Costume design is an art often overlooked by audiences, critics, and scholars alike, and for the most part, that is exactly the goal of the costume designer. Along with editing and cinematography, they make up the invisible elements: carefully-designed movements and looks which, if done correctly, are never noticed because they are so natural and comforting to the audience’s collective experience. Like every rule, there are many exceptions, but today I would like to analyze the way a costume designer contributes to reality of a film.

Most casual film fans and cinephiles alike only notice costume design when it is exercised to its most extreme and simultaneously least creative setting: the period film. Heck, it’s often called a costume drama for exactly that reason. I say that these projects are less creative than films set in the present day not because I think they are easier to execute, but because they are researched-based and a removal from the current. For example, designing a gown for Cate Blanchett to wear in Elizabeth: The Golden Age is a far different task than the floral dresses worn by Jessica Tandy in Driving Miss Daisy.

Which one requires more thought? More exploration? As part of my internship with the Oklahoma City Museum of Art two years ago, I conducted research on costume design for an exhibition on the topic. The true nature of costume design really hit me in a conversation with Deborah Landis, designer and professor at UCLA. She asked our group “Can all of you remember when and where you bought each piece of clothing you are wearing?” Odds are you can. Try it right now! Did you buy it all at the same time? Of course not. I am wearing the shoes I bought right before my trip to France my junior year of high school. The Jeans are a few months old, and I just picked up this sweater at a garage sale. It looks like me, it does not look like the fall window display at The Gap. Likewise, any character in a film should look like he or she is wearing clothes from multiple stores and styles.

This is a basic introduction to the series of posts I will be making over the next few months about costuming the Hollywood film. From Studio-era to today, period drama to futuristic space opera, there are common threads (pun intended) of characterization through wardrobe. Check back every week for a new entry in this series!