Contents

1 THE ART OF BECOMINGWhat is costume design? 48Deborah Nadoolman Landis

Moving pictures, silent movies and the art of William Hogarth 56Aileen Ribeiro

Designing The Last Emperor 68James Acheson

The process of transformation 72Kristin M. Burke

Designing for the Coen Brothers 76Mary Zophres

Transformations: Johnny Depp 80Keith Lodwick

Creative collaborations 84 Edith Head and Alfred Hitchcock Martin Scorsese and Sandy Powell Mike Nichols and Ann Roth Tim Burton and Colleen Atwood

Sponsor’s foreword 9

Preface 11Debbie Reynolds

Setting the scene: a short history of Hollywood costume design 1910–2012 12Deborah Nadoolman Landis

2 DEFINING THE CHARACTERThe costume of silent comedy 94David Robinson

Sound comedy: louder and funnier 106John Landis

Silhouettes of seduction 110Jean Druesedow

Hollywood and history 126Edward Maeder

Banton’s beauties 132Deborah Nadoolman Landis

Costume and fashion 138Valerie Steele

Beaton’s Fair Lady 146Keith Lodwick

Unfashioning costume design 150Booth Moore

Transformations: Robert de Niro 158Keith Lodwick

Transformations: Meryl Streep 162Keith Lodwick

Ann Roth in conversation 168Peter Biskind

3 COllECTORs & COllECTINGThe exhibition odyssey 178Deborah Nadoolman Landis

Looking behind the wizard’s curtain 188Christopher Frayling

The treasure hunt 202Keith Lodwick

Showcasing the talent 212Sam Gatley

A collectors’ tale 216Larry McQueen

A studio perspective 228Deidre Thieman

Actress and collector 236Debbie Reynolds

Blades 242Christopher Frayling

Gunslingers 246Christopher Frayling

90027, Hollywood is a zip code: the LA connection 252Beth Werling

4 NEw FRONTIERsAfterlife: ensuring the enduring interest of a web audience 264Chris Laverty

Why design? 272Jeffrey Kurland

Fantasy, sci-fi and superheroes 280Jacob McMurray

The challenges of Mocap and CGI 294Joanna Johnston

Notes 306

Further reading 309

Filmography 310

Acknowledgements 314

Index 316

Picture credits 320

Contents

1 THE ART OF BECOMINGWhat is costume design? 48Deborah Nadoolman Landis

Moving pictures, silent movies and the art of William Hogarth 56Aileen Ribeiro

Designing The Last Emperor 68James Acheson

The process of transformation 72Kristin M. Burke

Designing for the Coen Brothers 76Mary Zophres

Transformations: Johnny Depp 80Keith Lodwick

Creative collaborations 84 Edith Head and Alfred Hitchcock Martin Scorsese and Sandy Powell Mike Nichols and Ann Roth Tim Burton and Colleen Atwood

Sponsor’s foreword 9

Preface 11Debbie Reynolds

Setting the scene: a short history of Hollywood costume design 1910–2012 12Deborah Nadoolman Landis

2 DEFINING THE CHARACTERThe costume of silent comedy 94David Robinson

Sound comedy: louder and funnier 106John Landis

Silhouettes of seduction 110Jean Druesedow

Hollywood and history 126Edward Maeder

Banton’s beauties 132Deborah Nadoolman Landis

Costume and fashion 138Valerie Steele

Beaton’s Fair Lady 146Keith Lodwick

Unfashioning costume design 150Booth Moore

Transformations: Robert de Niro 158Keith Lodwick

Transformations: Meryl Streep 162Keith Lodwick

Ann Roth in conversation 168Peter Biskind

3 COllECTORs & COllECTINGThe exhibition odyssey 178Deborah Nadoolman Landis

Looking behind the wizard’s curtain 188Christopher Frayling

The treasure hunt 202Keith Lodwick

Showcasing the talent 212Sam Gatley

A collectors’ tale 216Larry McQueen

A studio perspective 228Deidre Thieman

Actress and collector 236Debbie Reynolds

Blades 242Christopher Frayling

Gunslingers 246Christopher Frayling

90027, Hollywood is a zip code: the LA connection 252Beth Werling

4 NEw FRONTIERsAfterlife: ensuring the enduring interest of a web audience 264Chris Laverty

Why design? 272Jeffrey Kurland

Fantasy, sci-fi and superheroes 280Jacob McMurray

The challenges of Mocap and CGI 294Joanna Johnston

Notes 306

Further reading 309

Filmography 310

Acknowledgements 314

Index 316

Picture credits 320

16 hollywood costume

‘ Adrian was my favourite designer. He and I had the same sense of ‘smell’ about what

clothes should do and what they should say.’kathaRiNe hepbuRN

17setting the scene: a short history of costume design

opposite7 tracy lord (katharine hepburn)The Philadelphia Story, 1940Costume designer adrian

left 8 anni pavlovitch (Joan Crawford)The Bride Wore Red, 1937Costume designer adrian

above9 Joan Crawford with one of adrian’s designs for The Bride Wore Red, 1937

16 hollywood costume

‘ Adrian was my favourite designer. He and I had the same sense of ‘smell’ about what

clothes should do and what they should say.’kathaRiNe hepbuRN

17setting the scene: a short history of costume design

opposite7 tracy lord (katharine hepburn)The Philadelphia Story, 1940Costume designer adrian

left 8 anni pavlovitch (Joan Crawford)The Bride Wore Red, 1937Costume designer adrian

above9 Joan Crawford with one of adrian’s designs for The Bride Wore Red, 1937

values. it is the success or failure in telling a story that makes a film a classic or instantly forgettable. Whether it scared us, made us laugh or cry or just amazed us, the finished product, the film itself, is what makes these clothes in Hollywood Costume so special.

mary lea Bandy, retired director of the film Department at the museum of modern art, once asked me: ‘isn’t there a better word for what you do than “costume”?’ her point hit home. the word ‘costume’ summons images of halloween, carnival, circus and masked balls, where it is decorative, embellished, and an intrinsic part of spectacle. But cinema costuming aspires to be much more than superficial style. the characters are just like us – with a life lived before each film begins. Our clothes are inextricably part of our identity and our memory. the costume designer and actor search for that truth together. When robert De niro was honoured with an american film institute lifetime achievement award, martin Scorsese said: ‘to be certain, he has an extraordinary genius to be able to transform himself, to undergo a metamorphosis, and to simply be, just Be the person he’s playing.’

the clothes in Hollywood Costume are memorable because of the rich collaborative film-making process that creates great movies. costumes are one tool that the film-maker has to tell the story. nothing in the film frame is arbitrary and nothing is allowed to get in the way of the script. the ‘best’ costume design may be invisible. Director Sidney lumet captured the essence when he said, ‘Good style, to me, is unseen style. it is style that is felt.’ Dorothy’s gingham dress instantly brings that particular mGm picture to mind. the hat and leather jacket belonging to indiana Jones and holly Golightly’s little black dress will always be identi-fied with the films in which they appear (Raiders of the Lost Ark and Breakfast at Tiffany’s) and the actors who played those characters (harrison ford and audrey hepburn). Our expectation is to be entirely seduced, and that is what the film-maker must deliver if he or she expects us to care about their journey, to love the film and to elevate the characters into icons.

it’s a story point, dresses from head to toe with one designer all bought three weeks ago at Barneys. You wear something from five years ago, you have something favorite, you mix this, you mix that, something got a little tight on you, something’s more worn than something else. that’s what clothes are about. that’s what we have to accomplish designing modern costumes.115

fashion’s ever-passionate love affair with hollywood heated up. this symbiotic relationship benefits fashion designers by associat-ing their name with a film and an actor and by giving them licence to market clothes popularized by a film; and it benefits the producer by providing cash to offset costs, clothing and free advertising. the sacrifice can be the integrity of the story and the film. the director and the costume designer may argue vigorously against the intru-sion of fashion labels and product placement, while the producer may be faced with a choice between making art and making money. most just try to do their best not to lose money.

audiences continue to want to dress like their favourite stars. the green bias-cut gown created by costume designer Jacqueline Durran for Atonement (2007; plate 315) spawned thousands of copies, introducing bright green to the prom dress market seen at graduation parties everywhere in 2007. With a modern sensibility aimed at re-creating the height of the Golden age, Durran said, ‘We used a modern aesthetic with ’30s shapes. We literally made everything for the ’30s scenes, finding original costumes and using shapes from that era remade with modern fabrics.’116

the 2000s have provided hollywood costume designers much to sing about. colleen atwood has continued her role as muse to directors tim Burton and rob marshall. Of her collabo-ration with marshall for Chicago (2002; plate 306) she has said:

rob definitely had a vision of the film, but as far as specifics about the costumes, he was very open to what i thought. We tried to keep a contrast between the real world roxie lived in and the imagined world of the stage. it’s like a parallel universe.117

for Dreamgirls (2006), designer Sharen Davis worked closely with the film’s stars:

Beyoncé said the costumes forced her into a position of such uprightness that it gave her absolute confidence in what she was doing as a performer, while Jennifer [hudson] said it made her feel like a Barbie, and made her stand up straight, which she didn’t like to do!118

conclusion

Over the past century hollywood films have become part of our shared global mythology. During the Golden age of hollywood the talent and craftsmanship at work in the major studios were of such a high calibre that even the ‘B-pictures’ displayed a level of storytelling that remains unequalled. costume designers today continue to work in motion pictures using the same creative process and

hollywood costume42

opposite 37 Jack Dawson (leonardo DiCaprio)Titanic, 1997Costume designer Deborah l. scott

above 38 Rose DeWitt bukater (kate Winslet)Titanic, 1997Costume designer Deborah l. scott

right 39 sketch for Rose DeWitt bukater Titanic, 1997Costume designer Deborah l. scottillustrator David le Vey

values. it is the success or failure in telling a story that makes a film a classic or instantly forgettable. Whether it scared us, made us laugh or cry or just amazed us, the finished product, the film itself, is what makes these clothes in Hollywood Costume so special.

mary lea Bandy, retired director of the film Department at the museum of modern art, once asked me: ‘isn’t there a better word for what you do than “costume”?’ her point hit home. the word ‘costume’ summons images of halloween, carnival, circus and masked balls, where it is decorative, embellished, and an intrinsic part of spectacle. But cinema costuming aspires to be much more than superficial style. the characters are just like us – with a life lived before each film begins. Our clothes are inextricably part of our identity and our memory. the costume designer and actor search for that truth together. When robert De niro was honoured with an american film institute lifetime achievement award, martin Scorsese said: ‘to be certain, he has an extraordinary genius to be able to transform himself, to undergo a metamorphosis, and to simply be, just Be the person he’s playing.’

the clothes in Hollywood Costume are memorable because of the rich collaborative film-making process that creates great movies. costumes are one tool that the film-maker has to tell the story. nothing in the film frame is arbitrary and nothing is allowed to get in the way of the script. the ‘best’ costume design may be invisible. Director Sidney lumet captured the essence when he said, ‘Good style, to me, is unseen style. it is style that is felt.’ Dorothy’s gingham dress instantly brings that particular mGm picture to mind. the hat and leather jacket belonging to indiana Jones and holly Golightly’s little black dress will always be identi-fied with the films in which they appear (Raiders of the Lost Ark and Breakfast at Tiffany’s) and the actors who played those characters (harrison ford and audrey hepburn). Our expectation is to be entirely seduced, and that is what the film-maker must deliver if he or she expects us to care about their journey, to love the film and to elevate the characters into icons.

it’s a story point, dresses from head to toe with one designer all bought three weeks ago at Barneys. You wear something from five years ago, you have something favorite, you mix this, you mix that, something got a little tight on you, something’s more worn than something else. that’s what clothes are about. that’s what we have to accomplish designing modern costumes.115

fashion’s ever-passionate love affair with hollywood heated up. this symbiotic relationship benefits fashion designers by associat-ing their name with a film and an actor and by giving them licence to market clothes popularized by a film; and it benefits the producer by providing cash to offset costs, clothing and free advertising. the sacrifice can be the integrity of the story and the film. the director and the costume designer may argue vigorously against the intru-sion of fashion labels and product placement, while the producer may be faced with a choice between making art and making money. most just try to do their best not to lose money.

audiences continue to want to dress like their favourite stars. the green bias-cut gown created by costume designer Jacqueline Durran for Atonement (2007; plate 315) spawned thousands of copies, introducing bright green to the prom dress market seen at graduation parties everywhere in 2007. With a modern sensibility aimed at re-creating the height of the Golden age, Durran said, ‘We used a modern aesthetic with ’30s shapes. We literally made everything for the ’30s scenes, finding original costumes and using shapes from that era remade with modern fabrics.’116

the 2000s have provided hollywood costume designers much to sing about. colleen atwood has continued her role as muse to directors tim Burton and rob marshall. Of her collabo-ration with marshall for Chicago (2002; plate 306) she has said:

rob definitely had a vision of the film, but as far as specifics about the costumes, he was very open to what i thought. We tried to keep a contrast between the real world roxie lived in and the imagined world of the stage. it’s like a parallel universe.117

for Dreamgirls (2006), designer Sharen Davis worked closely with the film’s stars:

Beyoncé said the costumes forced her into a position of such uprightness that it gave her absolute confidence in what she was doing as a performer, while Jennifer [hudson] said it made her feel like a Barbie, and made her stand up straight, which she didn’t like to do!118

conclusion

Over the past century hollywood films have become part of our shared global mythology. During the Golden age of hollywood the talent and craftsmanship at work in the major studios were of such a high calibre that even the ‘B-pictures’ displayed a level of storytelling that remains unequalled. costume designers today continue to work in motion pictures using the same creative process and

hollywood costume42

opposite 37 Jack Dawson (leonardo DiCaprio)Titanic, 1997Costume designer Deborah l. scott

above 38 Rose DeWitt bukater (kate Winslet)Titanic, 1997Costume designer Deborah l. scott

right 39 sketch for Rose DeWitt bukater Titanic, 1997Costume designer Deborah l. scottillustrator David le Vey

44 hollywood costume

above left40 sketch for Viola De lessepsShakespeare in Love, 1998Costume designer and illustrator sandy powell

above right 41 satine (Nicole kidman)Moulin Rouge!, 2001Costume designers Catherine martin and angus strathieleft42 Viola De lesseps and William shakespeare (Gwyneth paltrow and Joseph Fiennes)Shakespeare in Love, 1998Costume designer sandy powell

opposite43 sketch for satineMoulin Rouge!, 2001Costume designers Catherine martin and angus strathieillustrator angus strathie

44 hollywood costume

above left40 sketch for Viola De lessepsShakespeare in Love, 1998Costume designer and illustrator sandy powell

above right 41 satine (Nicole kidman)Moulin Rouge!, 2001Costume designers Catherine martin and angus strathieleft42 Viola De lesseps and William shakespeare (Gwyneth paltrow and Joseph Fiennes)Shakespeare in Love, 1998Costume designer sandy powell

opposite43 sketch for satineMoulin Rouge!, 2001Costume designers Catherine martin and angus strathieillustrator angus strathie

48 the art of becoming

Films are about people: they are at the emotional core and it is their story that moves us. it is the characters in the stories who hold our attention, provide the action and establish the framework for a screenplay. Although

clues to the character are set within the script, it is the interpreta-tion by the actor and the director and their key collaborators that breathes life and personality into each fictional being. Harrison Ford explains: ‘The role of an actor is to serve as a mirror. my job is not to show you that the character and i have something in common. my job is to show you that you and the character – even one who may seem a little crazy – have something in common.’ in the cinema, the actor must fully inhabit the character; the audience’s suspension of disbelief is essential.

Costume design is not just about the clothes: in film, it has both a narrative and a visual mandate. Designers serve the script and the director by creating authentic characters and by using colour, texture and silhouette to provide balance within the composition of the frame. The costume designer must first know who the character is before approaching this challenge.

Over the past century costume designers have practised a discrete and formal design process, beginning with the written word of the screenplay, discussion with the director, collaboration with the actor and research. For each production costume design-ers compile a scrapbook of photos, historic text, family albums, home movies, yearbooks, hair and make-up styles, sketches, fabric swatches, and virtually any visual reference that they can acquire. This research volume, the designer’s ‘bible’, may take the form of a binder, a notebook or a website. it is shared with all key creative collaborators – the director, actor, cinematographer and produc-tion designer, and with the hair and make-up artists. The costume designer will also use the ‘bible’ as the centrepiece for discus-sions with the costume crew. We do not simply make things up, we will need to justify each choice. Whatever the genre, whether the budget is low or high, whether or not the film becomes a classic, the costume designer approaches each production in the same way.

No matter in what the era the story is set, the audience is asked to believe that the people in the movie are real and that they had a life prior to the start of the action. We join our cast

of characters at one moment in their life. Everything about them must ring true, including their clothes. in the same way, our own clothes take our life journey with us: we all wear an amalgam of stories, each item telling its own unique tale. Everything, includ-ing our earrings, shoes, socks, watch, trousers, shirt, necklace, jacket, ring and suit, have been purchased, inherited, gifted, stolen or borrowed at different moments of our life. We all wear a mix of clothes, some old and some new. People also wear tattoos and piercings, nail polish, crazy hair colour and cut. These details pro-vide others with more than a clue about our own personal style. Our clothing can also reveal and conceal our moods, taste and personality, our social and economic aspirations and the time in which we live. Clothes function as social and emotional signposts.

in the same way costumes provide the audience with es-sential information. Attention to detail is the hallmark of great costuming. The audience’s attention is focused on that which the director chooses to reveal. A close-up may emphasize or disclose details – a cuff, a lapel or a piece of jewellery – for a deliberate narrative purpose. The integrity of the story takes precedence over a gorgeous gown – glamorous clothes, when inappropriate, can sabotage a serious scene.

Regardless of whether a film is period, fantasy or modern, all require research. Designers are inspired by art, literature, pho-tography, nature, music, childhood memories, other films, and freely associate all of these. For Dreamgirls (2006; plates 45, 46), a musical based on girl bands of the early 1960s, costume designer sharen Davis remembers that she ‘looked at magazines like Ebony and Life, and footage from the motown era, and appearances on “American Bandstand”’. Janty Yates, longtime costume collabo-rator of director Ridley scott, recalls: ‘On Gladiator [2000], he suggested, “look at Alma-Tadema for the crowd.” sir lawrence Alma-Tadema painted Roman scenes in the late 1800s, using pas-tels – so i used pistachios, pinks, almonds and sky blue for the extras’. For the Coen Brothers’ Western True Grit (2010), designer

WHAT Is COsTuME dEsIGN? Deborah Nadoolman Landis

opposite44 Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt)Fight Club, 1999Costume designer Michael Kaplan

48 the art of becoming

Films are about people: they are at the emotional core and it is their story that moves us. it is the characters in the stories who hold our attention, provide the action and establish the framework for a screenplay. Although

clues to the character are set within the script, it is the interpreta-tion by the actor and the director and their key collaborators that breathes life and personality into each fictional being. Harrison Ford explains: ‘The role of an actor is to serve as a mirror. my job is not to show you that the character and i have something in common. my job is to show you that you and the character – even one who may seem a little crazy – have something in common.’ in the cinema, the actor must fully inhabit the character; the audience’s suspension of disbelief is essential.

Costume design is not just about the clothes: in film, it has both a narrative and a visual mandate. Designers serve the script and the director by creating authentic characters and by using colour, texture and silhouette to provide balance within the composition of the frame. The costume designer must first know who the character is before approaching this challenge.

Over the past century costume designers have practised a discrete and formal design process, beginning with the written word of the screenplay, discussion with the director, collaboration with the actor and research. For each production costume design-ers compile a scrapbook of photos, historic text, family albums, home movies, yearbooks, hair and make-up styles, sketches, fabric swatches, and virtually any visual reference that they can acquire. This research volume, the designer’s ‘bible’, may take the form of a binder, a notebook or a website. it is shared with all key creative collaborators – the director, actor, cinematographer and produc-tion designer, and with the hair and make-up artists. The costume designer will also use the ‘bible’ as the centrepiece for discus-sions with the costume crew. We do not simply make things up, we will need to justify each choice. Whatever the genre, whether the budget is low or high, whether or not the film becomes a classic, the costume designer approaches each production in the same way.

No matter in what the era the story is set, the audience is asked to believe that the people in the movie are real and that they had a life prior to the start of the action. We join our cast

of characters at one moment in their life. Everything about them must ring true, including their clothes. in the same way, our own clothes take our life journey with us: we all wear an amalgam of stories, each item telling its own unique tale. Everything, includ-ing our earrings, shoes, socks, watch, trousers, shirt, necklace, jacket, ring and suit, have been purchased, inherited, gifted, stolen or borrowed at different moments of our life. We all wear a mix of clothes, some old and some new. People also wear tattoos and piercings, nail polish, crazy hair colour and cut. These details pro-vide others with more than a clue about our own personal style. Our clothing can also reveal and conceal our moods, taste and personality, our social and economic aspirations and the time in which we live. Clothes function as social and emotional signposts.

in the same way costumes provide the audience with es-sential information. Attention to detail is the hallmark of great costuming. The audience’s attention is focused on that which the director chooses to reveal. A close-up may emphasize or disclose details – a cuff, a lapel or a piece of jewellery – for a deliberate narrative purpose. The integrity of the story takes precedence over a gorgeous gown – glamorous clothes, when inappropriate, can sabotage a serious scene.

Regardless of whether a film is period, fantasy or modern, all require research. Designers are inspired by art, literature, pho-tography, nature, music, childhood memories, other films, and freely associate all of these. For Dreamgirls (2006; plates 45, 46), a musical based on girl bands of the early 1960s, costume designer sharen Davis remembers that she ‘looked at magazines like Ebony and Life, and footage from the motown era, and appearances on “American Bandstand”’. Janty Yates, longtime costume collabo-rator of director Ridley scott, recalls: ‘On Gladiator [2000], he suggested, “look at Alma-Tadema for the crowd.” sir lawrence Alma-Tadema painted Roman scenes in the late 1800s, using pas-tels – so i used pistachios, pinks, almonds and sky blue for the extras’. For the Coen Brothers’ Western True Grit (2010), designer

WHAT Is COsTuME dEsIGN? Deborah Nadoolman Landis

opposite44 Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt)Fight Club, 1999Costume designer Michael Kaplan

80 the art of becoming

Since hiS breakthrough role in Edward Scissorhands (1990), Johnny Depp has become one of hollywood’s most established and ver-satile actors. he has played an eclectic range of characters, from portrayals of real people such as 1950s cult film director edward Wood Jr in Ed Wood (1994) and Peter Pan creator J.M. barrie in Finding Neverland (2004), to characters of ur-ban legend – Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) and ichabod crane in Sleepy Hollow (1999).

his success is complemented by the close rapport he has built up with the costume de-signers who have helped him bring his charac-ters to the screen, and describes that moment of assuming a character through costume: ‘it’s always great to have that layer of the character’s clothing – the skin. it helps you find your pos-ture, how does the character stand?’2

Edward Scissorhands was designed by colleen atwood, whose long-term collaboration with Johnny Depp and director tim burton has last-ed over twenty years. burton credits atwood with helping Depp fully realize the look for edward: ‘i can have an idea about something, and Johnny can have an idea, but especially with the more extreme characters, it really does take the cos-tume to fully get the feeling of it.’3 atwood has described how she and Depp have created some of his most memorable characters, from cross-dressing ed Wood to murderous Sweeney todd: ‘Johnny is the kind of artist that feels his costume so as soon as i see he’s connecting with some-thing, i go for it. as an artist he understands the process, so is always open to new ideas. his sense of play is unique.’4

costume designer renée ehrlich kalfus worked with Depp on two films, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993) and Chocolat (2000); she explains how they created the character of gilbert grape together:

gilbert was the eldest son in a dysfunctional family, and was

responsible for providing for them. they had very little money. a key part of Johnny’s discovery of gilbert came from an old pair of work boots that i bought from a customer in an army navy store. i traded him a new pair for his very beat up old pair. i brought these old used boots to Johnny along with many frayed vintage shirts and worn jeans. a transformation took place in the fitting room. there seemed to be a way these specific pieces felt on him, which he responded to. he talked about the costumes and how they felt right. it is really a thrill to see an actor walk into a dressing room and walk out as their character. Johnny liked how old and worn the costumes were and they helped him in his discovery of gilbert.5

Keith Lodwick

transformations johnny depp

‘ I always picture it as this chest of drawers in your body – Ed Wood is in one, The Mad Hatter is in

another, Edward Scissorhands is in another. ’johnny depp 1

82 edward Scissorhands (johnny depp)Edward Scissorhands, 1990Costume designer Colleen Atwood

‘ A good costume is really about a great

silhouette. So if you can create a great costume

through that with colour and shape, people

will get the picture. ’Colleen Atwood

83 Raoul duke (johnny depp)Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, 1998Costume designer julie weiss

84 ed wood (johnny depp)Ed Wood, 1994Costume designer Colleen Atwood

85 Sam and juniper ‘joon’ pearl (johnny depp and Mary Stuart Masterson)Benny and Joon, 1993Costume designer Aggie Guerard Rodgers

86 the Mad hatter (johnny depp)Alice in Wonderland, 2010Costume designer Colleen Atwood

80 the art of becoming

Since hiS breakthrough role in Edward Scissorhands (1990), Johnny Depp has become one of hollywood’s most established and ver-satile actors. he has played an eclectic range of characters, from portrayals of real people such as 1950s cult film director edward Wood Jr in Ed Wood (1994) and Peter Pan creator J.M. barrie in Finding Neverland (2004), to characters of ur-ban legend – Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) and ichabod crane in Sleepy Hollow (1999).

his success is complemented by the close rapport he has built up with the costume de-signers who have helped him bring his charac-ters to the screen, and describes that moment of assuming a character through costume: ‘it’s always great to have that layer of the character’s clothing – the skin. it helps you find your pos-ture, how does the character stand?’2

Edward Scissorhands was designed by colleen atwood, whose long-term collaboration with Johnny Depp and director tim burton has last-ed over twenty years. burton credits atwood with helping Depp fully realize the look for edward: ‘i can have an idea about something, and Johnny can have an idea, but especially with the more extreme characters, it really does take the cos-tume to fully get the feeling of it.’3 atwood has described how she and Depp have created some of his most memorable characters, from cross-dressing ed Wood to murderous Sweeney todd: ‘Johnny is the kind of artist that feels his costume so as soon as i see he’s connecting with some-thing, i go for it. as an artist he understands the process, so is always open to new ideas. his sense of play is unique.’4

costume designer renée ehrlich kalfus worked with Depp on two films, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993) and Chocolat (2000); she explains how they created the character of gilbert grape together:

gilbert was the eldest son in a dysfunctional family, and was

responsible for providing for them. they had very little money. a key part of Johnny’s discovery of gilbert came from an old pair of work boots that i bought from a customer in an army navy store. i traded him a new pair for his very beat up old pair. i brought these old used boots to Johnny along with many frayed vintage shirts and worn jeans. a transformation took place in the fitting room. there seemed to be a way these specific pieces felt on him, which he responded to. he talked about the costumes and how they felt right. it is really a thrill to see an actor walk into a dressing room and walk out as their character. Johnny liked how old and worn the costumes were and they helped him in his discovery of gilbert.5

Keith Lodwick

transformations johnny depp

‘ I always picture it as this chest of drawers in your body – Ed Wood is in one, The Mad Hatter is in

another, Edward Scissorhands is in another. ’johnny depp 1

82 edward Scissorhands (johnny depp)Edward Scissorhands, 1990Costume designer Colleen Atwood

‘ A good costume is really about a great

silhouette. So if you can create a great costume

through that with colour and shape, people

will get the picture. ’Colleen Atwood

83 Raoul duke (johnny depp)Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, 1998Costume designer julie weiss

84 ed wood (johnny depp)Ed Wood, 1994Costume designer Colleen Atwood

85 Sam and juniper ‘joon’ pearl (johnny depp and Mary Stuart Masterson)Benny and Joon, 1993Costume designer Aggie Guerard Rodgers

86 the Mad hatter (johnny depp)Alice in Wonderland, 2010Costume designer Colleen Atwood

95

The cosTume of comedy stands apart. In other film genres, actors wear clothes that identify their roles – by period, ethnicity, nationality, class or character – or enhance their personal allure. The comedian’s clothes,

on the contrary, are functional, tools of the trade, aiming in them-selves to be a cause of laughter.

From the beginning, comedy followed a course of evolution different from other genres. While these had to wait to be invented, film comedy derived directly from a long heritage. Director mack sennett, wrote James Agee, ‘took his comics out of music halls, burlesque, vaudeville, circuses and limbo, and through them he tapped in on that great pipeline of horsing and miming which runs back unbroken through the fairs of the middle Ages at least to Ancient Greece’. even before sennett and hollywood, the infant cinemas of France and Italy had recruited clowns from circus and popular theatre and won a world market with hundreds of five-minute, one-joke knockabout farces, generally culminating in a wild chase. The comedians brought their tricks and tumbles and grimaces from long-practised stage turns and played them before the cameras on the streets of Paris and Nice, Rome or Turin. As production became more organized and the films grew in length to 10 or 15 minutes, the companies discovered the strategy of producing them in series, each featuring an individual clown. under their screen names – among the most famous of scores of them were Boireau, Prince, onésime in France and cretinetti (Boireau renamed), KriKri, Polidor, Robinet in Italy – they were the cinema’s first true box-office stars (plates 116, 117, 118).

These early clowns depended on their faces and their antics for laughter: few adopted recognizable characteristic costumes – any sufficiently extravagant variant on the day’s fashions would do, so long as it was ready to be ripped, wrecked, hooked on fishing rods or soaked in paint, tar, treacle or any other malevo-lent substance.

The cinema’s first recognizable comic costume is the most unexpected because in itself it is not comic at all. max Linder (plate 119) began his career as a legitimate actor, but from 1905 eked out his income by playing in comedy films at the Pathé studios for 20 francs a day plus compensation when his clothes were dam-aged. From 1910 Pathé featured Linder in his own Max series: in all he was to conceive, direct and star in some four hundred comedies. his output and invention were prodigious, establish-ing a huge repertoire of gags which was in large part to shape the whole future of visual film comedy: chaplin, never inclined to admire other artists, called Linder ‘The master’.

The character that Linder created was a handsome and stylish young boulevardier. his hair was sleek, his moustache per-fectly trimmed; he wore an elegant cutaway, a beautiful cravat, the fanciest of waistcoats, a gleaming silk hat and perfect shoes. he was smart, intelligent and resourceful, possibly living above his income and with an eye for the fair sex which was always getting him into some sort of trouble, out of which he generally extricated himself. The comedy lay in the contrast between this exquisite person and the ludicrous annoyances that assailed him in the shape of taking a bath, climbing a mountain, jealous husbands, dogs, cats and smelly feet. Remarkably, however extravagant the adventures, the costume was rarely impaired. Perhaps it was just too expensive to risk: one of the purely incidental pleasures of max Linder comedies is to relish male couture of the Belle epoque at its most exquisite.

Linder’s recognition of the comic effect of juxtaposing su-preme elegance with the absurd has been profitably exploited by comediennes from mabel Normand and marion Davies to mae West, Lucille Ball and marilyn monroe, and by one notable male hollywood comedy star, Raymond Griffith. even his trim figure, smoothed hair and neat moustache recalled Linder. To the top hat, white tie and tails he added a watch-chain and opera cloak, and thus attired faced a hostile world, to which he generally proved serenely superior. In Hands Up! (1926; plate 120) the costume serves him in his role as a spy in the civil War, variously faced by a firing squad (whose aim he distracts by tossing into the air plates conjured from beneath the cloak) and hostile Indians who are won over when he offers them a stylish charleston as an improvement

the costume of silent comedy David Robinson

opposite115 Charles Chaplin, c.1915

95

The cosTume of comedy stands apart. In other film genres, actors wear clothes that identify their roles – by period, ethnicity, nationality, class or character – or enhance their personal allure. The comedian’s clothes,

on the contrary, are functional, tools of the trade, aiming in them-selves to be a cause of laughter.

From the beginning, comedy followed a course of evolution different from other genres. While these had to wait to be invented, film comedy derived directly from a long heritage. Director mack sennett, wrote James Agee, ‘took his comics out of music halls, burlesque, vaudeville, circuses and limbo, and through them he tapped in on that great pipeline of horsing and miming which runs back unbroken through the fairs of the middle Ages at least to Ancient Greece’. even before sennett and hollywood, the infant cinemas of France and Italy had recruited clowns from circus and popular theatre and won a world market with hundreds of five-minute, one-joke knockabout farces, generally culminating in a wild chase. The comedians brought their tricks and tumbles and grimaces from long-practised stage turns and played them before the cameras on the streets of Paris and Nice, Rome or Turin. As production became more organized and the films grew in length to 10 or 15 minutes, the companies discovered the strategy of producing them in series, each featuring an individual clown. under their screen names – among the most famous of scores of them were Boireau, Prince, onésime in France and cretinetti (Boireau renamed), KriKri, Polidor, Robinet in Italy – they were the cinema’s first true box-office stars (plates 116, 117, 118).

These early clowns depended on their faces and their antics for laughter: few adopted recognizable characteristic costumes – any sufficiently extravagant variant on the day’s fashions would do, so long as it was ready to be ripped, wrecked, hooked on fishing rods or soaked in paint, tar, treacle or any other malevo-lent substance.

The cinema’s first recognizable comic costume is the most unexpected because in itself it is not comic at all. max Linder (plate 119) began his career as a legitimate actor, but from 1905 eked out his income by playing in comedy films at the Pathé studios for 20 francs a day plus compensation when his clothes were dam-aged. From 1910 Pathé featured Linder in his own Max series: in all he was to conceive, direct and star in some four hundred comedies. his output and invention were prodigious, establish-ing a huge repertoire of gags which was in large part to shape the whole future of visual film comedy: chaplin, never inclined to admire other artists, called Linder ‘The master’.

The character that Linder created was a handsome and stylish young boulevardier. his hair was sleek, his moustache per-fectly trimmed; he wore an elegant cutaway, a beautiful cravat, the fanciest of waistcoats, a gleaming silk hat and perfect shoes. he was smart, intelligent and resourceful, possibly living above his income and with an eye for the fair sex which was always getting him into some sort of trouble, out of which he generally extricated himself. The comedy lay in the contrast between this exquisite person and the ludicrous annoyances that assailed him in the shape of taking a bath, climbing a mountain, jealous husbands, dogs, cats and smelly feet. Remarkably, however extravagant the adventures, the costume was rarely impaired. Perhaps it was just too expensive to risk: one of the purely incidental pleasures of max Linder comedies is to relish male couture of the Belle epoque at its most exquisite.

Linder’s recognition of the comic effect of juxtaposing su-preme elegance with the absurd has been profitably exploited by comediennes from mabel Normand and marion Davies to mae West, Lucille Ball and marilyn monroe, and by one notable male hollywood comedy star, Raymond Griffith. even his trim figure, smoothed hair and neat moustache recalled Linder. To the top hat, white tie and tails he added a watch-chain and opera cloak, and thus attired faced a hostile world, to which he generally proved serenely superior. In Hands Up! (1926; plate 120) the costume serves him in his role as a spy in the civil War, variously faced by a firing squad (whose aim he distracts by tossing into the air plates conjured from beneath the cloak) and hostile Indians who are won over when he offers them a stylish charleston as an improvement

the costume of silent comedy David Robinson

opposite115 Charles Chaplin, c.1915

127

The way in which each generation views the world is shaped by the times in which it lives, and this is no-where more evident than in period films. These present to a contemporary audience an interpretation of unfa-

miliar worlds through modern eyes, shaped by all the tastes and sensibilities of its own time. Certainly costume designers in the world of historic films strive for authenticity, to transcend con-temporary fashion, creating costumes that will often appear to be faithful re-creations of clothes from an earlier era. Their audiences may not be aware, however, that these costumes reflect their own standards of style or ideas of beauty – that the cave-dwellers’ cos-tumes in One Million B.C. (1940) are cut to emphasize the 1940s silhouette, for example, as were the corsets and crinolines of Gone with the Wind (1939). These realizations only emerge with the passing of time, as tastes change with subsequent generations.

a second driving force behind costume design for historic films is the medium itself: the quest for authenticity must be tem-pered by the expectations and acceptance of the audience. Perhaps one of the most impressive depictions on film of ancient egypt was the wildly successful Cleopatra (1934) starring Claudette Colbert as the renowned Queen of egypt. The original designs were cre-ated in close consultation with a learned egyptologist to ensure that they were historically ‘authentic’; but they were rejected by Colbert. Creative genius and Paramount’s chief costume designer Travis Banton was called in to save the day and his stunning gowns swept away the public. Colbert’s pleated gown of glittering gold lamé could have been worn by any socialite to a grand evening party in 1934. The all-encompassing influence of art moderne can been seen in every aspect of the film, from the shape of the flow-ers to the curves of the egyptian queen herself – and the effect on screen was breathtaking.

One of the most extravagant costume films in history was Marie Antoinette (1938; plate 169), with more than 2,500 cos-tumes. although endless research, including a number of trips to europe to purchase fabrics and furnishings, had been carried out at great expense, the talented costume designer Gilbert adrian employed the dressmaking practices of his time. he used bias-cut swags of silver tissue, even though dress trimmings in the eighteenth century were never cut on the bias. even the towering white wigs (there were 22 for Marie antoinette alone), also well researched by Sidney Guilaroff, the highly gifted and prolific wig master/designer for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, were purely in the style of nineteenth-century ancien régime revival. Norma Shearer, in the title role, had particularly beautiful shoulders and adrian ensured that these were prominently displayed, even though

hollywood and history Edward Maeder

opposite168 Rhett Butler (Clark Gable)Gone with the Wind, 1939Costume designer Walter Plunkett

169 Wardrobe expert Otto Kottka adjusting John Barrymore’s costume during production of Marie Antoinette, 1938Costume designer Adrian

127

The way in which each generation views the world is shaped by the times in which it lives, and this is no-where more evident than in period films. These present to a contemporary audience an interpretation of unfa-

miliar worlds through modern eyes, shaped by all the tastes and sensibilities of its own time. Certainly costume designers in the world of historic films strive for authenticity, to transcend con-temporary fashion, creating costumes that will often appear to be faithful re-creations of clothes from an earlier era. Their audiences may not be aware, however, that these costumes reflect their own standards of style or ideas of beauty – that the cave-dwellers’ cos-tumes in One Million B.C. (1940) are cut to emphasize the 1940s silhouette, for example, as were the corsets and crinolines of Gone with the Wind (1939). These realizations only emerge with the passing of time, as tastes change with subsequent generations.

a second driving force behind costume design for historic films is the medium itself: the quest for authenticity must be tem-pered by the expectations and acceptance of the audience. Perhaps one of the most impressive depictions on film of ancient egypt was the wildly successful Cleopatra (1934) starring Claudette Colbert as the renowned Queen of egypt. The original designs were cre-ated in close consultation with a learned egyptologist to ensure that they were historically ‘authentic’; but they were rejected by Colbert. Creative genius and Paramount’s chief costume designer Travis Banton was called in to save the day and his stunning gowns swept away the public. Colbert’s pleated gown of glittering gold lamé could have been worn by any socialite to a grand evening party in 1934. The all-encompassing influence of art moderne can been seen in every aspect of the film, from the shape of the flow-ers to the curves of the egyptian queen herself – and the effect on screen was breathtaking.

One of the most extravagant costume films in history was Marie Antoinette (1938; plate 169), with more than 2,500 cos-tumes. although endless research, including a number of trips to europe to purchase fabrics and furnishings, had been carried out at great expense, the talented costume designer Gilbert adrian employed the dressmaking practices of his time. he used bias-cut swags of silver tissue, even though dress trimmings in the eighteenth century were never cut on the bias. even the towering white wigs (there were 22 for Marie antoinette alone), also well researched by Sidney Guilaroff, the highly gifted and prolific wig master/designer for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, were purely in the style of nineteenth-century ancien régime revival. Norma Shearer, in the title role, had particularly beautiful shoulders and adrian ensured that these were prominently displayed, even though

hollywood and history Edward Maeder

opposite168 Rhett Butler (Clark Gable)Gone with the Wind, 1939Costume designer Walter Plunkett

169 Wardrobe expert Otto Kottka adjusting John Barrymore’s costume during production of Marie Antoinette, 1938Costume designer Adrian

132 defining the character

Travis BanTon knew how to dress a woman. as one colleague remarked, ‘Carole Lombard was just a tootsie when she came to Paramount, but Banton saw things in her that even she didn’t know she had’. now obscured by the substantial shadow of MGM’s adrian, costume designer and magician Travis Banton conjured the glamour of Paramount’s Golden age, creating luminous de-signs for legendary stars Mae West, Claudette Colbert, Carol Lombard and the extraordinary Marlene Dietrich. The ‘less is more’ treatment worked for the brassy blonde Lombard, who played comedy in understated clothes that were never funny. Colbert never looked more at ease than when practically naked in Banton’s cut-to-the-waist gowns for Cleopatra (1934). and he could pile the jewels on Dietrich without ever gilding that lily. as Paramount’s chief costume designer from 1927 to 1938, and with well over a hundred film credits to his name, Banton’s rav-ishing work includes the timeless classics Blonde Venus (1932), Belle of the Nineties (1934) and My Man Godfrey (1936).

Heralded by Paramount co-founder Jesse Lasky as a ‘famous Parisian designer’, Banton was hired by the studio in 1924 to design The Dressmaker from Paris (1925), which Lasky pro-moted as ‘a parade of fashion and beauty un-precedented in the history of films’. The studios of the day leveraged the allure of new fashions to seduce a female audience, but with his theatre background Banton understood that designing costumes was not all about being dressmaker. He insisted:

My aim is for the legitimate. When a woman is required to dress for golf in a certain scene there is really no point in making her seem ready for a dance at the country club. When she is fitted with a bathing suit it should at least look suitable for water. Keeping this in mind … i then muster new fashions and modify and adjust them to the needs of the role.

Like adrian, Banton created distinctive perso-nas for each actress while enabling them to fully

Deborah Nadoolman Landis

inhabit the characters in the story. Because he was responsible for so many memorable gowns, it may come as a surprise that Banton believed that ‘character’ comes first. But his creative process always included his star:

i unfailingly discuss their reactions to a role – how they wish to look for the part; and between the stars’ own conception of character and their own intrinsic personalities a very satisfactory result is attained. Each star has her own particular idiosyncrasies, i might say, ‘hallucinations,’ as to her defects and best points. These must be tactfully and diplomatically approached and overcome.

Hollywood columnist Hedda Hopper remarked that before Dietrich met Travis, she looked more like a hausfrau. Banton worked tirelessly with Dietrich and director Joseph von sternberg to craft her public image; they were a team for whom the

banton’s beauties

176 Travis Branton and Marlene Dietrich on the set of Angel, 1937

177 Travis Branton and Carole Lombard on the set of Rumba, 1935

opposite178 Carole Lombard, 1933

132 defining the character

Travis BanTon knew how to dress a woman. as one colleague remarked, ‘Carole Lombard was just a tootsie when she came to Paramount, but Banton saw things in her that even she didn’t know she had’. now obscured by the substantial shadow of MGM’s adrian, costume designer and magician Travis Banton conjured the glamour of Paramount’s Golden age, creating luminous de-signs for legendary stars Mae West, Claudette Colbert, Carol Lombard and the extraordinary Marlene Dietrich. The ‘less is more’ treatment worked for the brassy blonde Lombard, who played comedy in understated clothes that were never funny. Colbert never looked more at ease than when practically naked in Banton’s cut-to-the-waist gowns for Cleopatra (1934). and he could pile the jewels on Dietrich without ever gilding that lily. as Paramount’s chief costume designer from 1927 to 1938, and with well over a hundred film credits to his name, Banton’s rav-ishing work includes the timeless classics Blonde Venus (1932), Belle of the Nineties (1934) and My Man Godfrey (1936).

Heralded by Paramount co-founder Jesse Lasky as a ‘famous Parisian designer’, Banton was hired by the studio in 1924 to design The Dressmaker from Paris (1925), which Lasky pro-moted as ‘a parade of fashion and beauty un-precedented in the history of films’. The studios of the day leveraged the allure of new fashions to seduce a female audience, but with his theatre background Banton understood that designing costumes was not all about being dressmaker. He insisted:

My aim is for the legitimate. When a woman is required to dress for golf in a certain scene there is really no point in making her seem ready for a dance at the country club. When she is fitted with a bathing suit it should at least look suitable for water. Keeping this in mind … i then muster new fashions and modify and adjust them to the needs of the role.

Like adrian, Banton created distinctive perso-nas for each actress while enabling them to fully

Deborah Nadoolman Landis

inhabit the characters in the story. Because he was responsible for so many memorable gowns, it may come as a surprise that Banton believed that ‘character’ comes first. But his creative process always included his star:

i unfailingly discuss their reactions to a role – how they wish to look for the part; and between the stars’ own conception of character and their own intrinsic personalities a very satisfactory result is attained. Each star has her own particular idiosyncrasies, i might say, ‘hallucinations,’ as to her defects and best points. These must be tactfully and diplomatically approached and overcome.

Hollywood columnist Hedda Hopper remarked that before Dietrich met Travis, she looked more like a hausfrau. Banton worked tirelessly with Dietrich and director Joseph von sternberg to craft her public image; they were a team for whom the

banton’s beauties

176 Travis Branton and Marlene Dietrich on the set of Angel, 1937

177 Travis Branton and Carole Lombard on the set of Rumba, 1935

opposite178 Carole Lombard, 1933