Films that made me want to be a costume designer
Monday, May 18, 2020 at 4:30PM Costume Designer Daniel Orlandi Guest Blog Day. Here's Daniel...
Growing up in New Jersey I started to sneak into Manhattan at a very young age to see Broadway shows which made me want to be a set designer. Bu it was at the movies where I fell in love with costumes. My parents both loved movies and they took me with them as it was cheaper than getting a sitter. I can watch a film as an adult and think “Oh wow that's what the film was about. Suzie Wong was a prostitute!” Movies theaters were also my Saturday afternoon activity. Mom would drop me off and pick me up after she ran her errands.
I loved the Doris Day and Rock Hudson films and all their imitations. The film where I first really noticed costume design was The Art Of Love (1965). I saw it so many times as it was the second feature Saturday afternoon for so many other films...
Ray Aghayan designed the costumes. To my young eye they were fabulous! Angie Dickinson is introduced by a shot of her on a divan starting on her feet and slowly panning up her flare bottomed backless gold bugle beaded jumpsuit. Divine!
Later, when I was working with Bob Mackie and Ray, we went went to see Edith Head present a runway show with her costumes. My beloved Jumpsuit came out as she announced it as Sophia Loren’s from a film she did with her. I was incensed, but Bob just laughed. Edith had access to all of the archives at Universal. (By the way in retrospect The Art of Love is not really a very good film.)
Other films that influenced me...
Seeing films like Death in Venice with accurate and beautiful period costumes made me really appreciate the craft with a whole new appreciation. Audrey Hepburn films, Funny Face with those gorgeous Givenchy colors and for me, one of the most stylish films of all time Two for The Road, perfection.
Some times when asked what film costumes are my favorite I might say All The Presidents Men. For me it’s the perfectly designed film. Unobtrusive, spare with such well defined character. When I was working on Game Change (2012) the authors of the book came in to play reporters. I had a brown knit tie for John Heilemann to wear… and he brought one, too. We laughed as he said ‘I always like to wear that tie because Robert Redford wore one in the film.’ That’s the same reason I like to give reporters one! I try and keep the restraint of All the President’s Men in my mind when working on certain projects not to let the costumes get in the way of the story.
The Wizard of Oz. The genius of Adrian... 80 years later it still looks so fresh.
The Unsinkable Molly Brown. When I was in College I sketched 3 whores in Threepenny Opera not realizing I had sort of copied the bar girls from Molly Brown and I hadn’t seen the film since I was a young kid. I guess it really stuck with me.
And of course…
What a Way to Go! (1964) The most outrageous costumey-costumes of all time. (It’s the opposite of All the President’s Men). The costumes are the star of that film!
Reader Comments (10)
Daniel: One of my favourite movies from a costumes perspective is Heathers.
Modern films (for their time) like All the President's Men never get enough praise or attention. So many in recent years have impressed like Knives Out, Assassination Nation, even Charlie's Angels.
Tony -- it's so true. It's even hard for them to get attention from people who appreciate contemporary work. Like i was reading this and was like "all the president's men???" so yeah. you really have to pay attention to notice the brilliant work some designers due on contemporary films but it's worth doing so.
volvagia -- ooh, that's a good one, also from the contemporary can be brilliant, too, perspective.
Daniel: So nice to see you mention Death in Venice, one of my favourite films from a costume design perspective. Piero Tosi really deserved the Honorary Oscar he got a few years ago.
And your comments on All the President's Men are thought-provoking.
What a Way to Go! is amazing.
"What A Way To Go" uses costumes for laughs.
A big YES to What a Way to Go! The costumes in every segment are fabulous and fascinating and pitch perfect to set the mood of that particular husband's story.
All are great but my favorite by far is the Robert Mitchum portion with the eye popping Lush Budgett sequence. Just the sheer volume of changes is mind blowing. Gene Kelly's Pinky Benson and it's preponderance of pink is a close second as is the wild stuff Shirley wears as Paul Newman's muse.
I enjoyed The Art of Love for what it is but you're right objectively it's not that good a picture.
What a Way to Go! is such a zany movie and the costumes really rise to the occasion of matching that zaniness. That pink number (recently paid homage to by Lizzo at the Met Gala) is so striking! I haven't seen All The President's Men, but I love seeing contemporary and understated costuming singled out for the role it plays in story-telling.
Wow, Funny Face, Two For The Road, and What A Way To Go! all mentioned in the same remembrance. All three of these are in small group of favorites along with things like West Side Story, and The Young Girls of Rochefort for really putting the costuming front and center and yet being part (the best part) of an overall project.
Hmm, I could watch that Lush Budgett sequence every night and I've always been miffed that it's shown in pan and scan most of the time. Talk about missing the point!
James Garner from 1958-1969...wow.