Without any inside knowledge of the film industry--my impression is that
it is a very much committee effort. That costumers (and most other team
members) don't get to just do anything they want. That they can produce
accurate designs, but the director can instead insist that he or she
wants styles he/she thinks modern audiences think are flattering to
modern actors, or that convey certain symbolism, and whatever else
he/she wants to see.
So it seems inaccurate to me to say, "Gee, the costumer must not have
known any better."
My feeling has always been that if you want a 100% perfect custom-made
costume, by your lights, that the only way to have total control over it
is to make it by yourself, for yourself only. If you custom make it for
someone else, whether they are a film or a play or a private customer,
since they're paying, they have a right to get what they want. You're
working _for_ someone. If it's ready-to-wear, of course you can always
make it and see if it sells.
Fran
Lavolta Press
http://www.lavoltapress.com
One of my costuming friends commented about the film "Elizabeth" that the film's website
actually said that the director _forbid_ the costumers to consult historic sources for costume,
because he wanted "a fresh vision." The amusing thing, my friend said, is that the
director clearly didn't know enough about the period portraits to spot when the costumers _did_
lift something straight out of a well-known historical source :)
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