Unlike the previous nominations, there are always one or two superhero or space opera costume categories. This year’s Oscar’s best costume nominated 5 films, "Beauty and the Beast" (for costume analysis click here ), "The Shape of Water", "To Dark Hour, "Victoria and Abdul", and "Phantom Sewer" (click here for the film review ), it seems that all the works have returned to the field of traditional costume design with great tacit understanding, and the characters are closely integrated through the art of stitches and stitches. It blends seamlessly into the movie world and serves the plot completely.
Compared with the other four nominated works, the role and influence of clothing in "The Phantom Sewer" should be more plausible and important, because the film itself is about Reynolds and his muse Alma, a haute couture designer from London in the 1950s. Between strange love stories, it is inevitable that there will be a large number of fashion custom house scenes and a considerable scale of custom clothing.
In particular, the quality, beauty and collocation of any costumes worn by the protagonists Reynolds, Alma and Cyril on any occasion (visitors, custom house work, social dinners, daily life, etc.) have a subtle influence on the film and the characters. Credibility.
This is not only the work of director Paul Thomas Anderson, but also the work of Daniel Day-Lewis and Mark Bridges, the chief costume designer of the film.
PTA’s past works or his own and fashion have almost no intersection. The inspiration for "The Phantom Sewing" can be traced back to Jonny Greenwood at a party, the guitarist of the British band Radiohead, and the soundtrack of "The Phantom Sewing". The author (won the Oscar nomination), praised him for being like Beau Brummell, who was the first person in the history of the United Kingdom to modernize Eaton’s clothing.
At that time, PTA had to go to google who this person was, because Johnny's joke aroused his interest. As he deepened his understanding of fashion-related history, he slowly found realistic material for the possible story between a man, another woman, and his sister that had come to mind before. Coincidentally, most of the fashion empires created by men have a family sister to support business operations. The old Hardy Amies family did the same, and now the famous Valentino and Versace fashion empires do the same.
The second season of "American Crime Story", which is currently broadcast on FX, is based on the death of Gianni Verscace. The first thing his sister Donatella did after Gianni's death was to delay the listing process of the brand to avoid capital invasion and competition at a fragile moment. Brand mastership is the first step to keep the empire from losing the emperor, and stability is the key.
The time and place of "The Phantom Sewer" is set in London, England in the 1950s. After the Second Century War (1939-1945), the slowly reviving fashion industry has two parallel worlds. One is the New Look Paris Empire headed by Christian Dior, and Sabine in the "Paris Fashion" produced by Amazon in 2016 The studio is based on Dior as a prototype (unfortunately only one season).
Another more obscure but equally powerful fashion branch fell on Savile Row in London, England. Unlike Dior, a large studio with hundreds of people at every turn, London fashion brands are known for being small and sophisticated (and often co-run by brothers and sisters), such as Digby Morton, Peter Russell, Hardy Amies, John Cavenagh and Michael Donéllan. Is one of the industry leaders. With this background, even Mark Bridges, who won three Oscar nominations, won the Best Costume Award for "The Artist" in 2012, and collaborated with PTA 8 times, is still very challenging.
In order to prepare for the film, Mike was able to enter the Victoria & Albert Museum, the second largest museum in the UK, and was given the privilege to personally contact those costume designs that have been famous in the fashion world, including Givenchy, Balmain, Balenciaga, Charles Frederick Worth, Victor Stiebel and Norman Hartnell.
Although the Christian-style Woodcock studio was inspired by Cristobal Balenciaga, and Reynolds’ eccentric behaviors and requirements remind people of Galeries Lagerfeld Karl Lagerfeld, and it’s easy to find the shadow of Charles James in designing clothing styles, but all the clothing in the movie , But they are completely original works, and each set is designed and sewn according to the specific plot.
In less than 6 months, costume designer Mark Bridges has produced more than 50 original costumes for the film, including wedding dresses, dinner dresses and everyday clothes. Most of the works are hand-sewn. Each garment uses an average of 6-8 yards (5 to 7.3 meters) of fabric. The fabrics of the female characters alone are as high as several hundred yards in length.
Each set is customized according to the figure of a specific actor (including the model of the spring catwalk in the movie and the various female guests throughout the film), rather than choosing the corresponding size actor after the finished product.
Lavender Piece
Personally, I think this lavender purple evening dress is the most amazing, combined with the British style of the 1950s, it also has a little charm of the restoration period (1660-1685). Danial Day-Lewis personally chose the color of silk. It turned out that the silk fabric was retained by Reynolds during the war in the PTA script. However, as the script and costume design continue to proceed, Woodcock Studio has become a custom production workshop that makes good use of lace. Therefore, the search direction of fabrics has also changed accordingly.
Mark's team traveled all over London and dug a piece of Flemish lace that was 3 meters long and only 7 centimeters wide, from the 17th century.
Flemish Lace is not only a lace craft in Flanders (the fief of the former European dukes, including parts of France and Belgium), but also a cultural heritage of this unique region. Its heyday was from 1550 to 1750. Years, it is characterized by bobbin lace (as opposed to knitted lace).
At present, the lace produced in Antwerp, Mechelen, Banche and Valenciennes is collectively referred to as Flemish lace. In the movie, Reynolds also said that this is a lace he rescued in Antwerp during World War II (the movie he said Is the late 16th century). Because of the limited quantity of this fabric, Mark takes every cut very carefully, and once the wrong cut is made, there is no way to look back.
Dark Floral Dress
The dress itself does not have much highlights, but it looks very special when combined with the plot, because this is the first time Alma has had a formal conflict with Reynolds, from the original state of pure submission to a more active expression. And fight for what you want.
Crimson Lace Debut
On the Woodcock spring show, Alma wore this crimson evening dress to the audience first, officially establishing her status as the first muse in Reynolds' hearts. Woodcock's most iconic lace was also used on the hem, and pockets were added to the evening dress. Before the 20th century, influenced by the aesthetics of thin waist lines, pockets became a taboo in women's dresses for a very long time, because adding pockets meant giving up smooth lines.
But Mike here gave some new ideas for the addition of pockets. This is a tailor-made style specifically for the hostess who hosts the dinner party. The hostess who keeps shuttling and entertaining guests throughout the party, a small The function of the pocket is very important, and the lace design greatly improves the overall aesthetics, so why not?
But here is a performance that does not fit the actual situation at the time, that is, Alma smiled during the catwalk (even afterwards he laughed). Although the director had no intentions, all models in the custom show at the time were All are asked to look cold.
Inspired by Balenciaga
Inspired by Balenciaga's embroidery process, Alma’s first formal wine red evening dress hides some small discs under the embroidery to create a faintly glowing effect. The color is too bright and easy to be tacky. Without these looming sparkles, the wine is red. It will look a little dull again.
Cyril's Daily Look
Inspired by the dressing style of the sales department of Balenciaga studio, navy blue (close to black) and simple jewelry, look professional but will not take away the focus of the clothing they want to recommend to customers.
But blue doesn’t really match actor Lesley’s ultra-white skin tone, so PTA and Mike changed it to black (actually, Mike actually used dark gray fabric for better photos). It’s simple, elegant, and looks just like Produced by Woodcock's studio, it can be used as a facade.
Reynold's Suit
Daniel Day-Lewis's costumes in the play, all costumes are customized by Anderson & Sheppard of Savile Row, and then slightly modified by Mark according to the pants type of London in the 1950s.
Good Morning, Nana & Biddy
Did you know that at the beginning of the film, Reynolds greeted each seamstress in the studio, but only called Nana and Biddy? Not because of the length of time, but among these actors, only these two actors, Sue Clark and Joan Brown, are real seamstresses with more than 50 years of experience. This was when PTA and Mike collected materials at the Victoria & Albert Museum. The two ladies acted as volunteer guides.
The Collections
London in the 1950s and Woodcock studio, which never appeared in history, these are the backgrounds that PTA, especially Mark, always keep in mind when designing clothing. Even though Reynolds has its own taste and style, it is not as good as Dior or Balenciaga is able to complete and create works that can be classified into fashion history. Woodcock is just an ordinary member of the post-war London custom trend, and it is destined to be submerged in the fashion army.
But it is precisely this kind of caution and positioning that the clothing itself will not affect the direction of the characters and the plot too much. They only need to carry the Gothic love affair between Reynolds and Alma in the most elegant manner, that is enough.
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