Clothes on Film

The study of costume design in cinema and television. Featuring exclusive articles, news, interviews, videos, podcasts, essays and competitions.

  • About, Editor and Contributors
  • Archive
  • Press
  • Ads
  • Contact
  • About, Editor and Contributors
  • Archive
  • Press
  • Ads
  • Contact

Socials

  • twitter
  • facebook
  • youtube
  • instagram
  • Guys in Films,  News

    First Trailer for Tom Hardy’s Capone: Inspirational Lockdown Robe Attire

    16 Apr ’20 /

    Finally we have a trailer for Tom Hardy’s Capone and it looks jim-jam tastic.

    read more
    Lord Christopher Laverty Comments Off on First Trailer for Tom Hardy’s Capone: Inspirational Lockdown Robe Attire

    You May Also Like

    Barbra Streisand in The Way We Were: Forties Meets Seventies

    16 May ’11

    Ellen Mirojnick Describes Costumes for Behind the Candelabra

    7 Jun ’13

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

    21 Mar ’13
  • Clothes from 1940s,  Clothes from 1950s,  Clothes from 1980s

    Cinema Paradiso: Invisible Costume

    9 Feb ’15 /

    Cinema Paradiso is a beautiful examination of the relationship human beings have with film. This connection is explored through the story of a young boy and his friendship with the projectionist at the town’s local cinema. The strength of this friendship is only surpassed in intensity by the boy’s deep desire to become a part of the world of movie making. This is a story not about the medium of film in itself, but about the real people whose lives are illuminated by the stories it relates. As a tale primarily of ordinary Roma people, the costumes in Cinema Paradiso, as designed by Beatrice Bordone, help create a 1940s/50’s period…

    read more
    Lord Christopher Laverty Comments Off on Cinema Paradiso: Invisible Costume

    You May Also Like

    Monica Bellucci as Malèna: Beauty, Black and Heels

    26 Aug ’11

    Carice van Houten in Black Book: The Red Dress

    21 Sep ’10

    To Catch a Thief: Grace Kelly’s Beach Wear

    5 Apr ’11
  • Clothes from 1970s,  Girls in Films,  Guys in Films,  Premium

    From Bum to Italian Stallion: Sylvester Stallone as Rocky

    22 Apr ’14 /

    In the very opening scene of Rocky (1976, costume designer Robert Cambel), we see the title character in the ring, bare chested, hands encased in boxing gloves, the picture of sporting violence and masculinity. But this is no more than a surface assumption. Not two minutes later, we see Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) shrug on his faded brown towelling dressing gown, with “The Italian Stallion” embroidered on the back, and things start to shift. This is not a macho film concerned with the fight alone, but an exploration of masculinity in all its guises – the assumptions, the pretence and the reality. Clothes play an important part in this, both…

    read more
    Lord Christopher Laverty Comments Off on From Bum to Italian Stallion: Sylvester Stallone as Rocky

    You May Also Like

    The Conjuring Trailer: Lapels That Flap in the Night

    3 Apr ’13

    Dual Analysis: Saturday Night Fever

    10 Aug ’09

    Barbra Streisand in The Way We Were: Forties Meets Seventies

    16 May ’11
  • Clothes from 1960s,  Guys in Films,  Premium

    Michael Caine in The Italian Job: Part 2

    20 Feb ’14 /

    This is part 2 (part 1 HERE) of an expanded article Clothes on Film editor Christopher Laverty wrote for men’s style resource MR PORTER analysing Michael Caine’s suits in The Italian Job. This post covers all the costumes he wore during the film. We rejoin Charlie and his ragtag crew at the big meeting when the gang are all introduced to each other. It had to be a Doug Hayward moment and thankfully does not disappoint. In actual fact it is probably Michael Caine’s best fitting suit in the whole movie: Dark blue worsted wool suit; double breasted jacket, wide peaked lapels, 6 on 2 fastening, slanted hip pockets, ticket…

    read more
    Lord Christopher Laverty 2 Comments

    You May Also Like

    Diana Rigg in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service: To Die For

    24 Jun ’11

    Dual Analysis: Rosemary’s Baby – KB’s Thoughts

    8 Jan ’10

    Beautiful Oppression: Tilda Swinton in I am Love

    5 Jun ’15
  • Clothes from 1960s,  Guys in Films,  Premium

    Take Me to my Tailor: Michael Caine in The Italian Job

    28 Jan ’14 /

    The following is an expanded article Clothes on Film editor Christopher Laverty wrote for men’s style resource MR PORTER analysing Michael Caine’s suits in The Italian Job. This post covers all the costumes he wore during the film. If The Italian Job (1969) needs any introduction at all it might be possible you’ve been in a coma for the past 40 years. It’s so well known and so well loved that were it not for the fact that no-one has really delved into the sartorial details of Michael Caine’s suits there would be nothing left to talk about. As it happens we have spent time studying and researching The Italian…

    read more
    Lord Christopher Laverty 3 Comments

    You May Also Like

    Shifting Trends: Claire Foy in First Man

    25 Oct ’18

    Michael Caine in The Italian Job: Part 2

    20 Feb ’14

    Art of Rosemary’s Baby

    7 Mar ’11
  • Clothes from 1837-1919,  Girls in Films,  Guys in Films

    12 Years a Slave: Rags and Tatters

    20 Jan ’14 /

    We may have to eat our words, but as it stands 12 Years a Slave is unlikely to win the Best Costume Design Oscar. It does tick some of the necessary boxes: it’s period (mid 19th century), features both crinolines and cravats, and is part of the popular ballot. Yet being as the protagonist spends most of his time in just an increasingly distressed tunic shirt, the Academy may just feel costume designer Patricia Norris has really not worked hard enough. Flippancy toward the Academy aside, 12 Years a Slave remains a wonderfully rich costume experience. Every fibre leaps off the screen with detail and feeling. The cool weave of…

    read more
    Lord Christopher Laverty Comments Off on 12 Years a Slave: Rags and Tatters

    You May Also Like

    The Lone Ranger: Never take off the Mask

    30 Jul ’13

    The Young Victoria: Costume Designer Interview

    14 Jan ’10

    Anna Karenina: Jacqueline Durran Talks Jewellery & Costume

    11 Jan ’13
  • Clothes from 1970s,  Girls in Films,  Guys in Films

    American Hustle: Beneath the Glamour

    13 Jan ’14 /

    MILD SPOILERS Costume designer Michael Wilkinson’s main accomplishment with American Hustle has largely been overlooked in favour of praising him as some kind of vintage stylist with an eye for provocative gowns and desirable heels. The truth is he has carefully brought to life a world, not of parties and glamour, but cheap sex and dirty desperation. The costumes in American Hustle do tell a story, particularly through their ever darkening colour palette, yet Wilkinson’s deftest skill is reflecting an era when fashion was as confused as the politics surrounding it. American Hustle is an unapologetic tale of low down dirty double-crossers whose clothes, like them, were a lie. A…

    read more
    Lord Christopher Laverty 1 Comment

    You May Also Like

    From Tailors with Love Podcast: Discussing the Tom Ford Look

    24 Jan ’20

    Troop Zero: It’s Birdie Time

    20 Jan ’20

    The Costuming of Joaquin Phoenix in Joker

    14 Oct ’19
  • Clothes from 1960s,  Clothes from now,  Guys in Films

    Deo Veritas: Creating the James Bond Cocktail Cuff Shirt

    25 Oct ’13 /

    This is a personal post about designing my custom made James Bond shirt. It is not an advertorial and wasn’t paid for. All photographs are of the final finished shirt(s) and taken by David Wade of Vogue Shot photography. There are now ample custom shirt makers online, but as a pre-existing customer of Deo Veritas what made this company stand out for me was a steadfast, almost stubborn desire to get everything ‘just so’. Seemingly no query or request is too much trouble. Bearing this in mind I tasked Deo Veritas with recreating a shirt I have always sought yet been unable to find off the peg or in my…

    read more
    Lord Christopher Laverty 3 Comments

    You May Also Like

    From Tailors with Love Podcast: Discussing the Tom Ford Look

    24 Jan ’20

    X-Men: First Class Trailer

    11 Feb ’11

    Two For the Road: Audrey Hepburn’s outfits – Part 2

    30 Jun ’09
  • Clothes from 1980s,  Girls in Films,  Premium

    Costume, Colour and Semiotics of Heathers

    4 Oct ’13 /

    Filmmaker and costume designer Sophie Black recounts her personal interpretation of Heathers, a film defined by vivid visual interpretation. It is just a coincidence that the first time I saw Michael Lehmann’s Heathers (1988) was within hours of the first time I saw David Lynch’s Blue Velvet (1986), and I immediately made comparisons between the two films which I may have not noticed otherwise. More people are quick to compare Heathers to the work of Tim Burton, because of the associates he had on the film (producer Denise Di Novi and star Winona Ryder, to name but two) and the fact that the candy-coloured suburban setting mirrors that of Edward…

    read more
    Lord Christopher Laverty 1 Comment

    You May Also Like

    Meryl Streep in Costume for The Iron Lady Trailer

    7 Jul ’11

    Cinema Paradiso: Invisible Costume

    9 Feb ’15

    The Fashionable Style of Kathleen Turner in Romancing the Stone

    1 Jan ’20
  • Clothes from 1980s,  Girls in Films,  Guys in Films,  Premium

    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 in Staten Island, New York. Currently working as a secretary in Manhattan (not ‘executive assistant’, reflecting vernacular of the time), as is her best friend Cynthia (Joan Cusack). Tess, however, has gained a degree through night school and harbours ambitions to use it for more constructive tasks than answering the telephone and fetching toilet paper for bawdy stockbrokers. After being set up for a ‘date’ that turned out to be…

    read more
    Lord Christopher Laverty Comments Off on Working Girl: The Culture of Power Dressing

    You May Also Like

    Awesome Lack of Taste: Style Lessons from Hot Tub Time Machine

    11 May ’10

    Film Review: Dolores Claiborne

    6 Sep ’10

    Anchorman 2 Trailer: Ron and Friends Meet the 80’s

    19 Jun ’13
  • Clothes from Fantasy & Sci-fi,  Girls on TV,  Premium

    Game of Thrones Costume Analysis: Daenerys Targaryen

    16 Jul ’13 /

    The costume evolution of Daenerys Targaryen in Game of Thrones.

    read more
    Contributor 2 Comments

    You May Also Like

    Review: Rise of the Planet of the Apes

    15 Aug ’11

    The New Batsuit Reveal: Cute But Sinewy

    14 May ’14

    Man of Steel: New Featurette Discusses the Superman Suit

    3 Jun ’13
  • Clothes from 1837-1919,  Girls on TV,  Guys on TV,  Premium

    Lucinda Wright on Costume in The Suspicions of Mr Whicher

    2 Jul ’13 /

    Lucinda Wright talks costume in The Suspicions of Mr Whicher: The Murder in Angel Lane.

    read more
    Lord Christopher Laverty 2 Comments

    You May Also Like

    Review: Lincoln

    1 Feb ’13

    The Lighthouse: All Hail a High Waist Trouser

    4 Feb ’20

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

    4 May ’11
 Older Posts