Live and Let Die: Yaphet Kotto’s Brown Suede Trench Coat
Posted by
Chris Laverty – February 26, 2010
James Bond is unlikely to ever again face a group of antagonists so interested in what they are wearing as those in Live and Let and Die (1973).
Here freshman 007 Roger Moore faced off against a hotchpotch of hip, and some might say stereotypically racist, New York and Caribbean hoodlums. Yaphet Kotto as Mr. Big lead the fight with his anti-establishment, anti-fashion suits, while his gang reinvigorated the excesses of 1930s street style for a sartorially chaotic decade where elegance would take second billing to experimentation.
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Film Review: The Lovely Bones
Posted by
Ben McCarthy – February 20, 2010
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Stanley Tucci, Saoirse Ronan
Director: Peter Jackson
After directing one of the greatest multi-award winning trilogies ever and remaking his own favourite film in the world, King Kong (2005), Peter Jackson has decided to go back to basics with his interpretation of Alice Sebold’s ‘The Lovely Bones’.
The result is reminiscent of Jackson’s earlier work Heavenly Creatures (1995). Both films flit between the imagination and reality of two young girls; The Lovely Bones deals with life, death and the nature of heaven and hell.
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The Royal Tenenbaums: Gwyneth Paltrow’s Tennis Dress
Posted by
Chris Laverty – February 1, 2010
Gwyneth Paltrow is an external rather than internal actress, meaning she has a sponge like ability to soak up characterisation through dress, make up and hair. She is, first and foremost, how she looks.
In playing literary prodigy Margot Tenenbaum in The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Gwyneth adopted a sultry bohemian vibe (apparently based on sixties fashion model Nico) that she was not then remotely known for in real life. Whatever emotional connection she brought to the part, her performance was defined by her clothes.
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Saturday Night Fever: John Travolta’s White Suit
Posted by
Chris Laverty – November 16, 2009
For what is certainly the best remembered costume in Saturday Night Fever (1977), John Travolta as Tony Manero wears a brilliant white 3-piece suit to dazzle the disco dance floor. His look defined an era: smart, yet somehow scruffy; classy yet somehow cheap.
To keep costs down the film’s director John Badham insisted costume designer Patrizia von Brandenstein procure all outfits off the peg and not make them from scratch. Furthermore this added to realism as Tony could never have afforded bespoke.
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