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 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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    Review: The Runaways

    26 Jun ’10

    Brigbsy Bear: Interview with Costume Designer Sarah Mae Burton

    14 Aug ’17

    Meryl Streep in Costume for The Iron Lady Trailer

    7 Jul ’11
  • 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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    Clothes on Film talks Boardwalk Empire Costumes on HBO

    12 Sep ’11

    Award Winners 2013: Anna Karenina Takes All

    25 Feb ’13

    Clothes on Film’s 2011 Costume Design Round Up

    28 Dec ’11
  • 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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    Review: Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol

    16 Dec ’11

    Captain America: The First Trailer

    24 Mar ’11

    Body of Lies: Mark Strong in Huntsman

    4 Nov ’09
  • Clothes from 1837-1919,  Clothes from 1920s,  Clothes from 1930s,  Girls in Films,  Guys in Films

    Status and Signifiers: Costume in There Will Be Blood

    1 Apr ’14 /

    Costume designer Mark Bridges described There Will Be Blood (2007) as his most challenging film, referring to the difficulties he faced in transporting costumes to the remote location in West Texas, after director Paul Thomas Anderson called for a new concept three days before a re-shoot. However these challenges seem to channel the themes of the film itself: hardship, isolation, and the determination to overcome any obstacle to fulfil a goal. Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) is a turn-of-the-century prospector, who receives a tip about a giant oil deposit under a family farm in California. The family includes Eli Sunday, a zealous preacher and faith healer who wants the money from…

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    Louise Bourgoin as Adèle Blanc-Sec: Feathers in Her Hat

    12 Aug ’11

    Review: Lincoln

    1 Feb ’13

    Anna Karenina Coming to Banana Republic: Costume Fashion?

    30 Jun ’12
  • 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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    Review: Inception

    13 Jul ’10

    Midnight in Paris: Nostalgia Fashion

    3 Feb ’12

    National Treasure: Diane Kruger, a Dress for Action

    27 Nov ’09
  • Clothes from now,  Interviews,  Premium

    The Muppets Most Wanted: Set and Costume Visit

    9 Jan ’14 /

    ‘Disney’s Muppets Most Wanted takes the entire Muppets gang on a global tour, selling out grand theatres in some of Europe’s most exciting destinations, including Berlin, Madrid, Dublin and London. But mayhem follows the Muppets overseas, as they find themselves unwittingly entangled in an international crime caper headed by Constantine—the World’s Number One Criminal and a dead ringer for Kermit the Frog—and his dastardly sidekick Dominic, aka Number Two, portrayed by Ricky Gervais. The film stars Ty Burrell as Interpol agent Jean Pierre Napoleon, and Tina Fey as Nadya, a feisty prison guard.‘ That is the boilerplate pitch for The Muppets Most Wanted. Verbatim. If you think that sounds like…

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    The Bourne Supremacy: Karl Urban’s Tunic Shirt

    18 Jul ’09

    Michael Kaplan Talks Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol

    20 Dec ’11

    Review: Cosmopolis

    29 Jun ’12
  • Clothes from Fantasy & Sci-fi,  Girls in Films,  Guys in Films,  Premium

    Combat and the Croupier: The Costume World of Pacific Rim

    19 Jul ’13 /

    Building character with the costume design of Pacific Rim.

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    Film Review: The Lovely Bones

    20 Feb ’10

    First Look: Chris Evans as Captain America

    14 Jan ’11

    Beauty and the Beast: Q&A with Jacqueline Durran

    12 Apr ’17
  • Clothes from now,  Guys in Films,  News

    Alan Partridge Movie Trailer Hits: He’s Wearing a Varsity

    15 Mar ’13 /

    Teaser trailer for Alpha Papa aka Alan Partridge the movie arrives. He may dress hideously but costume design is vital for the character.

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    Colleen Goes Contemporary: First Official Pic from The Tourist

    14 Jun ’10

    Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps – Full Trailer Online

    19 Feb ’10

    Arthur: Trailer No. 2. Brace Yourself

    3 Mar ’11
  • Clothes from Fantasy & Sci-fi,  Clothes from now,  Girls in Films,  Guys in Films,  Premium

    Costume Clues Reveal All in The Cabin in the Woods

    14 Dec ’12 /

    Costume in The Cabin in the Woods is not grand, but it is very clever. All the teenage characters subtly evolve from one horror stereotype to another.

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    Doctor Who: Interview With Costume Designer Ray Holman

    9 Apr ’10

    Prometheus: Exclusive Interview with Costume Designer Janty Yates

    4 Jun ’12

    Snow White & the Huntsman Trailer: Atwood Hits It

    11 Nov ’11
  • Clothes from 1920s,  Clothes from 1930s,  Guys in Films,  Interviews,  Premium

    Tom Hardy in Lawless: The Knitwear Anti-Hero

    21 Sep ’12 /

    Tom Hardy heralds dawning of the knitwear anti-hero. Margot Wilson discusses her use of the cardigan for Lawless.

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    Puttin’ on the Glitz at The British Library: A Look Back

    11 Apr ’14

    Dress like a Peaky Blinder

    13 Sep ’13

    First Official Gatsby Pics Bring the Money

    14 Dec ’11
  • Clothes from 1930s,  Clothes from 1990s,  Girls in Films,  Guys in Films,  Premium

    The Secret Sharer: Abbie Cornish & Andrea Riseborough in W.E.

    20 Mar ’12 /

    The glamorous look of the mid-1930s threads its way through dual love stories in W.E.

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    New Public Enemies Posters Released

    14 May ’09

    Review: Hugo – With Exclusive Insight From Sandy Powell

    23 Dec ’11

    Mildred Pierce: Uniform Appeal

    1 Dec ’11
  • Clothes from 1920s,  Girls in Films,  Guys in Films,  News

    First Official Gatsby Pics Bring the Money

    14 Dec ’11 /

    Warner Bros. have released two images from The Great Gatsby. Not much to see, but it is difficult not to be drawn in by the promise of costume luxury.

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    Review: The King’s Speech

    19 Jan ’11

    Audrey Tautou Chanel Sailor Pants For Perfume Advertisement

    9 May ’09

    Changeling: Angelina Jolie’s Fur Trimmed Coat

    5 May ’10
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