Phantom Thread: When bad fashion is good costume design

by Cláudio Alves

There are many ways to talk about Phantom Thread. My favorite Paul Thomas Anderson production is, among other things, one of the best films about romantic love I've ever seen, looking at the way that loving another person is to willingly become vulnerable to them. To love is, in essence, to open ourselves up to the possibility of mutually assured destruction. The picture is also a canny dissection of the muse/artist relationship, one that illuminates matters of obsession, dynamics between the sexes, the luxuriant pleasure of touching silk, and gazing upon that which is beautiful. It's all that and much more, a multifaceted jewel of cinema about which I could write endless rhapsodies of passionate praise.

Still, for this piece, let's look at the aspect of the movie that earned one of its makers an Oscar (and a jet ski). I invite you all to peruse the costumes Mark Bridges created for Phantom Thread, a film which proves that lackluster fashion can be masterful costume design…

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Sandy Powell as an auteur and the splendor of 2002

by Cláudio Alves

Auteur theory may be important, but it has clear limitations. Cinema is an intrinsically collaborative art form and the creation of the cinematic object often involves the work of numerous artists brought together by a common creative mission. To point at one of those minds as the singular visionary of a film is, in part, to erase the authorship of the others. Over the years, scholars, critics, and casual cinephiles have argued for the auteur description to be expanded beyond directors, often signaling actors and writers as good candidates for that same validation. I'd argue that all sorts of contributors to the construction of cinema can be seen as artists who bring their authorial voice to their filmography.

For example, costume designers like Sandy Powell may putatively work for their director's grand vision. However, if you look at their filmography, you see recurrent obsessions and mechanisms, repeated themes, and the development of a personal aesthetic that transcends the limits of directorial intent. Since we're celebrating the year of 2002 because of the impending Supporting Actress Smackdown, I invite you all to consider Powell's authorship as we explore her fabulous designs in Gangs of New York and Far from Heaven…

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Costume sketches for film characters

Costume Designer Daniel Orlandi is guest-blogging all day!

by Daniel Orlandi

I thought I'd share a few random sketches from past movies and TV specials.

Philip Seymour Hoffman as Busty Rusty in Flawless
Director Joel Schumacher was a former costume designer. So he was great to work with. He gave me a lot of confidence as a designer. Robert DeNiro recommended me for the job...

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5 Things I Learned From Bob Mackie

SPECIAL GUEST STAR DAY. Please welcome Costume Designer Daniel Orlandi (Ford V Ferrari, Trumbo) who has taken over the blog for the day -- Editor

Bob Mackie (left) and me at the 1981 Oscars

by Daniel Orlandi

Let's start at the beginning! About a year after graduating from Carnegie Mellon a couple of college friends and I drove to LA from NYC because it seemed like our friends in LA were working a lot more than we were. A month later I got a call to work in Bob Mackie's shop for two days to help with a Las Vegas show. I ended up making G strings! After I finished, the head of his workroom asked me to organize all of Bob's trims and fabrics that had been neglected for awhile. I guess Bob was impressed. He was looking for an assistant on Pennies From Heaven (1981) and he hired me with no film experience at all.  I ended up staying for 8 years. To watch he and his partner Ray Aghayan work was an invaluable education. It seemed like every star walked through the doors of their studio. 

 Here are five things I learned in those earliest years of my career that are my best advice for young professionals...

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Adrian, God of Glamour

by Cláudio Alves

Born Adrian Adolph Greenberg, the designer best known as Adrian was one of the most influential costumers in Hollywood history. After working in his family business of millinery, Adrian went on to study costume design in New York and Paris and later found work dressing the starlets of Broadway. His talents soon took him to Hollywood, where he found a home from the mid-1920s to the 1940s, designing the costumes for many an MGM classic. Throughout his tenure in Tinsel Town, Adrian perfected the on and offscreen looks of such great divas as Greta Garbo, Norma Shearer, Myrna Loy, Jean Harlow, Vivien Leigh, Ingrid Bergman, Lana Turner, Judy Garland, Hedy Lamarr, and others. Among them, his most essential collaborator and muse was the one and only Joan Crawford…

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