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Brian de Palma’s Passion: Costume as Contemporary Hitchcock
Director Brian De Palma has made movies heavily influenced by Alfred Hitchcock before, but Passion (2012) is the first one whose characters look like they stepped out of one of Hitchcock’s classic films. Karen Muller-Serreau’s bold and colourful costumes communicate the characters’ hidden desires and make watching Passion a sensory experience. This melodrama centres on two ad executives, Isabelle (Noomi Rapace) and her boss Christine (Rachel McAdams), who have a deadline to come up with an ad campaign for a new smartphone. In her sleep, Isabelle thinks of a great idea. The two other principal characters are Isabelle’s assistant Dani (Karoline Herfurth) and Christine’s boyfriend Dirk (Paul Anderson) who get…
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About Time to Dress Upper Middle Class
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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Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows: Costume Round Up: Part 2
Second and final part of Clothes on Film’s sartorial run-through of Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, with exclusive input from costume designer Jenny Beavan.
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Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows: Costume Round Up: Part 1
First of Clothes on Film’s two part sartorial run-through of Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, with exclusive input from costume designer Jenny Beavan.
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Midnight in Paris: Nostalgia Fashion
Sonia Grande’s costume design for Midnight in Paris offers everything we expect of 1920s Paris and the contemporary nouveau riche.
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Sherlock Holmes Costume Guide Part 2: Tweed Suits and Ulsters
Final part of our analysis of Sherlock Holmes complete with insight from costume designer Jenny Beavan.
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Sherlock Holmes Costume Guide Part 1: Frock Coats & Bustles
With insight from costume designer Jenny Beavan, we commence our sartorial analysis of Sherlock Holmes.
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