Clothes on Film

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 1930s,  Clothes from 1940s,  Clothes from 1950s,  Clothes from 1960s,  Clothes in Films,  Girls in Films,  Premium

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

    6 Jun ’18 /

    Author Caroline Young has just released a fascinating new book entitled Hitchcock’s Heroines (published by Insight Editions). It celebrates and studies the women in Hitchcock movies; their influence, semblance and iconography. What’s more, Young also examines the role costume design plays with these women, both the characters and the actresses who played them, and how they can be interpreted as far more than just ‘icy blondes’. Here we have an extract of the book exclusively for Clothes on Film: Kim Novak’s grey suit the colour of San Francisco fog in Vertigo, Grace Kelly as the too-perfect woman in Rear Window, and Janet Leigh’s black and white sets of underwear to…

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    Review: Hugo – With Exclusive Insight From Sandy Powell

    23 Dec ’11

    Film Review: Chinatown

    19 Oct ’09

    Bonnie and Clyde: Hats as Identity

    3 Nov ’11
  • Clothes from Fantasy & Sci-fi,  Clothes from now

    Fantasy Reality: Catherine George on Costuming Okja

    14 Jul ’17 /

    MINOR SPOILERS Okja (2017) is the second film that costume designer Catherine George has worked on with director Bong Joon-ho. Their first together, Snowpiercer (2013), despite being lauded by critics (and featuring Chris Evans), only received a limited theatrcial run in the U.S. and no release at all in the UK. Unlike Okja, Snowpiercer is an out and out sci-fi fantasy set when most of the world’s population have been wiped out and those who remain live on perpetually moving train. Okja is still a fantasy, it revolves around a little girl Mija (An Seo Hyun) trying to save her giant ‘super pig’ from being harvested as GM bacon, but…

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    Chris Evans on Captain America Suit: “It looks really cool”

    7 Jul ’10

    Brave: Costume in Animation – Interview with Claudia Chung

    16 Aug ’12

    Full Alice in Wonderland Trailer Hits: Potty But Pretty

    16 Dec ’09
  • Clothes from 1980s,  Clothes from 1990s,  Girls in Films,  Guys in Films,  Premium

    Tailoring The Wolf of Wall Street

    7 Feb ’14 /

    There is a problem with the costumes in The Wolf of Wall Street, and it has nothing to do with the film itself but the coverage they have received. Namely, that this coverage is incorrect. Articles such as this one for Vogue France, or this for The Hollywood Reporter, or a ‘suit guide’ by Esquire, concentrate almost solely on Giorgio Armani’s contribution to the project with barely a mention of costume designer Sandy Powell. And this is the Sandy Powell by the way: 10 Oscar nominations and so well respected she has an OBE for services to the industry. It was Powell who costumed The Wolf of Wall Street, not…

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    Anchorman 2 Trailer: Ron and Friends Meet the 80’s

    19 Jun ’13

    Madonna in Desperately Seeking Susan

    11 Mar ’11

    Meryl Streep in Costume for The Iron Lady Trailer

    7 Jul ’11
  • Clothes from now,  Girls in Films,  Interviews

    Hanging by a Thread: Cate Blanchett in Blue Jasmine

    31 Jan ’14 /

    Suzy Benzinger, the costume designer of Blue Jasmine, chose iconic brands like Hermès, Louis Vuitton, and Missoni to serve as visual shorthand of what the modern-day wealthy socialite wears, but it is the white Chanel jacket that follows Jasmine from the beginning of the movie to the end which tells its own tale of what is happening to its owner. When we first see Jasmine (Cate Blanchett) she is flying first-class from New York to San Francisco to see her sister Ginger (Sally Hawkins). On the flight she dazzles a fellow passenger with the story of how she met her wealthy businessman husband Hal (Alec Baldwin). Or so she thinks.…

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    Running Scared: Costume Designer Kristin Burke

    16 Feb ’10

    Review: Rise of the Planet of the Apes

    15 Aug ’11

    Exclusive Interview with Toy Story 3 Director Lee Unkrich

    19 Jul ’10
  • Clothes from 1980s,  Girls in Films,  Guys in Films,  Premium

    Working Girl: The Culture of Power Dressing

    27 Sep ’13 /

    Costume designer Ann Roth’s template for Working Girl (1988, directed by Mike Nichols) is especially astute with regards to the social and geographical make up of its characters. Protagonist Tess McGill (Melanie Griffith) is a homely girl raised and living in Staten Island, New York. Currently working as a secretary in Manhattan (not ‘executive assistant’, reflecting vernacular of the time), as is her best friend Cynthia (Joan Cusack). Tess, however, has gained a degree through night school and harbours ambitions to use it for more constructive tasks than answering the telephone and fetching toilet paper for bawdy stockbrokers. After being set up for a ‘date’ that turned out to be…

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    The Look of Love: Q&A with Costume Designer Stephanie Collie

    29 Aug ’13

    The Gumshoe Chic of Mickey Rourke in Angel Heart (1987)

    29 Nov ’19

    Scarface: Dress and Excess

    5 Sep ’11
  • Clothes from 1960s,  Girls in Films,  Premium

    The Birds: Tippi Hedren in the Green Suit

    7 Aug ’13 /

    Why does Tippi Hedren wear a green suit in The Birds, and what does it mean?

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    Deo Veritas: Creating the James Bond Cocktail Cuff Shirt

    25 Oct ’13

    Favourite Fashions From Beyond the Valley of the Dolls

    4 Oct ’10

    Norwegian Wood: Hipsters Unmaxed

    8 Jul ’11
  • Clothes from 1990s,  Girls in Films,  Guys in Films,  Interviews,  Premium

    The Grifters: Be Careful What You Wear – Part 2

    20 Jun ’13 /

    Second and final part of our retrospective of The Grifters with insight from Mark Bridges.

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    Deena Appel on Creating the Costume World of The Spy Who Shagged Me

    2 Oct ’18

    Get on Up: Sharen Davis Shares Costume Design Sketches

    9 Dec ’14

    Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman: Elegant Opera Dress

    25 Jun ’10
  • Clothes from 1990s,  Girls in Films,  Guys in Films,  Interviews,  Premium

    The Grifters: Be Careful What You Wear

    6 Jun ’13 /

    First in our two part retrospective of neo-noir classic The Grifters with exclusive insight from the film’s assistant costume designer Mark Bridges.

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    Deena Appel on the Costume Design of Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery

    25 Sep ’18

    Fight Club: Remembering Marla, the Dark Tourist

    7 May ’13

    Win an Official The Big Lebowski Pendleton Cardigan

    11 Oct ’11
  • Girls in Films,  Girls on TV,  Guys in Films,  Guys on TV,  Premium

    Costume Design and Fashion: A Multi-Million Dollar Industry

    14 May ’13 /

    Analysing the sometimes tense relationship between fashion and costume design.

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    To Catch a Thief: Grace Kelly’s Beach Wear

    5 Apr ’11

    Tron Legacy: Light Suit Costume – Part 2

    16 Nov ’10

    Norwegian Wood: Hipsters Unmaxed

    8 Jul ’11
  • Clothes from 1837-1919,  Clothes from 1950s,  Girls in Films,  Guys in Films,  Interviews,  Premium

    Anna Karenina: Jacqueline Durran Talks Jewellery & Costume

    11 Jan ’13 /

    Costume designer Jacqueline Durran discusses her unusual approach for Anna Karenina – 1870s Russia via 1950s couture.

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    Peaky Blinders: Q&A with Costume Designer Stephanie Collie

    15 Oct ’13

    Bright Star Trailer Online: 19th Century Costumes Afoot

    9 Oct ’09

    The Woman in Black Trailer: Creepy Frock

    19 Aug ’11
  • Clothes from now,  Film Reviews,  Guys in Films

    Review: Cosmopolis

    29 Jun ’12 /

    Cosmopolis satisfies as everything avant-garde cinema should be; an immaculate journey into weird.

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    Lord Christopher Laverty 2 Comments

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    Running Scared: Costume Designer Kristin Burke

    16 Feb ’10

    Much Ado About Nothing: Colour Blind Costuming

    11 Jul ’13

    Powerful Costume in We Need to Talk About Kevin

    27 Feb ’12
  • Clothes from 1970s,  Girls in Films,  Premium

    Catherine Deneuve in Potiche: Still Belle

    10 Oct ’11 /

    Potiche confirms that Catherine Deneuve will always be Belle de Jour, only now with added sense of humour.

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    Argo Buy a Sports Jacket: The Thinking Man’s Hero Attire

    16 Nov ’12

    Brigbsy Bear: Interview with Costume Designer Sarah Mae Burton

    14 Aug ’17

    Kramer vs. Kramer: Meryl Streep in a Burberry Trench Coat

    21 Mar ’13
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