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 1837-1919,  Guys in Films

    The Lighthouse: All Hail a High Waist Trouser

    4 Feb ’20 /

    The higher the waist, the closer to god.

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    Review: Jane Eyre at Haddon Hall

    9 Sep ’11

    12 Years a Slave Trailer: Fine Fabrics

    16 Jul ’13

    Sherlock Holmes Costume Guide Part 2: Tweed Suits and Ulsters

    20 May ’10
  • Clothes from 1970s,  Guys in Films,  Premium

    Ken Takakura Wearing Levi in The Yakuza (1974)

    27 Apr ’18 /

    The Levi jacket worn by Ken Takakura as Ken Tanaka in Japan set thriller The Yakuza (1974, costume design by Dorothy Jeakins) is not Japanese denim. It was not made in Japan but is nonetheless representative of a time when denim as symbol of burgeoning Americana in the East would take off into the stratosphere, and has remained so ever since. Although Levi products were imported into Japan before the 1970s (Levi International was created in 1965), it was not until mid-decade that a Tokyo office was established. This was in response to growing popularity of all things American in Japan, especially denim and especially Levi. There was no single…

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    Free Fire: Interview with Costume Designer Emma Fryer

    31 Mar ’17

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

    21 Mar ’13

    Catherine Deneuve in Potiche: Still Belle

    10 Oct ’11
  • Clothes from 1970s,  Girls in Films,  Guys in Films,  Interviews

    Free Fire: Interview with Costume Designer Emma Fryer

    31 Mar ’17 /

    MILD SPOILERS Director Ben Wheatley’s latest, Free Fire, is set in Boston, 1978, but was actually shot in Brighton in 2015. Being as the plot revolves around ten characters involved in a one hour plus shoot-out inside a disused factory, from a sartorial point of view things get rather grubby. The film’s BAFTA nominated costume designer Emma Fryer has already worked with Wheatley on The ABCs of Death (2012) and A Field in England (2013) so is used to the way his stories tend to go bananas in the final reel. Free Fire unfolds practically in real time, which amps up the tension but allows for no mistake with costume.…

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    Brigbsy Bear: Interview with Costume Designer Sarah Mae Burton

    14 Aug ’17

    Ken Takakura Wearing Levi in The Yakuza (1974)

    27 Apr ’18

    Ellen Mirojnick Describes Costumes for Behind the Candelabra

    7 Jun ’13
  • Clothes from 1970s,  Girls in Films,  Guys in Films,  Premium

    Long and Lean: The Silhouette of High Rise

    15 Apr ’16 /

    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 is everything. In fact homogeny is terrifying. Everything is reflected in the aesthetic. The building towers, Tom Hiddleston’s trouser legs tower, and Luke Evans towers over everyone.  Director Ben Wheatley has claimed that he did not want High Rise to look like a ‘greatest hits of the seventies‘, but really that’s exactly what he’s got, certainly in terms of costume design – and that’s okay. It might not be the…

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    From Bum to Italian Stallion: Sylvester Stallone as Rocky

    22 Apr ’14

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

    29 Aug ’13

    Argo: Interview with Costume Designer Jacqueline West

    16 Feb ’13
  • Clothes from 1837-1919,  News,  Premium

    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 stock in trade was miners and loggers, but this was a very early attempt by the company to branch out. Spring Bottom pants are a classic item of denim history, yet most folk have probably never heard of them. With this in mind we contacted costume designer Jenny Beavan recently and asked if she would consider putting them in the next Sherlock Holmes film. No-one was paying us to do…

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    Peaky Blinders: Q&A with Costume Designer Stephanie Collie

    15 Oct ’13

    Review: Jane Eyre at Haddon Hall

    9 Sep ’11

    Anna Karenina Coming to Banana Republic: Costume Fashion?

    30 Jun ’12
  • Costume Stories and Links

    Costume Stories: This Week, The Butler and Evil Dead

    17 Aug ’13 /

    A few of the week’s costume titbits. The Butler Costume designer Ruth Carter explains her work on The Butler. Honest, with lots of detail – absolutely worth a read. …and Oprah’s ‘fashion evolution’ in the film. T-shirts “Kiss me I’m Polish”. Cool Supercuts video: a history of t-shirts in movies. As enjoyable as it sounds, i.e. very. Evil Dead Presenting the Evil Dead bikini. It’s hell on your crotch. Kristen M. Burke Wonder what costume design veteran and all round hero Kristin Burke has been up to recently? She’s been making cock socks, that’s what – cock socks designed to under loincloths worn by Mohawk Indians. No rude business, thank…

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    Costume Stories, This Week: Thor: The Dark World and Reign

    26 Oct ’13

    Costume Stories: This Week, Diana & TIFF

    7 Sep ’13

    Costume Stories: This Week, X-Men & Marathon Man

    31 Aug ’13
  • Clothes from now,  Film Reviews,  Girls in Films,  Guys in Films

    Review: Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol

    16 Dec ’11 /

    Enjoyably daft fare with enough fast cars and desirable clobber to keep you cooing until the credits.

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    Brian de Palma’s Passion: Costume as Contemporary Hitchcock

    16 Oct ’14

    Luke Cage: Swiss Cheese Hoodie

    14 Nov ’16

    Black Swan: Interview with Darren Aronofsky

    17 Jan ’11
  • Clothes from 1960s,  Film Reviews,  Girls in Films,  Guys in Films

    Review: Norwegian Wood

    27 May ’11 /

    Beautiful and affecting, even if it does collapse under the weight of its own earnestness at times.

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    George Lazenby in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service

    12 Oct ’12

    X-Men: First Class Costumes

    20 Jan ’11

    Mad Men: John Slattery in a Double Breasted Suit (S2)

    16 Mar ’11
  • Clothes from 1837-1919,  Girls in Films,  Guys in Films,  Interviews,  Premium

    Sherlock Holmes 2: Q&A With Costume Designer Jenny Beavan

    4 May ’11 /

    Sherlock Holmes 2 costume designer Jenny Beavan chats exclusively to Clothes on Film about what to expect in the finished film.

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    Dual Analysis: The Young Victoria – Chris’ Thoughts

    28 Jul ’10

    First Official Image: Sherlock Holmes 2

    15 Jan ’11

    The Phantom of the Opera: Colour, Character and Costume

    5 Dec ’12
  • Clothes from 1940s,  Guys in Films,  Premium

    Pollock: Ed Harris in Paint Splattered Denim

    15 Feb ’11 /

    Jackson Pollock spawned a thousand imitators in the art world when he chose to work in denim jeans.

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    The Maltese Falcon: The Shirts That Dreams Are Made Of

    23 Sep ’19

    Get on Up: Sharen Davis Shares Costume Design Sketches

    9 Dec ’14

    Monica Bellucci as Malèna: Beauty, Black and Heels

    26 Aug ’11
  • Clothes from 1970s,  Guys in Films,  Premium

    The Parallax View: Warren Beatty Rebels in Denim

    2 Nov ’10 /

    Denim legitimises Warren Beatty's character as a man capable of more than posing.

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    The Post Trailer Debuts: Ann Roth sets the Tone

    8 Nov ’17

    Favourite Fashions From Beyond the Valley of the Dolls

    4 Oct ’10

    Michael Caine in Get Carter: Killer Suit

    22 Jul ’11
  • Clothes from 1970s,  Clothes from 1980s,  Guys in Films,  News

    Mr Nice starring Rhys Ifans: Lots of Nice Photos

    14 Aug ’10 /

    Costume designer Carloine Harris has recreates the vibrant look of the 1970s.

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    Favourite Fashions From Beyond the Valley of the Dolls

    4 Oct ’10

    Dual Analysis: Saturday Night Fever

    10 Aug ’09

    Saturday Night Fever: John Travolta’s White Suit

    16 Nov ’09
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