Halfway Mark: Achievements in Costume Design
Tuesday, July 5, 2016 at 4:05PM We've celebrated the male performances, the heroes and villains, cinematography & production design. So let's hit Nathaniel's (c'est moi) favorite craft category costume design, as we wrap up our halfway mark festivities this week (actresses still to come). Who would I choose and who might Oscar choose if the year had ended June 30th?
HALFWAY MARK BEAUTY BREAK ~ BEST COSTUME DESIGN
(January to June theatrical releases only)
Achievements in Overall Costume Design
If I were drawing up my year end ballot right now (January to June releases) I'd pick these five films though there will inevitably be strong competition to come -- will any of them be nominated at year's end?
The Neon Demon, Erin Benach
While Benach doesn't manage anything as iconic as her scorpion jacket for Drive, few films do so you can't hold that against this film. Between the dichotomous looks of the innocent ingenue (half sexual / half innocuous flowing girlie dresses) to the rigid couture of her rivals, there's lots of texture and color and editorial looks to consider.
Sing Street, Tiziana Corvisieri
Corvisieri pulls from a surprisingly wide range of styles in this film to trace the DIY looks of "Sing Street," the band within the film, and how their music video style translates into their schoolboy uniforms. Great fun on a costume level but always believably low-budget and "thrown together" (though they were surely well planned by Corviseri)
9 more honored costume designers after the jump...
A Bigger Splash, Giulia Piersanti
What's this, above? Oh nothing, just a simple black and white runway look to fetch groceries in. Most of the characters are costumed simply given the vacation home casualness of the story, but small details, like the bright colors and floral patterns for Penelope and the intricate and subtly edgy details of Marianne's looks like a curved seam where a straight one would be, paint a sharper picture of their lives beyond this summer retreat.
Hail, Caesar!, Mary Zophres
The film has a multitude of Hollywood types who get showcases for only two scenes or less. From Scarlett Johansson's mermaid tail, to Tatum's gay sailor paints, through Tilda's eye catching hats, an on to the broad gags of Clooney's Roman garb and Ehrenreich's cowboy -- this is arguably the most fun Zophres has had on a Coen brothers picture since The Big Lebowski.
The Witch, Linda Muir
These costumes aren't interested in showboating but their period simplicity works. The materials look uncomfortable even for the most utilitarian types of clothing meant for comfort (i.e. nightgowns). Is Thomasin's tight bodice with peekaboo cleavage a nod to her teenage unruliness, the devil's influence, or just the sign of a young woman outgrowing her clothing in a family/religion so fearful of sex that no one wants to discuss it outside of the occasional rebuke?
BONUS LIST: And because we think about these things what would the Academy choose if we were drawing up this list right now with January to June eligible releases? We're betting they'd go with: Hail Caesar! (Mary Zophres), Love and Friendship (Eimer Ni Mhaoldomhnaigh), The Witch (Linda Muir), and a double whammy of Colleen Atwood because they can't help themselves with Alice Through the Looking Glass and The Huntsman Winter's War though, for our tastes, the once mighty Atwood has moved well past her gifts for iconography and personal branding and is now firmly in the wilderness of self parody. The woman needs a vacation... or a few collaborators to challenge her who hate puffy shoulders and aren't the least bit interested in Burtonesque fantasy.
6 Achievements in Individual Character Costuming
(Excluding characters from the nominated films above)
"Nancy" in The Shallows - Kym Barrett, Costume Designer
Challenge: design a single costume that has to be worn for an entire film but can still serve multiple purposes of action, character detail, plot points, and some minor starsploitation for good measure. Barrett (best known for The Matrix) absolutely aces the challenge.
"Wonder Woman" in Batman v Superman - Michael Wilkinson, Costume Designer
I don't like what Zach Snyder has done to DC's Big Three BUT you can't argue that Wilkinson isn't ingenius in serving Snyder's flawed vision. Take for instance Batman. The hyperhistrionic masculinity results in a glowing eyed Hulkbuster style suit without Iron Man's humor. But you can't argue Wilkinson isn't great with unconventional materials and technologically challenging costume work (He also recently did the Tron costumes). On set photography continually reveals that Wilkinson's superhero costumes have more visual flair (particularly more color) than we're allowed to see in Snyder's movies due to that forever murky "this is as serious film!" cinematography. Our Amazon goddess's bird brassiere, and WW logo are modernized without being jokey and the textiles are just right for Snyder's take. She even keeps her color coding (red, gold, and blue) though you have to squint to really make out their place in the costume.
"T'challa" in Captain America: Civil War - Judianna Makovsky, Costume Designer
While we're not generally fans of superhero costumes that make it possible for the actor to stay in their trailer while stunt people film every action film (not that Chadwick Boseman did that), Madovsky's ultra sleek and strong black cat look with silver detailing is a leonine beauty. It's got just enough comic book ridiculous and just enough danger, and it moves beautifully.
"Michelle Darnell" in The Boss - Wendy Chuck, Costume Designer
Chuck is almost never given an assignment this showy (more typical credits include Alexander Payne movies and last year's Spotlight) and the costuming motifs for Melissa McCarthy's financial guru are quite fun including not just the turtlenecks but the way the scarves get more and more elaborate and giant (until they morph into a huge red bow.) It's "don't look at my neck" camouflage but funny because it's self sabotaging -- the neck is all you can look at!
"Aline Berstein" in Genius - Jane Petrie, Costume Designer
We'll try lemons into lemonade. Here we go. Genius is a real stinker of a movie and filmed through that scuzzy colorless scrim we are growing to outright loathe in contemporary cinema (REPEAT ON LOOP, FILMMAKERS: DARK AND MONOTONE DOES NOT MAKE YOU SERIOUS, PRESTIGIOUS, OR AN IMPORTANT MOVIE). It absolutely fails the Bechdel test despite an entire scene featuring two of our favorite actress, Nicole Kidman and The Lovely Laura Linney, in a face-to-face dining confrontation. Petrie's main task in the film is a series of suits for a fastidious well-to-do editor (Colin Firth) and looser messier ones for his sloppy drunk genius discovery (Jude Law) and that works just fine. Petrie's showstopper is this look that Nicole Kidman wears in her introductory shot. Before we know anything about her character we know that she's a) not afraid to stand out in a crowd b) something of a predator or possibly unwitting prey-- that poor fox and c) rolling in the money. Yes, Nicole Kidman always wears costumes well. But given the terrible treatment of her rich divorcee outcast (scandal: she dumped her husband to take up with this crazy impoverished writer -- a Moulin Rouge! reversal) by the screenplay, we have to have something to latch on to and she looks great in Petrie's costumes.
"Dr. Liang" in High-Rise - Odile Dicks-Mireaux, Costume Designer
Dicks-Mireaux has a lot of opportunity to show off in High-Rise but atypically her men's wear is more exciting than the women's wear. Dr Liang's (Tom Hiddleston's) crisp tight-white dress shirts get a work out in this movie and look great whether ripped off, smooth and starched, or paint splattered. In fact, a question: has a crisp white dress shirt ever been so downright obscene in a movie. Liang just exudes sex.
What are your favorite costumes from the film year thus far?
Reader Comments (9)
Everything that Tyler Hoechlin wears in Everybody Wants Some!!!
Peggy Sue -- good call. That halfshirt. my my my
Just saw a bigger splash and the fits so those are fresh on the mind. Co-sign Tilda's costumes although I could have used less of Dakota's nipples (even if they work for the character). Special achievement to the dance troupe costumes in the fits finale: perfectly serving the beautiful/disturbing nature of the scene. From this year I also enjoyed Julianne Moore's costumes in Maggie's Plan: everything she wore oozed wealth, discipline, and elegance, with a hint of European "otherness." She is a woman to admire and fear.
I watched the Dressmaker on a plane and my god the costumes in that movie. Thank goodness for a film that celebrates Kate Winslet's beauty (her ability to wear the shit out of a dress was, I think, an undervalued element in Titanic). But the rest of the costumes serve the stories and characters so well also.
Captain Fantastic (theatrical release July 8) will likely land on the second half list, but since I've already seen it I have to mention Courtney Hoffman's work here, from the kids' homemade/cobbled together outfits to Viggo's vintage T-shirts and the Red Suit. Marvelous.
If I were to toss out four additional ones to possibly do a full top 10? 1. The mega cheap looking "Deadpool mark 1" suit from Deadpool. (Yes, the classic suit is also really good, but Mark 1 is the most interesting single costume of the film.) 2. Spider-Man, Captain America: Civil War. 3. Psylocke, X-Men: Apocalypse. 4. Something from Mugatu in Zoolander 2.
I loved the costumes for "Hail Caesar" the most, but I like the fact that you gave some notice to "The Boss" and "High-Rise".
I found "The Dressmaker" to be wonderful and agree that had it been more widely seen it would get some well deserved praise for great costumes.
Btw. Wonder Woman basically stole that entire look from Xena Warrior Princess so I don't think they should be rewarded for copying.
For reasons that continue to elude me we have yet to see THE DRESSMAKER here in the States though it seems to have done well everywhere else.
Tilda's costumes in A Bigger Splash were glorious. I wanted her entire wardrobe even though I couldn't wear it as well as she does, of course. I loved her hats in Hail Caesar, too.
Individual costuming to Doris, as in Hello, My Name is.