The costume vault

The Oscars have come and gone once more, and so I am faced once again with the task of analyzing and reviewing this year's nominees (and eventually the winner) for Best Achievement in Costume Design. The first of these nominees which I'll be covering in this year's retrospective will be Joe Wright's latest period drama; Darkest Hour , a movie that in the end leaves us quite unimpressed by the effort. It's a paint by numbers movie that even though it boasts of outstanding photography, camera work, and incredible acting talent, still manages to waste it all into a boring, run-of-the-mill script that has nothing new to offer. Darkest Hour  focusses on the one month span between Churchill becoming Prime Minister and his famous "never surrender" speech that marked the decisive moment in which Great Britain decided to confront Germany and Hitler head-on. And while it sounds interesting enough on paper, it doesn't help that it feels that betwe...

Since the very inception of the character of Wonder Woman, in October 1941, her costumes have been a continuing flashpoint of controversy in the media; a common point for many female characters throughout the decades. And so, in order to celebrate this past  International Women's Day , and also to protest for the unforgivable snub of Lindy Hemming's Wonder Woman Costume Design at the Oscars, I wanted to dissect the Wonder Woman's costume and analyze it in relation to the trappings of costume design for a female character in fantasy. FEMALES IN FANTASY Traditionally, females have fulfilled very particular roles in fantasy: the damsel in distress or the evil seductress most prominently. It wasn't until fairly recently that a new role appeared: the sexy fighter. A stunningly beautiful woman who also managed to be highly competent when it came to either martial arts or any form of fighting. But this skill has often been just an excuse to showcase her sex appeal. He...

Love her or hate her, Padme and her costumes can never be far from our minds. They are too iconic, and probably one of the few memorable aspects of the prequels, so it's really fun to talk about them. And so, I've decided to continue what I started and focus on the costumes I left behind from Episode II . So let's dive back into it! A BRIEF REMINDER What are the Annexes? Well, the Annexes focus on all the costumes that were "left behind" in my selection of Padme Costumes for the A look into Star Wars: Padme's Dresses series. Here, I point out influences, likes, and dislikes, and anything that might feel relevant whilst digging into the gigantic wardrobe of this Galactic Queen. With this out of the way, let's go! ANNEX B: THE ATTACK OF THE CLONES Episode II: The Attack of the Clones brings the character and her designs to a completely different level; she is not a queen anymore, which unfortunately means that she no longer has amazingly weird an...

Another year has come and gone and I am, once again, facing the difficult task of choosing the best of this past year. Fortunately, 2017 has been, overall, a pretty good year for costume design, which makes my job easier. A brief reminder needed: here I will not be looking at the quality of the movies themselves but at the quality of their costume design. Also, the list order is rather random. All of the designs mentioned below stand on their own and I don't think they can really be properly listed. And so, with that out of the way, I begin. I. MONSTROUS LOVE: Lady Macbeth . Designs by Holly Waddington Director William Oldroyd set himself to fail when he chose to adapt for his directorial debut the extremely harsh and complex novel  Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk by Nikolai Leskov's. And that would be all I would be saying about it except for the fact that he did not fail at all in this endeavor. Quite the contrary. Oldroyd delivered a bold and uncompromising movie ...