Hollywood Costume

Imaginative exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum looking at costume in Hollywood films.

It look various themes  such as how clothes can build up how we look at a character, the relationship which often builds up between a director and their costume designer and how various genres have used costume.

The most interesting section was on how actors use work with designers and use costume focusing on Meryl Streep and Robert de Niro. The display had about 6 costumes for each actor then a life sized video of each of them sitting down telling you about each piece.

As for favourite pieces it is hard to choose! I cried slightly on seeing the green curtain dress from “Gone with the Wind” as it is so iconic. I loved a red sequined number from “The Bride wore Red” a 1930s black and white film which had been lit with a light which changed so you could see how it would have appeared in screen as a black dress.

I was fascinated by the detail of thought which went into the “Brokeback Mountain” outfits. What seemed like quite standard working clothes were full of nuisances as to what type of cowboy boot was work in different US states!

And what can I say about the last room of iconic costumes. You just reeled from outfit to outfit thinking “OH goodness its … from …”.  Thank goodness a friend had warned me to look up or I’d have missed some of the wonderful comic book characters. I was interested that the only outfit behind glass was the “Seven Year Itch” dress.

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