Activity 2 then you are probably still awake from when you left the cinema, so how about using your insomnia constructively to read about the clever ‘ordinariness’ of the film’s costume design by Kristin M. Burke? Kristin Burke is a costume designer with a packed IMDb resume including such diversity as The Cooler, Running Scared and Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2. With Paranormal Activity 2 (directed by Tod Williams) she faced the difficult task of creating a completely realistic look that would live or die on its credibility. If for one second we did not believe that what we saw on screen was real, the story…

Into the Woods opened on Broadway in 1987, with the music and lyrics written by Stephen Sondheim and the book by James Lapine. It is Sondheim’s most performed musical and one of his best known works. The story combines familiar characters from childhood fairy tales such as Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, and the ubiquitous Witch, and explores their journeys to get their wish, as well as the negative consequences of the small dishonesties committed by each character to get what they want. As the witch sings, “Told a little lie/Stole a little gold/Broke a little vow/Did you?/Had to get your prince/Had to get your cow/Had to get your wish/Doesn’t…

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…

Internal Affairs (1990) is an excellent stone cold thriller. The costumes are a subtle tease, revealing personal information that the characters never say out loud. Like many movies released in the late 1980s/1990s, Internal Affairs radiates uneasiness caused by shifting societal attitudes – anything that threatens a straight male chauvinist black-and-white world. Costume designer Rudy Dillon punches through this black-and-white world with ensembles that poke fun at the status quo and subsequently subvert them with eroticism, perhaps ironically using only a colour scheme of black and white. Andy Garcia as Raymond Avilla and Richard Gere as Officer Dennis Peck: the suit and the uniform. Dennis with Van Stretch (William Baldwin)…

A preview of Clothes on Film editor Christopher Laverty’s article on the vibrant costume design of Dick Tracy for Arts Illustrated magazine. Truly unique, Dick Tracy is as close to a comic strip brought to life as any film before or since. This was director and star Warren Beatty’s goal; not to interpret the comic, but to paint it directly onto a cinematic canvas. He achieved this by embracing the superficial qualities of the painted page, the bright colours, exaggerated structures, madcap caricatures, and placing them front and centre. Dick Tracy is an all knowing pantomime. The original Dick Tracy comic strip first published in the United States in 1931,…

Cinema Paradiso is a beautiful examination of the relationship human beings have with film. This connection is explored through the story of a young boy and his friendship with the projectionist at the town’s local cinema. The strength of this friendship is only surpassed in intensity by the boy’s deep desire to become a part of the world of movie making. This is a story not about the medium of film in itself, but about the real people whose lives are illuminated by the stories it relates. As a tale primarily of ordinary Roma people, the costumes in Cinema Paradiso, as designed by Beatrice Bordone, help create a 1940s/50’s period…