The work done by the costume designer contributes more than all other technical production to enrich the imagery behind an audiovisual product and the actor's ability to be credible in playing a particular role. But it's often overlooked when analyzing the critical components of what makes visual storytelling so important.
Think of Audrey Hepburn in her little black dress in Breakfast at Tiffany's, the yellow leather jumpsuit worn by Uma Thurman in Kill Bill, all the iconic sneakers that have appeared across cinema history and become indelible in popular culture, or again, any costume designed for the Star Wars saga and characters that any person, fan or not, would be able to recognize so iconic have they become.
Whether it's a story set in the present day in which clothes are used for all intents and purposes commercially, whether it is a historical film in which to use or recreate period clothing or a fantasy film in which to have to create costumes from scratch, the figure of the costume designer must perennially confront throughout the production period (and even before) with actors, director, set designers and makeup artists.
What role does clothing play in cinema and fashion as a whole? What do we want to communicate? Consequently, what role does the character's costume occupy in the story? Ultimately, what does it really mean to be a costume designer for film or TV series?
To question the costume of a film character, and the work of the one who creates it, is to understand what that fictional character wants to communicate. An all-around creative and technical medium not only capable of conveying suggestions, hidden meanings, and the essence of the protagonists in a single look but also of moving sales and entire markets by shaping public tastes.
The relationship between cinema and fashion has developed along two major lines but with different chronologies. At first, it is film costume designers who influence fashion, according to a movement from film to real life; later, it is the turn of fashion designers to enter the screen: indirectly, with the cinema adopting their creations or directly assuming the role of costume designers. Often the birth of a star is related to an outfit, a detail, or a hairstyle.
On the other hand, the costume designer's professional figure only became established around the 1920s. It was not until '48 that the Oscar for Costumes was born - the Academy Award For Best Costume Design.
Ten years later, every film studio worthy of the name had a costume department. The person in charge, the film costume designer, plays a major role in the film's success, and it is often overlooked by the masses, as we are so enthralled by the fictional world of the movie that we take for granted the effort to make the costumes as fitting to the movie's storyline as possible.
Many similarities exist between fashion and costume design, starting with the fact that one and the other are artificial constructions based on the aestheticization and staging of the body. Cinema is a formidable stage for launching and disseminating fashion in the "real" world, and creating the style icons of today.
The opposite discourse of stylists in fashion is also true. It is hard to deny that since the late 1960s, stylists have largely influenced the screen by either replacing the role of the costume designer or influencing them in increasingly adopting their designs to achieve a "reality effect," and the associated status value designer clothes appear to have.
Some designer labels have even dressed film characters or entire movies like Armani in American Gigolo and The Untouchables or Jean Paul Gaultier for Peter Greenaway's actors and The Fifth Element. Martin Scorsese and Wim Wenders have done promo-costuming on Armani and Yamamoto, respectively. Several films depict the world of fashion and its backstories, from Michelangelo Antonioni's Amiche and Blow-up to Robert Altman's Prêt-à-porter, which starred 75 designers and supermodels. The list goes on and on.
"What a costume designer does is a cross between magic and camouflage. We create the illusion of changing the actors into what they are not. We ask the public to believe that every time they see a performer on the screen, he becomes a different person."
This is how the most celebrated costume designer in the entire history of cinema describes her profession. A multiple award-winner, as a testament to the value of her work, she has collected 35 Oscar nominations and 8 awards – still a record to this day. This made her the woman with the most Academy Awards wins and nominations, and she has even dedicated a star on the coveted Walk of Fame in Los Angeles. A woman of many qualities, a free spirit, bold and creative.
Getty Images / Universal Studios, Getty Images / Paramount PicturesEdith Head is still today a landmark and a legend for the international film world and for all fashionistas who, over the years, have been fascinated by her clothes, which have appeared in some of the most famous and iconic films of all time dressing icons like Cary Grant, Paul Newman, Elizabeth Taylor, Lana Turner, Steve McQueen, Ingrid Bergman, Audrey Hepburn, and Grace Kelly.
Edith Head was so much ahead of her time in arguing that it was crucial to creating a character, not only the work of the actors and scriptwriters but that a collaboration of all roles, including that of the costume designer, was essential to achieve a credible result.
She reached the pinnacle of success because of her brilliant talent for making dream dresses, but not only that. She herself during the creative process, used to empathise with the divas she dressed, involving them in the making of the costumes. She could listen to them and indulge their needs, which her male colleagues could never do.
Although it is difficult to choose among all the dream dresses made by Edith Head for the greatest movie stars, among her most famous masterpieces are Funny Face, Thief Hunting, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Rear Window, and Roman Holiday.
Second only to Edith Head in terms of honors from the Academy, Irene Sharaff became famous by mastering the costume design of multiple historical periods and genres and was highly influential in shaping the style of costume designs during her career. Her design choices had an effect not only on the fashion world but went as far as to influence interior design.
Over the course of her long career, during which she collaborated with important directors, most notably Vincente Minnelli, and dressed glamorous stars such as Elizabeth Taylor and Judy Garland, she tackled almost every historical period with an accuracy far beyond Hollywood standards.
Getty Images / FilmPublicity Archive / United Archives, Getty Images / BettmannGifted with a vibrant painterly sense, she brought to the Hollywood of the 1940s and 1950s the cheerfulness of bizarre and daring color combinations typical of Broadway ballet and musicals, which sometimes challenged the obligatory palettes of Technicolor's consultants. Some of her best movies include West Side Story, The King and I, Cleopatra, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
By far, one of the most memorable looks in modern cinema, with custom designs molding seamlessly into the setting of the films, is Deborah Nadoolman Landis. She designed over 500 costumes for the cult classic movie Coming to America, which were said to be inspired by the "New Look" aesthetic of the early 50s made popular by fashion designer Christian Dior.
Getty Images / Sunset Boulevard / CorbisThey designed the suits of The Blues Brothers and Harrison Ford's famous Fedora hat and jacket in Raiders of the Lost Ark, exhibited at the Smithsonian in Washington DC.
Deborah Nadoolman's work was so significant that the worlds in which these films were set were greatly expanded through her designs and greatly influenced popular culture.
Oh, and if all that isn't enough to make my case, she is also responsible for the red jacket worn by Michael Jackson in Thriller.
The king of sci-fi costume designs and psychological thrillers. Michael Kaplan's designs are pivotal in setting up the atmosphere required by the eerie and imaginary worlds of the movies he worked in. Much has been said of the cinematography of Blade Runner, a groundbreaking movie of monumental importance for shaping the dystopian cyberpunk aesthetic we are so often used to see now. Or the mood of Fincher's contemporary noir detective story Se7en. The world of costume design owes a great deal to Mr. Kaplan, and we are here to pay homage.
Getty Images / New Line cinema/Sunset Boulevard / CorbisOther notable designs are Flashdance, Fight Club, Pearl Harbour, and Star Trek Into Darkness.
Orry Kelly is famous for being one of the early practitioners of character-centric costume designs for films and for his remarkable attention to sartorial details. It was not unlike him to incorporate design features that played with light and shadow or to add a playful touch to an outfit. In other news, he was well-known in business because of his love of worldliness, temper, and fondness for the bottle.
Orry-Kelly formed with Bette Davis, one of the most famous star-costume couples on the screen. For more than 30 years, his creations influenced American women's fashion: millions of women copied Ingrid Bergman's dresses in Casablanca.
Getty Images / MGM StudiosAfter a long career with Warner, he moved on to Fox, then, from '50 to '64, he worked as a freelancer for the major studios. His experience on Broadway, where he had debuted, served him well in dressing the big movie musicals: An American in Paris and The Girls, which earned him two Oscars. He got The third for Some Like It Hot.
Other works include Gypsy, Cole Porter's Les Girls, Oklahoma!, Harvey, Arsenic and Old Lace, The Maltese Falcon, The Sea Hawk, and 42nd Street.
Who doesn't know Tim Burton?
The look of his films is recognizable at a glance, and this owes much to the work of costume designer Colleen Atwood, who has collaborated with him on countless projects, including Edward Scissorhands, Mars Attacks!, The Mystery of Sleepy Hollow, Big Fish, Sweeney Todd, Alice in Wonderland, Big Eyes, and Dumbo.
Getty Images / Twentieth Century Fox Pictures/Sunset Boulevard / Corbis, Getty Images / aramount Pictures / Corbis
Winner of 4 Academy Awards out of 12 nominations, she is not only adept at creating unreal settings within a film. Still, she has equally succeeded in contributing to the portrayal of realistic and contemporary works, cementing her reputation as one of the leading costume designers in the business.
Jenny Beavan instead is a costume designer in this list that started out in period costume: She was Merchant Ivory's go-to costume director, winning her first Oscar in 1987 for A Room With a View and being nominated over the next few years for films including Howards End, The Remains of the Day and Sense and Sensibility.
Moviestore Collection Ltd / Alamy Stock PhotoShe did the costumes for Gosford Park and The King's Speech, then showed she didn't just do period Englishness when in 2015 she did Mad Max: Fury Road, the fourth iconic film in the post-apocalyptic franchise; it deservedly brought her a second Academy Award. Cruella, the 70s-set origin story of Cruella de Vil, followed that.
Fun fact: Beavan is known for her practical approach to costume design, often incorporating recycled materials into her creations to add authenticity and sustainability to her work.
Milena Canonero, a pupil of the great costume designer Piero Tosi, boasts 9 Oscar nominations and 4 statuettes won alongside some of the most significant auteurs and directors from Stanley Kubrick, with whom she made her debut in A Clockwork Orange in 1971 as a replacement for his Maestro, to Francis Ford Coppola and Wes Anderson.
Defined by critics as The Lady of Italian Costumes, Milena Canonero, is one of the most famous costume designers in today's film scene. She was born in Turin, Italy, on Jan. 1, 1946, and moved to Genoa, Italy, where she studied art and costume history.
Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy Stock PhotoShe then goes to live in London in her early twenties and finds herself deeply immersed in swinging London in the 1960s.
In a climate of profound transformation and novelty, Milena meets the man who will change her career forever: Stanley Kubrick. He immediately grasps the woman's great artistic potential and chooses her as costume designer for A Clockwork Orange and Barry Lindon, films thanks to which Milena wins her first Academy Award.
From then on, her career is studded with one success after another. In 1982 she won her second Oscar for the film Moments of Glory by Hugh Hudson, and in 2007 we saw her triumph again for the film Marie Antoinette by Sofia Coppola. The last Oscar, in 2015, won thanks to her work on Wes Anderson's Grand Budapest Hotel.
Sandy Powell, a true fashion maverick, has carved her name in the annals of costume design history by working on movies like The Vampire Chronicles, Rob Roy, Shakespeare In Love, Gangs of New York, The Aviator, The Wolf of Wall Street, and Shutter Island.
Getty Images / Bobby Bank / WireImageWith an illustrious career spanning over three decades, Powell's distinctive style and meticulous attention to detail have left an indelible mark on cinema.
Her collaborations with visionary directors like Martin Scorsese and Todd Haynes have garnered numerous accolades, including three Academy Awards. In 2011 she was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for her services to the film industry.
Powell's ability to seamlessly transport viewers to different eras, whether it's the opulence of the Victorian era or the glamour of the Golden Age of Hollywood, is a testament to her unmatched talent.
Fun fact: Powell is known for her bold and fearless fashion choices, often appearing on red carpets in eye-catching outfits meant to critic the hypocrisy surrounding fashion. Her creations always exude humanity and a deep union with the soul of the actors who wear them.
Carter's remarkable achievements continue to shine as she clinches Academy Awards for Black Panther and its sequel, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, cementing her place in history. She became the first African American to win in the Costume Design category and made history as the first black woman to win multiple Oscars.
Throughout her illustrious career, Carter's costume designs have traversed various periods, culminating in a powerful narrative that collectively portrays the experiences of African Americans. From the generational saga of Roots to the 19th-century slave rebellion in Amistad, from the depiction of the Civil Rights era in Malcolm X and Selma to the contemplative storytelling of The Butler, her costumes serve as a reflection of the cultural impact of the Motown sound in Sparkle, the struggle against oppression in 1980s Brooklyn portrayed in Do the Right Thing, and the internal conflicts faced by a superhero grappling with his kingdom's heritage in Black Panther.