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The study of costume design in cinema and television. Featuring exclusive articles, news, interviews, videos, podcasts, essays and competitions.

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  • Clothes from 1970s,  Girls on TV,  Guys on TV,  Premium

    The Little Drummer Girl: A Colourful Pretence

    14 Dec ’18 /

    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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    The Parallax View: Warren Beatty Rebels in Denim

    2 Nov ’10

    The Passenger: Always at Odds

    2 Nov ’17

    Suit Yourself: Elliot Gould in The Long Goodbye

    12 Dec ’13
  • Clothes from 1837-1919,  Girls on TV,  Guys on TV,  Interviews,  Premium

    The Alienist: Costume Featurette Provides Glimpse into Gilded Style

    26 Apr ’18 /

    Netflix have released a short featurette about costume design for The Alienist, giving an overall glimpse at the work of Michael Kaplan and his team in putting together the era of 1896, New York. What is enticing about The Alienist, apart from the fact that it’s brilliant whodunit telly, is that it is set outside of England, which is so often the preserve of dramas such as these. This is NY style at a point in history when those with money were about to get a whole lot more. Expensive, in other words, and if you had deep enough pockets your taste in fashion would echo this. Check out the…

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    Dual Analysis: The Young Victoria – Chris’ Thoughts

    28 Jul ’10

    First Trailer for Sherlock Holmes Online – No Deerstalker! No Mac Farlane!

    19 May ’09

    Status and Signifiers: Costume in There Will Be Blood

    1 Apr ’14
  • Clothes from 1837-1919,  Girls on TV,  Guys on TV,  Interviews,  Premium

    Homecoming: Betsy Heimann on Costuming Godless

    15 Dec ’17 /

    MINOR SPOILERS At a pivotal juncture during the Fathers & Sons episode of Godless (2017), the camera tracks into a pink ribbon tied on the back of young woman’s hair; a woman who is suffering from the onset symptoms of smallpox and unlikely to find recovery. Later in the episode we pan across dozens of freshly dug but unnamed graves each with it’s own crucifix. We don’t see the woman again, but on one of the crucifixes is tied a pink ribbon. Such is the power of even the slightest costume and accessory details in Godless, the narrative is informed by their very presence. Costume designer for Godless was Betsy…

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    The Wolfman: Some Pics for the Weekend

    12 Dec ’09

    Sherlock Holmes Costume Guide Part 1: Frock Coats & Bustles

    17 May ’10

    Sleepy Hollow: Q&A with Costume Designer Kristin M. Burke

    4 Feb ’14
  • Clothes from Fantasy & Sci-fi,  Clothes from now,  Guys on TV,  Premium

    Luke Cage: Swiss Cheese Hoodie

    14 Nov ’16 /

    MILD SPOILERS The hoodie has as much to say about it’s wearer as, say, the white t-shirt does. By which I mean that, depending on context, it can say anything. The white t-shirt can imply clean, erotic, the worker – or a combination of all three. In the eyes of contemporary media, the hoodie largely suggests youth. Shady youth, someone not keen to reveal their identity because they are planning on robbing you or worse. Put the hoodie on a black man and it is pretty much akin to walking down the street in a striped jumper with a sack marked ‘swag’. Luke Cage is not set to change that…

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    Review: Oz the Great and Powerful

    4 Mar ’13

    Iron Man 3: A Different Kind of Suit

    24 Apr ’13

    Superfly Solo

    18 Jun ’18
  • Girls on TV,  Guys on TV,  Interviews,  Premium

    Sons of Anarchy: Identity and the Outlaw: Women of SAMCRO

    19 Sep ’14 /

    Part two of our essay looking at sartorial identity in Sons of Anarchy, featuring exclusive insight from series costume designer Kelli Jones. Catch up with part 1 HERE. The women of SAMCRO include porn stars and pole dancers, but the club matriarch is Gemma played by Katey Sagal, formerly known as Peg Bundy in Married with Children. Gemma is the Queen of this world so her look is regal rock chick, “to make her look badass without looking like a slut. This sexy mama bitch doesn’t need to TRY” costume designer Kelli Jones says. With her background in music (she has performed with the likes of Bette Midler, Gene Simmons…

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    Behind the Scenes: Angels the Costumiers

    18 Apr ’12

    The Star Wattage of Mildred Pierce (1945)

    6 Mar ’17

    Homecoming: Betsy Heimann on Costuming Godless

    15 Dec ’17
  • Clothes from now,  Guys on TV,  Interviews,  Premium

    Sons of Anarchy: Costume Identity and the Outlaw

    15 Sep ’14 /

    Sons of Anarchy portrays the fictionalised world of an outlaw motorcycle club; although the plots are dramatic in the extreme, many of the details are firmly based in realism, including the costuming. Series creator Kurt Sutter has described it as pure soap opera, but this family drama has earned the tag of “Hamlet on Motorcycles”. It has been embraced by pop culture and by the biker community, and spurred an upsurge in sales of Harley Davidsons (and a $25k SOA branded bike). Motorcycle club culture took off after WW2, when returning veterans with experience of riding bikes on service, and often undiagnosed post-traumatic stress, took to the lifestyle looking for…

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    Captain America: The First Trailer

    24 Mar ’11

    Brigsby Bear: Interview with Suit Creators Stoopid Buddy Stoodios

    28 Jul ’17

    Woman Inherits the Earth: Femininity in Jurassic World

    19 Jun ’15
  • Clothes from Fantasy & Sci-fi,  Guys on TV,  Premium

    Doctor Who: A Contemporary Costume Evolution

    21 Aug ’14 /

    Doctor Who, the quirky British sci-fi television series about a time travelling alien and his friends, premiered in 1963. Since then there have been twelve Doctors (and a War Doctor), each with their own unique looks to match their unique and often eccentric personalities. With the debut of the Twelfth Doctor fast approaching, this post takes a look back at the three Doctors we’ve seen so far (not including the War Doctor) on Doctor Who since it was rebooted in 2005 (or New Who, as some like to call it) and guesses at what we can expect from Doctor number twelve. The Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) arrived on our screens…

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    Review: Rise of the Planet of the Apes

    15 Aug ’11

    Dual Analysis: Beetle Juice – KB’s Thoughts

    31 Oct ’09

    International Trailer for Brave = Delightful

    17 Nov ’11
  • Clothes from 1837-1919,  Girls on TV,  Guys on TV,  Premium

    Penny Dreadful: Dressing the Monsters of Victorian London

    20 May ’14 /

    NO SPOILERS Real and mythological, figurative and literal; monsters of all kinds abound in Sky Atlantic’s new period horror series Penny Dreadful. We might expect a skulking figure in a top hat and frock coat to be scary, though who would have thought a bustle and redingote could be so terrifying? Well, step forward Eva Green as enigmatic Vanessa Ives. Not hero nor villain, but a dead eyed clairvoyant who definitely shouldn’t be invited to dinner parties. Penny Dreadful is set in 1891, although is more a literary parallel universe than true reflection of the era. Some of the characters featured are written for the show (Vanessa), some existed in…

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    Review: Jane Eyre at Haddon Hall

    9 Sep ’11

    12 Years a Slave: Rags and Tatters

    20 Jan ’14

    War Horse: Interview with Costume Designer Joanna Johnston

    27 Apr ’12
  • Clothes from Fantasy & Sci-fi,  Guys in Films,  Guys on TV,  Interviews,  Premium

    A Comfortable Future: The Costume Design of Her

    13 Feb ’14 /

    The near future romance Her, written and directed by Spike Jonze, whose widely diverse resume ranges from the world of music videos to MTV’s Jackass to major motion pictures, brought together a creative team that costume designer Casey Storm refers to as “friends first, and co-workers second.” Storm and production designer K.K. Barrett create a soft, comfortable world of tomorrow. Shot on location around Los Angeles and Shanghai, Barrett avoided familiar locations to create a world that is accessible but not overtly recognisable. Our first introduction to the world feels very familiar. Seated in an office in a simple button up, Joaquin Phoenix’s character, Theodore Twombly, dictates a letter to…

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    Interview with 47 Ronin Costume Designer Penny Rose

    2 Jun ’14

    Costume Designer Michael Kaplan Confirmed for Star Wars VII

    19 May ’13

    Get Engaged by Twilight: A Merchandising Step Too Far?

    30 Apr ’10
  • Clothes from 1837-1919,  Clothes from now,  Girls on TV,  Guys on TV,  Interviews

    Sleepy Hollow: Q&A with Costume Designer Kristin M. Burke

    4 Feb ’14 /

    If you watch supernatural cop show Sleepy Hollow on Fox (Universal in the UK), you will definitely know who Kristin Burke is. Her sartorial contribution to the first season has ingrained the series with a handsome, consistent, yet oddly plausible look. We say ‘oddly’ because the show is, for want of a better term, completely batshit crazy; a mix of 18th century drama and modern day X-Files, involving headless horsemen, a tree monster, deadly black vein disease, and all manner of creepy mythology based beasties. It’s terrific fun. Kristin M. Burke is what we would politely call a veteran costume designer, over 50 films to her name, although not someone…

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    Costume Designer Anaïs Romand Discusses House of Tolerance

    7 Sep ’12

    The Lighthouse: All Hail a High Waist Trouser

    4 Feb ’20

    Spielberg’s War Horse: First Trailer Arrives

    29 Jun ’11
  • Girls in Films,  Girls on TV,  Guys in Films,  Guys on TV,  Premium

    Top Costumes of the Year 2013

    28 Dec ’13 /

    What a busy twelve months it’s been for costume design. Really though, this art, or craft, or business (Deborah Nadoolman Landis insists it is definitely a business) gets more talked about each year. 2013 was especially exciting however as it seemed every month something even more thrilling arrived to fawn over. In the last few weeks alone we have had The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and Sleepy Hollow, and now American Hustle and The Wolf of Wall Street on the horizon. Dipping back further, it was Stoker that got us excited about subtext, The Great Gatsby that slammed the lid on that twenties revival once and for all, and Behind…

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    Anna Karenina: Jacqueline Durran Talks Jewellery & Costume

    11 Jan ’13

    Review: Saturn 3

    13 Nov ’09

    Costuming Hitchcock: An Extract from Hitchcock’s Heroines by Caroline Young

    6 Jun ’18
  • Clothes from 1837-1919,  Girls on TV,  Guys on TV,  Premium

    Lucinda Wright on Costume in The Suspicions of Mr Whicher

    2 Jul ’13 /

    Lucinda Wright talks costume in The Suspicions of Mr Whicher: The Murder in Angel Lane.

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    Spielberg’s War Horse: First Trailer Arrives

    29 Jun ’11

    True Grit: Exclusive Costume Featurette

    4 Feb ’11

    The Alienist: Costume Featurette Provides Glimpse into Gilded Style

    26 Apr ’18
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