denim | Clothes on Film

Long and Lean: The Silhouette of High Rise

Or when your costumes look like a building. Odile Dicks-Mireaux’s designs for High Rise (2016) are far more than that. But for a film set in such a heavily stylised world, especially one created by sci-fi author J.G. Ballard, homogeny … Continue reading→

Internal Affairs: A Black and White World

6 Dec ’14

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 … Continue reading→

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 … Continue reading→

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 … Continue reading→

Recreating the Levi’s Spring Bottom Pants Advert from 1905

4 Jun ’14

Levi’s® Spring Bottom pants are a most fascinating garment. Introduced in 1889 they are essentially jean trousers intended for Victorian (and later Edwardian) gentlemen. This is the first time Levi’s had focused their products on such an audience. Previously their … Continue reading→

Suit Yourself: Elliot Gould in The Long Goodbye

12 Dec ’13

Newly released on collectable Blu-ray, The Long Goodbye (1973, directed by Robert Altman) is the kind of film you feel ashamed for not watching more often. Starring Elliot Gould as Raymond Chandler’s pulp private dick Phillip Marlowe, this is a … Continue reading→

Realism through Identity: Clothing in The Last of Us

30 Nov ’13

If you have played The Last of Us on Playstation 3 it has likely ruined video gaming for you. The world created is so vivid and believable that every game afterward just feels dated and empty. Throughout, The Last of … Continue reading→

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 … Continue reading→

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

29 Aug ’13

As is often the way with costume designers, Stephanie Collie is something of an unsung hero. We will not reel off her entire back catalogue, but it does include South Riding (2011, TV), Telstar (2008) Peter’s Friends (1992) and perhaps … Continue reading→

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