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 now,  Girls in Films,  News

    The Rhythm Section Trailer: An Assassin’s Lookbook

    22 Jan ’20 /

    The final trailer for The Rhythm Section features more costume changes than a Lady Gaga concert.

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    Sons of Anarchy: Costume Identity and the Outlaw

    15 Sep ’14

    Running Scared: Costume Designer Kristin Burke

    16 Feb ’10

    A Star is Born: The Cotton Rebel

    12 Oct ’18
  • Clothes from now,  Girls in Films,  Premium

    Ocean’s 8: Fashioning Costume

    10 Jul ’18 /

    MINOR SPOILERS Movies that feature contemporary fashion, particularly high-end and particularly for women, are a tricky sell costume wise. While men’s semi-formal to formal attire is generally shaped around the fundamental guise of the lounge suit, women’s clothing has a lot more avenues and possibilities. In addition to colour and pattern there is shape and form, which can vary dramatically for the fashionable wearer. What can vary dramatically can also date dramatically and this can be major stumbling block for costume designers. Films centred around the world of fashion, or those that include a lot of fashionable garments such as The Devil Wears Prada (2006), Clueless (1995) and Funny Face…

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    Norwegian Wood: Hipsters Unmaxed

    8 Jul ’11

    The Wolverine International Trailer: Yakuza Style

    27 Mar ’13

    Zach Galifianakis in Due Date: Theatre Geek

    25 Dec ’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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    Dual Analysis: Saturday Night Fever

    10 Aug ’09

    Rocky: Talia Shire as Adrian, From Geek to Chic

    17 Mar ’10

    The Post Trailer Debuts: Ann Roth sets the Tone

    8 Nov ’17
  • Clothes from now,  Girls in Films,  Guys in Films,  Interviews

    The Intern: Jacqueline Oknaian Costume Interview

    2 Oct ’15 /

    Jacqueline Oknaian has costumed Ugly Betty (2008-10), Sex and the City 2 (2010) and The Big C (2012-13), so it might be fair to say contemporary clothing is her forte. For The Intern she dressed Anne Hathaway and Robert De Niro in that most tricky of cinematic costume: ‘office attire’. Fashion and practicality collide in what needs to be stylish but relatable clothing inside a believable setting. Here Ms Oknaian chats exclusively about her work on the film. Anne Hathaway has the perfect office wardrobe, where did you get your inspiration for her smart, but chic looks? I related to her character personally because I’m a mother and I’ve worked…

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    Arthur: Trailer No. 2. Brace Yourself

    3 Mar ’11

    Full The Dark Knight Rises Trailer Hits: Merry Christmas

    19 Dec ’11

    Much Ado About Nothing: Colour Blind Costuming

    11 Jul ’13
  • Clothes from now,  Guys in Films

    The Essential Nature of Simple Costume in Locke

    1 Sep ’15 /

    Locke (2013, costume design by Nigel Egerton) is a film unique in its restrictions – it takes place in real time, has only one character and only one setting. Ivan Locke (Tom Hardy) is driving somewhere important, and over the course of the film’s 85 minute running time, his life gradually begins to crumble around him as he desperately tries to salvage it. The controlled environment – the inside of his car – and the fact that the only character we actually see is Ivan himself means that interest in him is the only way of maintaining an audience’s attention with such limited visual stimulation. Ivan is the only character…

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    Hanging by a Thread: Cate Blanchett in Blue Jasmine

    31 Jan ’14

    T2 Trainspotting: Nostalgia Trip

    6 Feb ’17

    Exclusive Interview with Toy Story 3 Director Lee Unkrich

    19 Jul ’10
  • Clothes from 1960s,  Clothes from 2000-10,  Girls in Films,  Premium

    Beautiful Oppression: Tilda Swinton in I am Love

    5 Jun ’15 /

    From stills of this film alone you could easily be forgiven in thinking that I am Love (Io sono l’amore, 2009) was set during the 1960s. The designer clothes draped worn by lead members of the Recchi family, as selected by costumer Antonella Cannarozzi, are generally minimalist, in plain colours with little embellishment. I am Love is actually set in Europe around 2000, but its central characters are trapped as the well-heeled repressed of the sixties. Just as sexual, artistic and cultural expression was blossoming, the old guard struggled to make sense of this new world so regressed even more vehemently into their old one. The Recchi’s seem to live…

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    How to Steal a Million, or £60k for an Audrey Givenchy

    9 Dec ’09

    Mad Men: Christina Hendricks’ Op Art Blue Dress (S1)

    11 May ’09

    George Lazenby in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service

    12 Oct ’12
  • Clothes from now,  Guys in Films,  Interviews

    The Selfish Giant: Costume Design for Social Realist Drama

    25 Jul ’14 /

    Clio Barnard’s stark yet heart-wrenching film The Selfish Giant (2013, UK) offers two fantastic performances from its young stars in their acting debut. Matt Price discusses how his costume design for the film reflects the strong, relatable characters so well… It is lunchtime in London as costume designer Matthew Price shuffles into the Curzon, Soho. Recently collaborating with Clio Barnard on the Bafta nominated film, The Selfish Giant, reuniting after experimental documentary The Arbour, Price is surprisingly reserved about his work. “I wasn’t really sure if they’d take me on again,” he says of Barnard and producer Tracey O’Riordan. “The Arbour did quite well so I didn’t know if they’d…

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    Costume Design in House of Cards: Colour is Power

    10 Jun ’13

    Win a Breaking Bad Mobile Lab T-shirt

    5 Jun ’13

    New Paranormal Activity 2 Clip: Ordinary is Scary

    20 Oct ’10
  • Clothes from 2000-10,  Clothes from now,  Girls in Films,  Guys in Films,  Premium

    About Time to Dress Upper Middle Class

    9 May ’14 /

    SPOILERS Despite all the hoo-ha over films such as Blue Jasmine and Stoker contemporary is still pretty much overlooked as a form of costume design. If it’s invisible, well, nobody notices it, and if it’s designer it becomes all about ‘the fashion’ (OMG TOTES WANT THOSE SHOES). We are currently in an age when costume design means period and sci-fi. It comes to the extent that if a costumer wants to tell a story through contemporary attire, he/she needs either a director with a key grasp of semiotics, or one that doesn’t care less about semiotics and offers a degree of autonomy. Watching About Time we presume that Richard Curtis…

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    Eastern Promises: Viggo Mortensen’s Double Breasted Suit

    3 Jun ’09

    Ghost Town: Yellow Shirt, Perfect Screenplay

    7 Aug ’09

    Beautiful Oppression: Tilda Swinton in I am Love

    5 Jun ’15
  • Clothes from now,  Girls in Films,  Guys in Films,  Interviews

    Sole a Catinelle: Q&A with Costume Designer Marina Roberti

    28 Feb ’14 /

    Marina Roberti is the costume designer of the Italian box office hit Sole a Catinelle. She has worked in the US with the likes of Milena Canonero, Sandy Powell and Dante Ferretti… How did you become a costume designer? When I was a kid I was a bumbler at school. I spent all the time drawing and reading. My parents were kind of worried so they decided to enroll me at a fashion college in Turin, my home town. During my last school year they took us to Rome to visit the National Film School. Next year I decided to try and join the school. I thought I could never…

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    Kate Hudson in Le Divorce: Love is in the Bag

    10 Jun ’11

    Oscars 2020: Red Carpet Livestream

    8 Feb ’20

    Exclusive Interview with Toy Story 3 Director Lee Unkrich

    19 Jul ’10
  • Clothes from now,  Girls on TV,  Premium

    Costume Encounter: Sheridan Smith as Sally Thorn in The 7.39

    10 Jan ’14 /

    Two-part BBC drama The 7.39 could have been your average ‘man meets woman and has an affair’ tale. However, the overall verdict has been one of admiration at not only the amazing acting from its star players but also the script, which took the audience on an emotional rollercoaster throughout its glorious two hours. But again, often overlooked is the costume, in this case contemporary. The story of the female lead, Sally Thorn, played by Sheridan Smith with a wonderful naturalness, is particularly clearly told through what she wears (costume design by Lucinda Wright). Carl Matthews (believably played by David Morrissey) is stuck in a rut. Tired of his job,…

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    Review: Rise of the Planet of the Apes

    15 Aug ’11

    Black Swan: Amy Westcott Interview

    28 Jan ’11

    Black Swan: Interview with Darren Aronofsky

    17 Jan ’11
  • Clothes from now,  Girls in Films,  Guys in Films,  Interviews,  Premium

    Much Ado About Nothing: Colour Blind Costuming

    11 Jul ’13 /

    Analysis of Shawna Trpcic’s subtle costume signifiers with input from the designer herself.

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    Brian de Palma’s Passion: Costume as Contemporary Hitchcock

    16 Oct ’14

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

    4 Feb ’14

    Running Scared: Costume Designer Kristin Burke

    16 Feb ’10
  • Clothes from now,  Girls in Films,  Guys in Films

    Designer Style: The Counsellor (or Counselor?) Trailer Hits

    26 Jun ’13 /

    The Counsellor trailer hits with high-shine sartorial gloss.

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    Ocean’s 8: Fashioning Costume

    10 Jul ’18

    Costume Clues Reveal All in The Cabin in the Woods

    14 Dec ’12

    Net-a-Porter to Launch Hunger Games Capsule Collection

    5 Sep ’13
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