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Fashionable Film: An Examination of Contemporary Costume and Fashion Design
Agnès B. Bill Blass. Giorgio Armani. Gucci. Hardy Amies. Hubert de Givenchy. Prada. Ralph Lauren. Tom Ford. Vivienne Westwood. Some of these names may sound familiar. Some of them may not. However, all of these names have one thing in common: they formulated some of the most iconic costumes in film history. The role of the stylist and the costume designer has largely been underplayed in the eyes of the general public. However, their impact is huge. The fashion industry and the world of cinema are largely intertwined in a symbiotic way; contemporary film greatly influences fashion trends, and the current fashion industry guides costume designers toward certain costume choices to make them as relevant or innovative as they can be - even if the film is not set in the present day.
One of the most recent films that has been emblematic of the mutualistic symbiotic relationship between high fashion and contemporary film is The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013). The plot and themes of the film, while set in some unknown period, are very representative of the socioeconomic divides of today. There exists a large gap between the richest and poorest in this world, where the richest live in the Capital of the society and the poorest reside in the poverty-ridden districts that surround the Capital. The costume choices within this film were then set to make this divide more apparent to the viewer, and for these stark choices to be made, Trish Summerville was called upon as costume designer for the film. Summerville, in a risky but ultimately smart move, drew upon contemporary fashion’s most revolutionary designs to indicate the eccentric and excessive tastes of this possibly future dystopian upper class. Summerville was no stranger to colliding costume design with contemporary fashion when enlisted for the film as she was the first costume designer to collaborate on a high-street line for H&M, based on her designs for The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2011). As fashion designer Amber Butchart points out in her book The Fashion of Film, Summerville incorporated pieces from numerous fashion designers such as Iris van Herpen, Nicholas K, Juun J., Tex Saverio, Jan Taminiau and Alexander McQueen to give this avant-garde and innovative look to the fashion of those from the Capitol. This is exemplified by Elizabeth Banks’ character Effie Trinket, whose iconic costumes are a hallmark of her character. Towards the beginning of the film, a scene occurs that puts her character in direct contact with Jennifer Lawerence’s Katniss Everdeen. Their economic inequalities are highlighted by the contrast between Everdeen’s simple gray overalls and Trinket’s butterfly dress, which took inspiration from the Alexander McQueen Spring/Summer 2011 collection. This costume choice directly demonstrates the relationship that film has with fashion, but this film also contains an example of the inverse being true. Activewear brand Lucas High, which is known for its technological but stylistic fashion combinations, used the costumes they were commissioned to create for the film to inspire their own 2013-14 Autumn/Winter collection (Moorhouse). So, not only does this film contain costumes that are inspired by contemporary fashion, but it also contains costumes that inspire fashion later on.
Tom Ford is an excellent example of the melding of filmmaking and fashion. While only having two feature films to his name, A Single Man (2009) and Nocturnal Animals (2016), Ford was able to demonstrate his capabilities as a director and writer on films he was not even a costume designer for. Ford’s toe-dipping excursion was one of great success, where his transformation into a filmmaker was far more graceful than other costume designers. As Christopher Laverty stated in his compendium of fashion designers working in film, appropriately titled Fashion in Film, “Ford can… blend visual splendor with that most fundamental requirement of costume design: convey character”(Laverty 195). While Ford did not serve as a costume designer on his films, he enlisted the help of his longtime friend and accomplished costume designer Arianna Phillips, his history as a costume designer made his role as a director much more involved in the costume designing of the film. In addition, the characters within the film A Single Man sported the self-titled Tom Ford suits, further emphasizing the mark Ford left on the costumes within the film. That film went on to be a standout that year for its costuming, and despite the collaboration of Ford and Phillips, Ford credited Phillips solely for the costume design in the film.
However, Ford, or rather his suits, can also be used as an example of what happens when the relationship between costuming and fashion is misinterpreted. When costume designer Louise Frogley needed a clean suit for the newest James Bond installment Quantum of Solace (2008), Frogley sought out a Tom Ford suit to encase Daniel Craig’s large and muscular figure. With measurements like a 42-inch chest, Frogley brought in Ford to make a total of 11 changes to the suit to make sure it fit Craig properly. Frogley selected the Ford suit for its slim, but not overly contoured, look that she had seen on the catwalk. The suit fit Craig perfectly, highlighting Craig’s impressive body while not looking overly tight or form-fitting. When the next film in the James Bond saga rolled around, Skyfall (2012), Craig looked iconically tight and uncomfortable. It seemed as if costume designer Jany Temime did not understand the full context around the utilization of the Tom Ford suit in the prior film and was only looking to utilize it because of the name. This moment demonstrates how when the line between costume and fashion design is severed, the overall result is far worse. This is exemplified by the process used to create the suits for Skyfall, where in the last film Ford was an active participant in the design, Ford was just left to interpret Temime’s drawings and designs and make a suit based around them. This continued into the next film, Spectre (2015), where the classic slim-cut that Tom Ford suits were known for was completely replaced by an ill-fitting and short look sported by Craig’s Bond.
Sometimes, contemporary film needs to reflect a period not of its own, and one of the best ways to do this is through costuming. When production began on Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of The Great Gatsby (2013), period accuracy was integral to the film. Luhrmann wanted to ensure that everything within the film could be found within the period that it was set in, that being a period spanning the entire 1920s, and that carried over to costuming. For this, the costume designer on the film Catherine Martin summoned The Brooks Brothers, whose relationship with cinema had already been well established over their prolific and 128-year-long existence. This is the exact reason Martin chose to work with them since their long existence would allow them to have options that would be highly plausible costumes for the time within their catalog, while also still being fully operational and cooperative. The interesting part about this desire for period accuracy is the length of the period itself, as the decade the story spans saw large changes in fashion. To counteract this, Luhrmann and Martin decided to select a style that would remain accurate but also contemporarily pleasing. To do this, they called upon a different Martin: Martin Greenfield. At this point in his long career, Greenfield was a master tailor, so he was the perfect choice for someone who had the knowledge of the period and the skills to execute the required changes. As Laverty explains, the Brooks Brothers suits worn by the main characters, played by Leonardo Dicaprio and Tobey Maguire, are slim and form-fitting, which was in line with the contemporary trends for suits, and line with early-twenties style. This is opposed to the wider suits of the late twenties, which Martin chose to stray from as they would be too opposed to current fashion to even be seen as desirable or chic to an audience member. A wider cut would go in direct contrast to the ideas that the film is trying to portray around Gatsby. If the contemporary audience saw Gatsby wearing these large, wide suits they may interpret his character as clunky, out of the loop, or even unfashionable. However, the slim-cut look of Gatsby’s suits that are ultimately seen in the film plays to Gatsby’s fashionable, suave, and knowledgeable personality that the audience should interpret him to be. While audiences may not realize it, the costuming, both good and bad, of a character informs their assumptions about that character greatly.
Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom (2012), while set in 1965, inspired countless contemporary fashion shows through a nostalgic lens. Anderson’s excruciatingly detailed and precise style is not only reserved for his set design and his framing - it is also highlighted through the costume design within his films. Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom is an adequate sample of this attention to detail when it comes to costume design. Set on a New England Island and following a group of scouts and the nerdy Suzy Bishop, Anderson wanted to capture this nostalgic feeling through the main characters’ costumes. Costume designer Kasia Walicka-Maimone created the entire Scout wardrobe from scratch, in addition to Suzy’s Peter Pan collared dresses. The film was a hit with fashion designers from the start. Suzy inspired Clements Ribeiro’s Spring/Summer collection 2013 collection, which the designers described as being “off-kilter librarian chic”(Global Fashion News). The inspiration continued throughout that year as well as the next, where the Miu Miu catwalk for Spring/Summer 2014 saw the Suzy inspiration continue.
Anderson continued to inspire different fashion designers with his future films. Anderson’s indie aesthetic is something that carries over into his costuming frequently, with most of his films containing an air of thrifted style. This “hipster” aesthetic left a mark on the Autumn/Winter 2015-16 catwalks, leading publications like the Guardian to dictate that “an intimate knowledge of Anderson’s oeuvre is arguably the most fashionable boast you can have this winter”(Cochrane). This relationship with the fashion industry afforded Anderson many collaborations, like a three-part film project for Prada, or easy access to luxury brands for the costuming within his films as seen with the Fendi furs, a Prada black leather coat for Willem Dafoe, and custom Prada luggage - all featured in service of the early 20th-century aesthetic seen within The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014).
As a final example, a paper on how fashion and film relate could not possibly be concluded without discussing the Ben Stiller-directed comedy Zoolander (2001). The film follows Derek Zoolander, a male model who is mind-controlled by an evil fashion guru into killing a fictional prime minister who is choosing to speak up on issues in the world from a left-wing perspective. While the film’s roots are in comedy, the film contains carefully curated social commentary on issues such as the class divide. As Kit Dobson explains in his article, “Derelicte and the Oppressed: Zoolander, Hollywood, and Representing Activism,” Zoolander is a highly political film that “is caught up with a political problem that might lead to displaced forms of representation, its visual spectacle, juxtaposing poverty and opulence, illustrates a continuing problem in popular visual depictions of resistance and political struggle”(Dobson). The film plays off of the activism seen within the fashion industry through caricature representations of the working class and even homeless people. The fashion line within the film, titled “Derelicte,” showcases gray and brown clothing with tattered and torn patterns burdened by extra material, implying a layering of soiled clothes and pieces to protect against the weather. By conspiring to prevent the liberation of their workers, the industry ensures that they will remain marginalized even as it directly benefits from the "look" of poverty by charging exorbitant rates for the tattered clothing of the impoverished. This issue of a glorification of lower-income fashion continues today, with things like thrifting and the workwear brand Carhartt becoming increasingly popular as a means of replicating this hardened look. The commentary on the fashion industry within Zoolander is timeless, demonstrating an astute understanding of the industry.
The interwoven relationship between fashion and film is stronger than one might imagine, shaping characters, commentary, and catwalks alike. Exemplified by visionaries like Trish Summerville, whose avant-garde choices in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire drew inspiration from contemporary designers, and Tom Ford, whose understanding of both filmmaking and fashion made it easy for him to tell stories through costume design. Or, how in the Daniel Craig Bond films, costume missteps exemplify the importance of the link between fashion and costume design. From Baz Luhrmann's meticulous period accuracy in The Great Gatsby to Wes Anderson's indie-inspired, but also period-accurate, costumes in Moonrise Kingdom, the impact of costume design resonates beyond the screen, influencing runways and shaping fashion landscapes. Even in comedies like Ben Stiller's Zoolander, social commentary on the industry's relationship with class and poverty highlights the enduring relevance of film as a mirror to societal values. In this intricate dance between fabric and frames, costume designers emerge as architects of identity, crafting a visual language that not only narrates stories but also etches its mark on the ever-evolving canvas of style.