“They meet by clothes …” – this proverb is followed by both every self-respecting person and every serious director who tries to give his films a special style. That is why eminent fashion designers are invited to work on this or that tape. The costumes created by them become not only real works of high art, but also convey on the screen what the actor himself cannot play.
It happens that the film is completely remembered only by the clothes of the main characters. So, everyone knows well the little black dress from Givenchy in Breakfast at Tiffany’s or the outrageous outfits from Gaultier in The Fifth Element. All this once again confirms the great importance of costumes in cinema.
Giorgio Armani
For the first time, Giorgio Armani tried his hand at cinema in 1980, when he was invited to work on costumes for the film American Gigolo. The film itself turned out to be mediocre, but it was after him that the lead actor Richard Gere received the title of sex symbol of the decade. As critics noted, the actor became so famous precisely because of the outfits from the legendary fashion designer.
After this picture, Armani began to receive many offers from Hollywood directors, but the designer approached work in films very selectively. The most striking films in which you can see his costumes were: “Ransom” (1996), “The Phenomenon” (1984) and “Inglourious Basterds” (2009).
The elitism of the fashion designer’s work also attracted the creators of the Dark Knight franchise (2008, 2012). To emphasize the aristocracy of the protagonist Bruce Wayne (who was hiding under the mask of Batman), Armani released an exclusive series of men’s suits. According to the designer, the image of a reclusive billionaire in the picture is emphasized by a jet-black pinstripe jacket.
Jean-Paul Gaultier
Gauthier gained real fame as a fashion designer after the release of Luc Besson’s The Fifth Element (1997), for which he prepared a series of futuristic outfits.
The leading lady Mila Jovovich was dressed in a minimalist suit consisting of just a few white bandages, and the incessant TV presenter Rabbi Rod was dressed in a flamboyant leopard print jacket. According to the director himself, Gauthier was invited to work on the film primarily because his creations perfectly convey the urban spirit of New York.
The clothes created by the fashion designer combine both eroticism and restraint, as well as pathos and aristocracy. In each of his outfits, Gauthier defies tradition, for which he received the unspoken title of “provocateur” in the world of high fashion.
The works of the legendary artist can also be found in the films “The Skin I Live In” (2011), “Bad Education” (2004), “The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover” (1989) and others.
Hubert Givenchy
Audrey Hepburn became a style icon of the 60s thanks in large part to the outfits by Hubert de Givenchy, who designed clothes for her best roles. Their collaboration began with Sabrina (1954), which won Oscar-winning costumes.
The designer constantly repeated that Audrey Hepburn is the embodiment of his personal ideas about what an ideal woman should be. The sophisticated elegance of Givenchy’s outfits captivated the actress so much that she ordered clothes from him not only for film roles, but also for everyday life.
In total, the couturier designed costumes for eight of her films, including such masterpieces as Funny Face (1957), Love in the Afternoon (1957) and How to Steal a Million (1966).
The legendary “little black dress”, in which the actress appears in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” (1961), almost immediately after the premiere of the film, became the hallmark of the Givenchy model house.
In 2006, this outfit was put up for sale at Christie’s auction. Its original price was £50 thousand, but as a result of intense trading, it increased ninefold, amounting to £467.2 thousand.
Karl Lagerfeld
Work on the film “Coco before Chanel” (2009) was not easy – its authors rewrote the script many times and searched for a leading role for a long time, but they decided on the costume designer right away. No one could create outfits for the image of Coco Chanel better than Karl Lagerfeld, who at one time was the art director of the Chanel fashion house.
The clothes created by this master for the film are not just “moving scenery”, but its full-fledged hero. Coco’s appearance is an expression of her inner world, her philosophy and feelings.
Also, Lagerfeld’s work can be seen in the film Callas Forever (2002), the Oscar-winning film The Feast of Babette (1987), Claude Chabrol’s masterpiece Bloody Debauchery (1973) and several other films.
Chanel
Coco Chanel herself became at one time the first designer in the cinema who received a fee higher than the leading actors. Working with Metro Goldwyn Mayer in the 1930s, the fashion designer made women go to the movies not only for the films themselves, but also to see the latest fashion trends, which in those years was an absolute innovation.
However, Chanel’s work cinema can not be called successful. The films for which she created costumes, although recognized as classics today, few people pay attention to designer clothes in them.
The fashion designer’s work can be seen in the tapes “Embankment of the Mists” (1938), “Rules of the Game” (1939), “Blood of the Poet” (1930) and others.
Prada
Next year, The Great Gatsby (2013) will hit the screens, featuring a constellation of Hollywood celebrities. However, in addition to excellent acting and a fascinating script, which are famous for the tapes directed by Baz Luhrmann (“Moulin Rouge” (2001), “Australia” (2008)), the picture will also be interesting for its costumes designed by Miuccia Prada, creative director of the Prada fashion house.
In her works, the designer tried to convey as accurately as possible the spirit of exquisite art deco, popular in the 20s: the chic of evening ladies’ dresses, brilliant dance costumes and aristocratic strict men’s tailcoats. Jewelry from the legendary brand Tiffany & Co. will complement the atmosphere of the film.
Miuccia Prada has previously designed outfits for Romeo + Juliet. However, the outrageous costumes of this tape, which interpreted medieval decoration too boldly, were not to everyone’s taste.
Yves Saint Laurent
When the legendary director Luis Buñuel began work on his masterpiece The Beauty of the Day (1967), he invited the then-young actress Catherine Deneuve to play the lead role, and Yves Saint Laurent, a trendsetter in France, to replace the costume designer. As a result, this film marked the beginning of a long and fruitful friendship between the future film star and a talented fashion designer.
With his costumes, the designer was able to bring mystery and some unpredictability into the diligent image of the main character of the “day beauty”. Her appearance is so eloquent that literally from the first frames the viewer begins to suspect a decent girl from high society in vile deeds.
Yves Saint Laurent idolized Catherine, practically becoming her personal fashion designer and creating costumes for such tapes with her participation as “Surrender” (1968), “Mississippi Siren” (1969), “Lisa” (1972), “Hunger” (1983) and others.
Christian Dior
Yves Saint Laurent’s love for cinema was probably instilled in him by his teacher Christian Dior, who at one time managed to create a whole series of costumes for films. During his short life, the brilliant couturier designed outfits for 25 films and was once even nominated for an Oscar for his efforts in Termini Station (1955).
When Alfred Hitchcock invited Marlene Dietrich, who was at that time a sex symbol of the era, to star in his film Stage Fright (1950), she demanded that Christie an Dior be the costume designer. The director, of course, agreed, from which the film only acquired new virtues. His costumes in this tape looked impressive and elegant at the same time.
The designer not only created elegant outfits that brought a new breath to the aristocratic style of the beginning of the century, but also knew how to adapt them to the wide screen. Saturating the dresses of the main character with a special brilliance, he achieved the effect when she stood out among other characters and did not merge with them in a gray-black palette, because the color film was still unpopular at that time.
They say that choosing a costume for a character in a film is as difficult for a designer as it is for an actor to get used to the role. So the participation of an eminent fashion designer in the creation of a picture is equivalent to the appearance on the screen of a world-famous movie star.
