The costume vault

This week I'll briefly expand on more of the recommendations I've been posting on social media so you'll be able to make a more informed decision when choosing your choice entertainment for the afternoon. This time I'll cover the recommendations I made from April 10th to April 19th. Recommendation for APRIL 10th Tiny disclaimer: I die for the Baroque aesthetic, so I’m not very impartial of the assessment of this film. With that out of the way: let’s move forward with today’s recommendation. VATEL is a story that talks about the individual and free will in a world where everyone is keenly aware of their place and the need to stay in it. It’s talking about a world divided into two groups: those who have (the King and Court), and those who don’t (the working classes). And these two ideas are the central guidelines that dictate the visual design for this movie. That division is created mainly through the costume design, by establishing very clear looks for both groups, the ...

2015 has come and gone already, and it has left us with a wide array of movies to look at: some good, some bad and everything in between. Here I will not be looking at the quality of the movies themselves but at the quality of their costume design. And in that regard, 2015 has left us with some really good stuff. This will not be a top 10 because I could not find enough movies with designs that I really loved, and therefore it stayed as a top 7 list. Also, the order is rather random. All of the designs mentioned below are really great on their own and I don't think they can really be properly listed. And so, I begin. I - A GOTHIC OPERETTA: Crimson Peak  designs by Kate Hawley Guillermo Del Toro's new movie is, easily, one of the most gorgeous movies released this past 2015. The sets, the photography and, of course, the costume design were stunning to look at. The designs, done by Kate Hawley (who also worked with Del Toro in Pacific Rim ), are the perfect ...

The Scottish Highlands were a very isolated territory for a very long time and, therefore, were considered the backwater of Europe. That's why there is so little documentary evidence regarding fashion in the medieval highlands. Most of the pictorial representations of the time are done centuries later, so there's little reference or base with which to work. Even in later periods, documentation, especially for women's clothing, is sketchy at best. So, how do you design the costumes for a movie set in the medieval Highlands? That's the dilemma that Jacqueline Durran, the costume designer for Macbeth (2015, Justin Kurzel) had to face. Macbeth comes out in cinemas this 25th of December, but I was lucky  enough to watch it early (this past October) at the Sitges Film Festival. Because it hasn't had a wide release yet, and I don't want to spoil the  movie for anyone, in this article I won't focus as much on narrative (as I usuall...