11 Movie Costumes That Were Just As Important As The Actors Themselves

And the Academy Award for Best Costume Design goes to… The creators of the most accurate historical costumes. Often, we direct attention only to the winners and forget about the other nominees. To the victors, glory. To the losers, neglect. Well, it’s time to change that story: non-winning productions are also worthy of recognition for the beautiful work done. The characters’ clothes are not only components of the aesthetic, but also of the plot.

The wording of awesome.club is looking for justice. Therefore, it will present below some of the nominees for the Oscar for Best Costume Design of the last ten years. Check out!

Costume Designer — Janet Patterson.

The costumes of the main character, Fanny Brown, were the ones that gained the most attention. Patterson tried to convey—through clothing—the heroine’s personality, emotions, and afflictions.

An example: in the scene where Fanny and her lover, John, are caught in the rain, the girl is wearing a pink dress. The designer had to look carefully for an appropriate fabric—one that would wear out a lot when wet. The scene portrayed a moment of betrayal. The right costume would intensify the dramatic effect. And that’s what happened: Fanny’s beautiful dress turned into something like an old floorcloth.

Costume Designer — Jenny Beavan.

The film tells a story that happened more than 70 years ago. The actors, for the most part, had to wear clothes of equivalent age. The historic costumes were rented and repaired, as the vast majority were too worn out.

According to Beavan, some actors did not feel comfortable in period clothing. It was as if they were wearing costumes; it didn’t feel natural. Therefore, historical accuracy had to be sacrificed in favor of lightness and simplicity. For example, the heroine played by Helena Bonham Carter preferred dresses in bright colors. For the actress, however, the result fell far short of expectations. Clothes in darker tones were then chosen so that the character would appear more believable to the public.

Costume Designer — Michael O’Connor.

O’Connor is famous for his intricate and detailed costumes, as in the movie the duchess🇧🇷 In jane eyre, however, the objective was different. The main character’s style should be uncomplicated and unpretentious. To achieve the purpose, the designer focused on the following: Jane’s dress needs to portray the inner essence of the character – which would be difficult to achieve with dense, exuberant costumes and full of decorations.

For the character of Mia Wasikowska, a special outfit was developed, which was underneath the dress: tights and a corset. The director wanted to film Mia taking her clothes off, so it was important to have underwear that matched the period.

Costume designer — Paco Delgado.

When he received the proposal to design the costumes for the film, Delgado said: “My God, how much work!” It was no exaggeration: the costumes had to be created from scratch—virtually for every character in the musical. In addition, the design team (about 50 people) also had to do some historical research, as the film encompassed a rather long period: from 1815 to 1848. The characters’ clothes therefore needed to reflect the stylistic changes with the pass time.

Delgado’s first wish was to dress everyone in black since the history of that time was quite dark. However, the director needed color. So the designer opted for a vibrant color scheme with an emphasis on saturated blue.

Costume Designer — Michael O’Connor.

The designer researched the fashion of the time (mid-nineteenth century): he studied and analyzed films and photographs from the period. One of the peculiarities of the film is that the actors did not change costumes; it was the same outfit with just a few different details. This is a tribute to history: people didn’t have money to buy many dresses. Whenever they left the house, they added some accessory or detail to the outfit to make it look like new.

Costume Designer — Jacqueline Durran.

The film is full of historical details. One of the most important, the costumes. One person was in charge of researching the scenery and clothing components. She was hired two years before the designers started work.

Special mention: the character Hannah Danby — a maid who never leaves the house and who is in love with the main character. Compared to William Turner’s other mistresses, this woman must have looked ‘poor’ and ‘dowdy’.

Durran reflected and decided: in real life, such a person would always wear the same dress. At most two. For this, Hannah won two costumes. One, in good condition. Another, totally destroyed. In this way, aesthetics helped to express the degradation of the character throughout her relationship with the protagonist.

Costume Designer — Sandy Powell.

The plot takes place around Carol, the protagonist. To differentiate her from the other female characters in the film, the designer resorted to a trick: she added details of men’s clothing to the actress’s costume. It was a strategy for the viewer to perceive Carol as an independent and self-sufficient woman.

Another peculiarity: the heroine always painted her nails red. And the manicure was impeccable. In the photo, you can see the difference between the nails of the two characters.

Throughout the film, the director emphasizes the hands. The viewer notices that Carol is not the type of person who does physical work — and probably never has: cleaning the bathroom, sweeping the floor, doing the laundry. Her friend, on the other hand, represents the opposite.

Costume Designer — Consolata Boyle.

How to recreate the atmosphere of New York at the beginning of the 20th century, where the famous opera singer Florence Foster Jenkins lived? With a lot of effort and sweat. That’s what Boyle’s team did: they studied historical documents in depth and analyzed images of Florence herself—mostly photos of what she wore onstage. A priori, there wasn’t much difference between everyday life and life on stage. The singer had a passion for exotic fabrics and styles.

All of the costumes featured in the film were created from scratch.

Costume Designer — Consolata Boyle.

The main difficulty for the designer was to remain faithful to the historical representation. The queen wore very dark clothes as she was mourning the death of her husband. Sacrificing facts for more color was not an option. Boyle then opted for the following: keep the color palette but change the textures. The clothing now has greater contrast and dimension due to the added elements.

The costume design helped the viewer to assimilate the nuances in the characters’ relationships throughout the film. The difference was noticeable in the queen’s attire. At the beginning of the story, there were only dark elements. In the end, lighter accessories — mainly in white colors. This strategy was important to reinforce the transition from mourning to overcoming sadness.

Costume Designer — Sandy Powell.

All of the film’s costumes were created from scratch in just six weeks. The film’s budget was low, so the designers chose cheap materials and a limited color palette: black and white. The jewelry was actually cheap costume jewelry. Part of them made by hand. Another, custom-made artificial pearls.

Many fabrics were purchased from second-hand stores. An example: the cook’s outfit (pictured above) was sewn from old jeans, bought in popular stores.

The film did not seek to accurately represent historical facts.

Costume Designer — Arianne Phillips.

Arianne developed an interesting concept for the clothes of the main characters: a kind of talisman. You looks were more memorable. The personality of the heroes, more evident.

Rick Dalton, starring Leonardo DiCapro, won a medallion. On one side, the image of the Tudor rose. On the other, the letter “R”. The character wore a belt, whose buckle also contained the inscription of the letter “R”. According to Phillips, people who wear monogrammed clothing are generally arrogant and narcissistic. And Rick was exactly like that.

Cliff Booth also had an image on his belt buckle: the stunt association emblem. In addition, Brad Pitt’s character wore a Hawaiian shirt – one of the most famous Hawaiian shirts, created by Tarantino.

When watching a movie, do you notice the clothes of the characters? What message do the costumes convey to you? Comment!