Clothes on Film

Orange BAFTA Film Awards: The Costume Nominees

Chris Laverty — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:26:46 +0000

We are just under a week away from the Orange BAFTA Film Awards so now seems an appropriate time to consider who might win the prize for Best Costume Design (it will be a period drama) and why (because all the nominations are). We should again clarify that Clothes on Film enjoy period and fantasy costume just as much as contemporary, BUT we do consider it a shame that the latter category is often overlooked by simple virtue of being too good to be seen.

If you have been taking advantage of Orange Wednesdays (and who doesn’t?), i.e. texting FILM to 241 from any Orange mobile to get two-for-one cinema tickets, you will hopefully have seen most, if not all of these BAFTA costume design nominees:

The Artist – Mark Bridges

Late 1920s – early 1930s. Nostalgic, fashionable, fun in a Hollywood setting that ironically probably only ever existed in the movies.

Hugo – Sandy Powell

Early 1930s with turn of the century flashbacks. Sumptuous and richly detailed, Hugo is heightened reality; a story told through a child’s eyes.

Jane Eyre – Michael O’Connor

Early 19th century. Stiff and dark, cleverly reusing items to reflect the social status of certain characters; this is meticulous costume design with a very specific colour palette.

My Week with Marilyn – Jill Taylor

Mid 1950s. Portraying real life cinematic icon Marilyn Monroe in a less iconic light, i.e. Marilyn at home and at play. Not just the memorable movie costumes but jeans and a trenchcoat too.

Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy – Jacqueline Durran

Mid 1970s. The varying hierarchy of suits, shirts, ties, jeans and sheepskin jackets in the British security services. Subtle yet character specific.

Mark Bridges for The Artist: Bridges used some original 1920s dresses for starlet Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo). Those too fragile were copied in new silks.

While avoiding any favourites as such, we must admit two from that list really jump out as justifiable winners: Mark Bridges for The Artist and Jacqueline Durran for Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy. Firstly, Mark Bridges has been due recognition as a story focused and creative, yet fiercely practical costume designer for years now (his work on The Fighter was sadly overlooked in 2010). Secondly, Jacqueline Durran; a costume designer best known for that emerald green dress worn by Keira Knightley in Atonement. Yet for Tinker, Tailor we would argue her work is even sharper. Dripping with revealing character notes and acute period detail, this is the kind of costume design they should teach in schools.

Now, as a disclaimer we should say that every single nominee in this category is entitled to triumph. It is not a case of who is the most worthy so much as who on this occasion deserves to be rewarded. It is shame Leesa Evans & Christine Wada for Bridesmaids could not be included or Erin Benach for Drive, but at least BAFTA gave out a contemporary nomination last year – Amy Westcott for Black Swan, even if she did not win.

To find out which films are being talked about most on Twitter and Facebook, thus which have the most buzz for Sunday’s awards, visit Orange Film Pulse for a round-up score. Also, do try Orange’s Film to Go service where you can download a free movie from iTunes every Thursday. We like this idea so much we’ve already been a guest on Peter Serafinowicz’s live show talking about one of last year’s downloads, Coco Before Chanel (2009). Hint for those who missed it: the costumes are beautiful.

The Orange BAFTA Film Awards are on 12^th February at London's Royal Opera House.

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Midnight in Paris: Nostalgia Fashion

Chris Laverty — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 01:26:07 +0000

A rose tinted view of the Roaring Twenties, Sonia Grande’s costume design for Midnight in Paris (2011, directed by Woody Allen) offers everything we expect of the era, e.g. achingly fashionable female trends and the increasing Anglophile influence in male suits, yet does not become bogged down in a precise timeframe. Furthermore as the story segues from past to the present, a non specific retro vibe remains palpable, especially in Rachel McAdams’ loose fitting shirt dresses and Owen Wilson’s nubby tweed jackets.

Wilson’s Gil is obviously intended to resemble Woody Allen during his late 1970s heyday, wearing natural waist trousers with brown leather belt, casual shirts and either two or three button tweed jackets, all in earth tones. If there was ever any doubt Allen is continuing an acting career through his leading men, this confirms it. All Owen Wilson needs is a pair of thick frame spectacles and he could actually be spoofing his appearance obsessed director. They even have the same slight build.

Contemporary costume for Midnight in Paris required the use of some major labels to imply the nouveau riche wealth of Inez (Rachel McAdams) and her parents, including Dior, Hermès, Chopard and Chanel. Note the contrast with Gil (Owen Wilson) in a rudimentary plaid shirt.

Gil’s stuck up fiancée Inez (Rachel McAdams) appears to be channelling the mid-1980s, e.g. belted shirt dresses, designer jeans; lots of Ralph Lauren inspired natural fabrics, all very flattering on a curvy build (it is impossible not to notice that McAdams’ weight fluctuates throughout). At the start of the story Inez and Gil wear similar colours; moreover in the first scene in their hotel room they wear exactly the same colours – almost matching chambray blue shirts, suggesting a familiarity verging on bickering brother and sister rather than lovers. Although Gil is presented as being in love with nostalgia, explicitly Paris of the 1920s, it is Inez who personifies the Bright Young Things of this era best. The twenties embraced the idea of wearing your wealth on your sleeve, which by the capitalist 1980s had just become acceptable again.

Midnight in Paris is quite rightly in praise of the eccentric characters Gil meets during his nightime excursions. Most of these are real life historical figures, yet the most important is intended as a composite of several people. Adriana (Marion Cotillard) is introduced as Picasso’s mistress, of whom he had many, but more importantly she is the exact opposite of bourgeois Inez. Most of Cottillard’s costumes were genuine vintage. Presumably they required altering/strengthening to be wearable now, even if the plot does not require her diving through fire or hanging off a moving vehicle. Adriana’s first ensemble is when we truly understand that Gil has arrived in the Roaring Twenties; at the height of French fashion dominance.

Darting back and forth between 1920s and present day Paris, costume designer Sonia Grande retains a retro atmosphere throughout the film. In the case of Inez, she often evokes mid-1980s designer casual wear, i.e. soft natural fabrics like linen and one-wash denim.

Adriana dazzles in a black chemise dress, practically hitting her thighs, covered in appliqué including a large sequin butterfly, attached green and gold lamé scarves and finished by a lace headband stuffed with black feathers. Despite her beauty and awareness of male attention, Adriana does not sway or flounce, but rather slopes quietly. Just like Gil, this is not her time. Adriana is enraptured by the La Belle Époque (literally ‘the beautiful era’), Paris’ golden age of unrivalled gaiety. When Adriana visits this period toward the end of the story in a white and red trimmed shift dress with v-neckline and pleated skirt, an excited femme maitre d immediately remarks that she is ‘avant-garde’. Adriana’s differentiation is further pronounced by not wearing a coat – evidently a conscious choice by Grande as such garments were popular in the 1920s. Often collarless like long cardigans or trimmed with fur, they were considered chic for travelling to and from parties in an open top Rolls Royce.

The differences between Adriana and Inez are heightened by not just how they dress but their enthusiasm for clothes and accessories in general. Adriana is bored by fashion while Inez is immersed in it; when window shopping with her mother for wedding bands, Inez stresses, most emphatically, that “it has to be diamonds”. One gets the impression that Inez does not even know why, it just does. That Gil still has not seen Inez for the snob she is casts doubt over the intimacy of their relationship, thus providing justification for both parties to be lead astray; her by pseudo-intellectual Paul (Michael Sheen) and him by Adriana.

Most of Marion Cotillard’s costumes as Adriana were genuine vintage sourced from all over the world. Some pieces were over eighty years old and extremely fragile.

Inez’s personality can be summed up in a simple exchange with Gil over a pair of drop earrings: “I thought you liked simplicity?” he proffers. “That’s the problem,” she replies “they’re too simple”. This nonsensical response in effect walks Gil into Adriana’s arms. For Adriana, nothing could be too simple. However, Gil is due for a shock when they both visit La Belle Époque; for Adriana is just as in love with contrived opulence as Inez. In reality, neither woman is right for him.

Men’s clothing in Midnight in Paris is not a radical departure from what we expect of certainly the early twenties. Suits are fitted in the waist, lapels narrow (apart from the wide spread rebellion on Tom Cordier’s Man-Ray), collars soft and trousers slim – a Scottish/anglophile influence apparent through fabric (tweed). Possibly this is to ensure Gil does not stand out too much during his trips back, so his presence is unusual rather than instantly intrusive. Another point to consider is that all of Gil’s visits take place at night so the twenties’ penchant for diamond and zig-zag knitwear, plus fours and ‘Oxford Bags’ – sportswear in other words – would not be seen.

Gil is seemingly costumed to resemble director Woody Allen. Tweed jacket, casual shirt, natural waist trousers – all in shades of brown, green, grey and white; the comparison is unavoidable.

Rigidity in male dress during this time even extended to popular nightspots such as the Moulin Rouge. Stiff collars would have been essential despite the emergence of soft attached collars among the young. This makes for an enlightening scene with Gil and Adriana at the Moulin Rouge during La Belle Époque. Men in a formal environment would not have been wearing clothes staggeringly different to the 1920s – save for perhaps a tail coat and top hat.

With Midnight in Paris it is easy to become as enraptured with the past as Gil and Adriana, and for all the same wrong reasons. One important lesson fashion teaches us is that the present is always the past; whatever we tire of now, the world has already tired of twenty years before.

Midnight in Paris is released on DVD on 6th February.

You can watch Owen Wilson in Midnight in Paris at LOVEFiLM.com.

Costume Designer and Art Director Eiko Ishioka Has Died

Chris Laverty — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 06:56:56 +0000

Innovative costume designer and art director Eiko Ishioka has died aged 73. Ms Ishioka will surely be best remembered for her Oscar winning costumes in Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), which included Vlad III the Impaler’s (Gary Oldman) eye-popping suit of armour that resembled the structural configuration of human muscles and provocative Gothic dresses worn by The Brides.

Tokyo born Eiko Ishioka also designed costumes for 2011 fantasy drama Immortals. Regular collaborator, director Tarsem Singh, known for his judicious use of extravagant headwear, employed Ms Ishioka to create an array of imaginative ensembles based on Greek mythology. A modest résumé of ten feature films takes nothing away from Eiko Ishioka’s influence on the industry – her intricate craftsmanship was astonishing – or the creative arts as a whole.

Jennifer Lopez as Dr. Catherine Deane in sci-fi thriller The Cell.

In 1986, Ms Ishioka won a Grammy award for her sparse design of Miles Davis’ album Tutu. Thirteen years later she created costumes for Grace Jones’ Hurricane tour; Grace Jones of course is not someone known for wearing anything remotely conventional. Eiko Ishioka also wrote two books on art, was costume designer for the 2008 Beijing Olympics opening ceremony and brought her avant-garde vision to Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.

The New York Times features a much more detailed rundown of Eiko Ishioka’s varied career so we strongly advise visiting there. Ms Ishioka’s response to Jennifer Lopez requesting costumes be made more comfortable in The Cell (2000, directed by Tarsem Singh) amusingly sums up her whole approach to the craft: “No, you’re supposed to be tortured”. In other words, art is not intended to be comfortable.

Eiko Ishioka died of pancreatic cancer on 21st January. Her last film as costume designer, Mirror Mirror: The Untold Adventures of Snow White (directed by Tarsem Singh) is released on 16th March.

Source: The New York Times

Crazy, Stupid, Love: Suits and 407s

Chris Laverty — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 01:16:13 +0000

This insightful comedy about the hopelessness of love is every inch a ‘fashion film’, both in terms of narrative and thanks to costume designer Dayna Pink’s enviable parade of menswear trends and elegant suiting.

Crazy, Stupid, Love (directed by Glenn Ficara and John Requa) stars Steve Carell as Cal Weaver, a middle aged man who has forgotten how to be a man and Ryan Gosling as Jacob Palmer, a bar culture player who helps Cal regain his self respect. Clothes in the film are prioritised over the man. They denote what we wear reflects how we evolve. Or in the case of Cal during the very first scene, how we devolve and are generally the last to notice. As the opening cuts from one couple playing footsie to another, an array of smart brogues and slingbacks flash across the screen. Finally we land on Cal and wife Emily (Julianne Moore); his grubby New Balance 407 trainers and her high heeled Prada sandals.

Steve Carrell as Cal and Jullianne Moore as Emily. Beneath the table Cal wears his comfortable and familiar New Balance 407 trainers. These shoes are representative of why his marriage is failing.

This is the moment Emily informs Cal she is going to divorce him. Not because Cal is forgoing designer footwear but because he has stopped caring about what he has on his feet anymore. Consequently his lack of awareness reflects on Emily. She feels that Cal no longer believes he needs to try, so how does that make her feel? Worthless. Emily’s cheating on Cal with a work colleague was less a cry for help and more a disgusting betrayal of two decades of marriage, but we could see her point. Showing Cal at his job the next day in a sports jacket, white shirt and tie, khaki trousers and those same 407 trainers, reinforces his lack of appreciation in the sartorial. Clothes mean nothing to him and he does not understand why they should.

Enter Jacob, promptly introduced as the antithesis of Cal. Jacob steps into frame, slow motion, plum three button suit with gold pocket square; he is almost too much, too confident. Indeed, his ‘prey’ in the bland upmarket bar, Hannah (Emma Stone), sees straight through this facade. In a way clothes constrain Jacob, as empathised later in the story when his style gradually loosens; he becomes less constructed in line with a new relaxed, optimistic philosophy on love. At this stage, however, Jacob is a player. Although interestingly that is not what newly single Cal thinks when he spots him from across the room.

Ryan Gosling as Jacob Palmer. Note here a slightly higher waist on the trousers compared to the lower rise on most of Jacob's suits.

Cal takes one glance at Jacob and mutters “gay” before leaving with his tail between his legs. To heterosexual men not interested in fashion or their appearance in general, those who are present a threat. These men must either be branded narcissists or homosexual. For Cal and so many others like him it is a defence mechanism, a reason not to try. ‘I’m not gay or a narcissist, so why bother?’ What this attitude masks is Cal’s obvious jealousy at Jacob. Yet the results speak for themselves – Jacob is never without a ‘date’. This is why Cal takes up Jacob’s offer of a makeover. Why Jacob wants to help of course is somewhat more poignant; Cal reminds him of his father.

What happens next is Pretty Woman for straight men. Following Jacob’s comment to Cal, “You’re wearing a 44 Long when you should be wearing a 42 Regular” (evidenced in the first scene with that baggy corduroy jacket), they go shopping for suits, ties, shirts, shoes, knitwear, jackets and jeans. While Jacob’s wardrobe is Yves Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen, Givenchy and Marc Jacobs (and custom made), Dayna Pink put Steve Carell in roomier yet still tailored suits by, among others, Canali and Ermenegildo Zegna – more befitting a man his age and build. At this early stage in his transformation Cal has a way to go. “I feel like I’m going skiing” he moans under four layers of clothing.

Gosling's custom fit shirts were made by Alain Gossuin.

Jacob flings away Cal’s grotty 407’s, which is a symbolic gesture implying he should release all familiarity and comfort in his life. The shopping sequence is amusingly acted by Ryan Gosling who plays Jacob more than a little camp. “You can rebuild your entire wardrobe with like sixteen items!” he excitedly announces with almost a Brüno tone to his voice. Clearly Gosling was having fun with audience preconceptions.

When Cal accompanies Jacob to the bar for lessons in the art of pulling a one-night stand, which basically entails Jacob asserting all single women he approach have an alcoholic drink before declaring “Let’s get out of here”, it is (almost) a disaster. Cal attempts to seduce Kate (Marisa Tomei), an attractive forty-something in a slightly outdated blue dress probably not worn for several years, by insisting she have a drink despite being five years sober. Eventually Cal stumbles his way toward only his second ever sexual encounter by enticing her with a comment once reserved for his wife.

Jacob's clothing at this stage of the story is classic and elegant, though just a little fussy. Those brown suede jacket accents a case in point.

This roundabout successful conquest for Cal opens up a world of single women falling at his feet. Cal’s clothes formalise from knitwear to suits – open neck shirts now like Jacob – coordinated yet not overly meticulous. In style stakes alone, apprentice Cal is infringing on his master, and really it is not as though he has anywhere near as much to work with. Even with a new found irresistibility to women, Cal does not fool his son Robbie (Jonah Bobo) who believes nothing has changed. “You’re not a different guy, you just got different clothes”. But is Robbie actually correct? Cal is confident, has self respect; externally at least he is a new man.

Conversely Jacob has now fallen head over heels in love with the only girl who saw past his pristine veneer, Hannah. Jacob’s clothes relax slightly as he matures from a fitted Confederacy suit with brown accents to a knitted grey polo shirt. His neckline is visible revealing a pendent of two Roman coins oxidised in silver (an original creation of Pink’s). A modern update on the seventies playboy with his hairy chest and sovereign. It is a quiet nod to the real Jacob. He will remain this man at heart, despite evolving into someone no longer defined by his wardrobe but complimented by it.

Emily with her son Robbie (Jonah Bobo). Despite Crazy, Stupid, Love being primarily centred on menswear there are still plenty of pretty and current costumes for female characters. Emily with her splashes of colour later in the film gets the lion's share.

Suddenly at this juncture a series of revelations occur resulting in a manic, if ultimately superficial punch up between several male characters. After the fight, Cal’s clothes take a downward turn signalling a temporary relapse to his previous self. As Jacob confronts Cal in the singles bar, the former wearing a black Dior Homme v-neck sweater with no undershirt and the latter a grey jersey tracksuit, it is evident which man has progressed and which has reverted to type. Cal is one step away from the man he used to be; the same man who did not even show his wife the courtesy of changing footwear before they went out for a meal together.

Yet any doubt as to where ‘new Cal’ was headed is expunged during the final sequence at Robbie’s middle school graduation. Cal arrives in arguably his finest ensemble, a light grey two button, single breasted suit with no necktie. This is where Cal and Jacob, who is also attending the event with Hannah, meet in the middle. Jacob wears a refined pinstripe suit but with a tie. Early on in the story Jacob never wore a tie; he was more concerned with using his body as a sexy coathanger than creating a meaningful impression. Now he has smartened up having learned that it is not always about him. In contrast, Cal has eased to the point where for him a tie represents the staid conventionality of his old ways, even if he is wearing a custom made suit.

New Cal wearing probably the best suit in the film (for him anyway). Perfect colour, perfect fit, perfect rise, perfect cut.

Cal and Jacob have reached a sartorial compromise. Neither man now contrasts to the extreme with everyone else around them. Compare Cal to Emily when he moves out of the family home; she wears fine knitwear and a silk scarf, he wears pale denim ‘mom jeans’ and a chunky cardigan. Cal took Emily for granted and deep down she wanted this because it gave her justification to live out a midlife crisis. In a way their story unfolds in reverse, showing us in the very last scene how they ever could have met in the first place. Cal and Emily really do look good together.

Clothes may not define who we are but they define how other people judge us. Crazy, Stupid, Love does a fantastic job of preaching this concept while at the same time remaining incredibly funny. For gentleman especially, this is the best dressed comedy in years.

Crazy, Stupid, Love is released on DVD and Blu-ray on 30th January.