Interview: Joker's Costume Designer Mark Bridges

by Nathaniel R

Mark Bridges with Joker costumes

Mark Bridges film career began, as so many have, rather inauspicously. His debut was a now forgotten horror film called Waxwork II: Lost in Time (1992) but there's no keeping talent like his down... though it never hurts to attach yourself straight away to a future god-level auteur like Paul Thomas Anderson. Bridges was on board for Anderson's feature debut Hard Eight (1996) and the celebrated auteur wisely never let go of him thereafter. Inbetween Anderson films (and on them in point of fact) Bridges established himself as a world class costume designer of tremendous versatility, with a gift for not just memorable clothing but character-building.

His latest film, Joker, became his most widely viewed work and then an Academy favourite. We had a chance to talk to the two-time Oscar winner (Phantom Thread, The Artist) this past week about his design process, his favourites from his own filmography, and why he loves his job so much...

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Tarantino's Best Costumes

by Cláudio Alves

Despite some misgivings regarding this year’s highly unimaginative Best Costume Design line-up, there's much to rejoice about that Oscar category. One of the biggest reasons to celebrate is Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood's deserved nod for Arianne Phillips’ designs. As it happens, this is the first time any Quentin Tarantino film has been nominated for this particular award. Considering the director's ability to create memorable images and influential bits of cinematic iconography, this is somewhat preposterous. Better late than never.

Still, to shed light on the many costume delights of Tarantino's colorful oeuvre, here's a list of the ten best costumes in this director's films…

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Alternative Best Costume Design Ballots

by Cláudio Alves

The Best Costume Design category at the Oscars tends to be a place where one can find idiosyncratic choices. While it's true the Academy has a taste for the extravagant and period-looking, the Costume Branch is usually unafraid of celebrating films otherwise ignored. That's how we get such wonderful nods like those for Bright Star's Regency fashions, I Am Love's early aughts glamour, Jane Eyre 's Victorian severity, and Mirror Mirror's fairytale lunacy.

This year, for the first time in the category's history, all five nominees are Best Picture contenders. The arguable quality of the designs aside, this is a sad state of affairs that makes the usually cool Best Costume Design category look tediously similar to all the others. In an attempt to right the Academy's wrongs and offer a more varied look at 2019's achievements in film Costume Design, here's an alternative set of nominees, none of which were shortlisted by the Academy...

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A Celebration of Jacqueline Durran

by Murtada Elfadl

Florence Pugh and Durran on the set of Little Women

Though not as well known as preeminent costume designers and Oscar-magnets Sandy Powell and Colleen Atwood, Jacqueline Durran has quietly been building a stellar reputation over a two decade career. She is best known for her collaborations with Mike Leigh and Joe Wright, though in the last few years she's expanded her repertoire of directors and costumed movies such as Macbeth, Beauty and the Beast and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

This year she worked with Sam Mendes in creating WW1 military garb in 1917 and with Greta Gerwig dressing the March sisters in Little Women. The latter marks her 7th Oscar nomination. She's won once before.   Let’s take a look back at some of the highlights of her career...

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Year in Review: Style Icons of the Big Screen

by Cláudio Alves

As an obsessive list-maker, to write a top ten for The Film Experience's Year in Review was more of a dream come true than a challenge. As we're in festive times, I decided to give myself a gift, by fusing one obsession with another. Cinema, costume design and list-making all consumed my Christmas Eve afternoon in a haze of sartorial glory. Looking back at the movies of 2019, from opulent period pieces to humble contemporary dramas, I went in search of the year's greatest style icons. Not those of real life, obviously, but the ones who graced the silver screen.

In decades to come, we may look at them as we now look at Darth Vader's sinister countenance or Holly Golightly's Givenchy clad figure. Who knows? More than predicting future icon-status, this is a list of personal favorites, though.

Without further ado, let's celebrate 2019's style icons, but first, some honorary mentions…

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