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The Maltese Falcon: The Shirts That Dreams Are Made Of
Examining the shirt collars of all the gentleman in 1941 noir classic, The Maltese Falcon.
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A Look a the Style of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
A brief video dip into the costume design of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
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The Suits of Lee Marvin in Point Blank (1967)
Actually that title is a tad misleading – it’s all the clothes worn by Lee Marvin as kick-ass-tough-guy-on-a-mission Walker in Point Blank. This is the second video in a new Clothes on Film feature breaking down costume design in sartorially interesting (or just way cool) movies and, in some cases, television. Costumed by Margo Weintz, Point Blank is stone-cold neo-noir thriller, one of the best of its kind, focusing on Marvin’s Walker and his score settling against those who double crossed and left him for dead on an abandoned Alcatraz island. The film is known for its sharp suits, which are all covered in the video, but also for some…
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Jane Fonda and the Costumes of Klute (1971)
As a new feature for Clothes on Film, we will uploading regular videos (say every couple of weeks) to YouTube examining the costume design of new and classic movies, plus selected television and trailers. This is mainly because Clothes on Film’s creator and editor Christopher Laverty (waves) has been busy on other projects (ahem, buy the book) and has not had the opportunity to update the site as much as he’d like. Returning to more regular posting, it felt like a change was needed as there are already over 400 articles currently on here. Hence the idea of video. There will be some written articles added, but for the most…
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The Pure Nerd-Joy of Mysterio’s Costume in Spider-Man: Far From Home
The latest MCU smash-hit, Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), features one of the strangest villains in the wallcrawler’s rogues’ gallery. When it comes to movies based on comic books, the outfit a character like Mysterio wears is not supposed to work on-screen. On the printed pages of comics, the outfits can be impractical and outlandish, and nothing is more of those things than the villain’s fishbowl helmet, lavender cape fastened with giant eyes, and green, scaly tights. Still, costume designer for the film, Anna B. Sheppard, met the challenge of making a fantastic look for Jake Gyllenhaal’s villain. Instead of running away from the crazy roots of the character, she…
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You’ve Got Red on You: Us and the Jumpsuit Question
SPOILERS THROUGHOUT Clearly Us (2019) director Jordan Peele is as interested in the craft of costume as a tool for storytelling as any means available to him (props, sets, score, bunnies). Peele’s costume designer for his film, Kym Barrett, is highly proficient, a veteran, with such memorable titles as Romeo and Juliet (1996), The Matrix (1999) and The Nice Guys (2016) under her belt. Her contribution is specific and considered – the ‘cut like’ jagged edges in Lupita Nyong’o’s blood soaked attire as Adelaide testament to Barrett’s knowledge of the subtle communication costume can achieve. It is, then, somewhat of a shame that Peele insists on everything in his story…
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The Little Drummer Girl: A Colourful Pretence
SPOILERS THROUGHOUT Having recently finished a six week, six episode run on the BBC, John le Carré adapted spy drama The Little Drummer Girl was divisive in terms of audience reaction. Some found the plot impossible to follow, others revelled in the cloak and dagger shenanigans of twenty-something Charmain ‘Charlie’ Ross (Florence Pugh), a low level actress drawn into a high stakes mission of infiltrating a Palestinian revolutionary group in 1979. The show’s costume design by Sheena Napier and Stephen Noble inspired equal division. While most enjoyed the eye-popping period ensembles and how they exemplified character, just as many were left confounded by their conspicuous presence. One thing that cannot…
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Shifting Trends: Claire Foy in First Man
MINOR SPOILERS First Man (2018) is not a movie overly preoccupied with fashion, And why would it be? The focus of the story is astronaut Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling) and his journey to become the first person to ever walk on the surface of the moon. Armstrong wears a lot of button down shirts, short sleeve checks, neutral slacks, the odd dark single breasted suit for formal occasions – largely dour attire for a dour man. He also wears a space suit, several of them. However, outside of Emilio Pucci’s involvement in designing the logo for the Apollo 15 flight in 1971, fashion rarely intersects with the requirements of surviving…
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A Star is Born: The Cotton Rebel
MINOR SPOILERS For all the inevitable chrysalis transformation of singer Ally (Lady Gaga) during A Star is Born (2018, directed by Bradley Cooper), the most subtle, yet real sartorial reflection of character belongs to her mentor and lover Jack (Cooper). Costumed by Erin Benach (Drive, A Place Beyond the Pines), Jack is the epitome of the casual rock star. Stage wear, day wear, evening wear, drinking wear, sleeping wear – it’s all the same. His simple clothes mask a mind so damaged it can only be subdued with the bottle. Jack lives in t-shirts (plain, dark or neutral colours), untucked shirts (dark or a green graph-check), brown calf leather jacket,…
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Deena Appel on the Costume Design of Austin Powers: Goldmember
Goldmember (2002, directed by Jay Roach), the final film (so far) in the Austin Powers series again shifts its timeline. However, rather than a negligible, though comparatively significant, jump from late to very late 1960s, here we dive into that most raucous of decades – the 1970s. And then back to 2002 (do keep up). For costume designer Deena Appel (pictured above, bottom left with Jay Roach) it was a wildly ambitious undertaking. Not to mention the film also features a well-known music and movie star, just about to launch into the stratosphere: Beyoncé. Speaking exclusively to Clothes on Film and closing out our epic in-depth look at the Austin…
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Deena Appel on Creating the Costume World of The Spy Who Shagged Me
The second installment (part one HERE) of our extensive interview with Austin Powers trilogy costume designer Deena Appel, this time focusing on The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999, again directed by Jay Roach). Things change up in The Spy Who Shagged Me, for in addition to costuming the modern and swinging sixties world of Austin Powers, his character also travels to 1969, i.e. the ‘hippie era’. The first film was a tremendous success and Appel’s contribution solidified her as the only person who could return to costume this fabulous, vibrant landscape. Speaking exclusively to Clothes on Film, and providing never before seen or published costume sketches from the movie, Deena…
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The Fashion Chronicles by Amber Butchart: Out Now
The latest book by fashion historian, and now TV presenter Amber Butchart (A Stitch in Time on BBC 4 – second season please), is a comprehensively researched stroll through the best dressed folk ever to exist on the planet. The Fashion Chronicles: The Style Stories of History’s Best Dressed is laid out to be effortlessly readable, split into sections ranging from Ancient (and we mean ancient; basically like the first clothes ever) to 20th and 21st Century. Each entry gets a couple of pages of engaging historical notes and background justifying their inclusion along with a photo / picture or two. It works; it doesn’t feel like study or revision,…
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