"For some reason, it seems like costume designers from the 50s and 60s were not
at all interested in any sort of historical accuracy."
They aren't.
In America anyway... a little more so in Britain. Accuracy becomes a "thing" in
the late '60's. The 1st movie I can remember as being "accurate" is "Thoroughly
Modern Millie"! (actually,"Gone With the Wind" has a respect for the period,
but more so in the set and prop dept's than the costume dept. Still, the
clothes are not outrageously off like you might see in a western or period
piece from the early '30's or the 1920's.) In the late '60's & '70's you get
the gritty realism school of film and the breakdown of the studio and movies
set in modern times work hard to look like there is no "production".... that
things are almost a documentary. Think "Z", or "The French Connection" or "The
Seven Ups". This realism get reflected in period costuming. You see it in Clint
Eastwood films like "The Good the Bad and the Ugly" where the costumes are not
really what anyone might wear (some of those things the Mexican's are in..ay
yay ay!) but they are dirty and grungy and worn-out in a w!
ay rarely seen before. Then you get films like "The Three Musketeers" & "The
Four Musketeers" (it was shot as one film)... the one with Michael York and
Richard Chamberlain... where things look like they stepped out of a period
portrait....except Rachel Welch, who is still in the old studio style of period
costume (though not bad designs actually...just not cut correctly) Things
improve steadily as the years go on..
Now I think we are coming out of a period accuracy mode... but it has left its
mark. The best looking things (IMHO of course) are those that have a healthy
respect for the period but have bent and worked it to some goal....a "look".
Sandy Powell and Colleen Atwood are the best at this! I just watched "Silence
of the Lambs" again (Atwood) and the look is real.... but still a little
heightened with Hannibal in his mask and the sicko murderer in his patchwork
quilted tranny robe. But still real. And then she can do "Sleepy Hollow" or
"Sweeney Todd" where she obviously knows the period but manipulates it for
fantastical effects (I'll never forget the shock of the little girls gathering
wood in the snow in pink silk and gold lace in "Sleepy Hollow") Sandy Powell
does "real" ("Michael Collins", "Wings of the Dove") and some heightened
manipulation ("Velvet Goldmine", "Gangs of NY") to very heightened manipulation
("Shakespeare in Love", "Interview with the Vampire", "The Other Bol!
eyn Girl") Milena Canonero has been designing thru the whole period accuracy
era. She does super realistic ("Chariots of Fire", Barry Lyndon) and
outrageously manipulated ("Titus", "Dick Tracy", "A Clockwork Orange")
I know, I pay way too much attention to these trends, but this is the period
when I was studying costume design. And it was the film "Aunie Mame" that got
me paying attention to accuracy. Nothing Rosalind Russell wears is correct for
the time line of the film. Nobody's clothes are. It's all 1950's, but the plots
happens from 1929 - 1940. I asked myself....what a designer's dream...the '20s
to the 40's... why did they ignore it? (They don't in the musical). The other
thing I noticed is that even though all the clothes are not period, they still
are "perfect" in feel and add to the character and mood. But a good designer
should be able to do that in the correct periods. But it also shows that more
is needed than accuracy alone.
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