“Fashion and cinema”

I. Introduction
II. Lady Macbeth
III. Lady Macbeth storyline
IV. “Lady Macbeth” fashion overview
V. Suspiria
VI. Suzy’s storyline
VII. Fashion in Suspiria
VIII. Suspiria in Fashion
IX. Conclusion
X. Bibliography

DG 2023
 I
Each film that wants to become not only a cult thanks to the plot, but also a memorable
stylish cultural phenomenon, appeals to the costume designers with a deep knowledge of
the subject, as well as to people versed in fashion, to set up a memorable movie character
and make this character’s appearance come out of this synthesis. Almost all cult films,
ranging from sugary films with Audrey Hepburn, ending with the harsh Netflix series, at least
have one outstanding costume image of the characters. that's what one visually oriented
industry can do to another, which is showing the apotheosis of all visual forms in two hours
on screen.

LADY MACBETH, 2016

and
Suspiria, 2018
I chose these two films because I wanted to match the wardrobe of strong women
who commit murder, but at the same time, their justification for their actions soothe their
moral outlook. These are two girls who have approximately the same social status at the
beginning of the plot and changed it to a higher one because of their actions.
And how their wardrobe changed, what they put on during the turning points: at the moment
of their subjective greatness, at the moments of the split of the soul - I would like to study
and analyze. I will understand and describe how the color of clothing influenced the
heroines, and how their choice in clothing transformed into their characters’, what is the
sublimation of films’ narrative stories and the fashion language.

Different positions: color/form transformations: LADY MACBETH

Victorian England:
The Victorian era, named after England’s Queen Victoria who ruled from 1837 to 1901,
dramatically changed the trajectory of style as women became the focal point of fashion
instead of men. Gender and class roles during her reign dictated that women of a certain
status display the wealth of their husband to the general public, as men took a backseat in
the fashion realm. This period was not important solely for fashion, however, like all forms of
art from literature, visual arts, architecture, and more were impacted. By the end of this era,
the manufacturing of clothes moved from custom sewing and individual sales to factory
manufacturing and fixed store prices.
Different positions: color/form transformations: Suspiria
Photo: Courtesy of Amazon Studios
 Photo: Courtesy of Amazon Studios

70s fashion:

Fashion in the 1970s was about individuality.

Common items included mini skirts, bell-bottoms
popularized by hippies, vintage clothing from the 1950s and earlier, and the androgynous
glam rock and disco styles that introduced platform shoes, bright colors, glitter, and satin.

20th-century couturier, Madame Grèss:

These movies that I have listed above is literally my personal view from my perspective as
I wanted to reflect good and bad in one frame.

II
Lady Macbeth
Is a 2016 British drama film directed by William Oldroyd and written by Alice Birch,
based on the short story Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District.
(and nothing to do with Shakespeare) [1]

Costume Designer: Holly Waddington

For the first time, we see her in her flawlessly sculptured blue dress with a waist and a hoop
skirt - sitting by the window or awkwardly in the middle of a velvet sofa - her iciness
unmistakably cuts through the screen, turning her both as an outcast and an outsider
and a powerful figure. She wears this dress throughout the film so often that she becomes
almost inseparable from the garment.
The drama of a visually rigorous period follows her as she turns into a strong and frustrated
woman.
Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth is an oil painting by John
Singer Sargent. Painted in 1889, it depicts actress Ellen
Terry in a famous performance of William Shakespeare's
tragedy Macbeth, wearing a green dress decorated with
iridescent beetle wings. The spectacular gown was
designed by Alice Comyns Carr (1850–1927) and made in
crochet by Ada Nettleship,[2] using soft green wool and
blue tinsel yarn from Bohemia to create an effect similar to
chain mail. It was embroidered with gold and decorated with
1,000 iridescent wings from the green jewel beetle.
III
Lady Macbeth is a tragic portrait of a beautiful, determined and merciless young woman
seizing her independence in a world dominated by men.

The tragedy of Macbeth employs many dark outfits paired with elegant gowns.
The royalty combined with tragic events creates a darker overall tone for the costumes.
However, the shift of power throughout the plot is highlighted by the royal costumes.
These monotone costumes contrast with the various moods seen throughout the film.
The change in costume demonstrates that the clothing reflects the mood of the plot, and
helps communicate the message.

Nightgown in the interior, when she has to obey

 Dress for going to steppe: color, embroidery, fabrics - are close to nature

The first dress after "that" night: white frills appeared on the sleeves, as a sign of
permissiveness, awareness of their involvement in the highest society
The color of the dress that was worn after the night with a servant had changed. Then, she
wore a dark brown-burgundy dress, almost with a subtle golden tint, a more expensive
dress.
The same dress she put on her first murder.
And now in the morning, she changed her dark, heavy dresses to a light pink, silk, delicate
robe.
 When a new problem arrives, which prevents her personal happiness from coming true,
she puts on her dark dress made of thick satin, with small buttons that are almost invisible,
like her chain mail before a battle.
Lady Macbeth's dark costume mirrors the conflict she enters. In addition, it ends again with
death which explains the extreme sorrow expressed through her outfit.
The costume still maintains aspects of the traditional Victorian fashion seen through the
collar, corset and color.
Mourning ensemble Date: 1857-60 Circa 1867 Blue Silk Dress, via the
MetMuseum [3]

Women in Mourning Dresses From Between the 1850s and 1870s [4]
 IV

Lace day dresses and crinolines with intricate lattice-like work, heeled boots that are pointed
at the toe, the dramatic push and pull of a corset, and blood-colored lips and hair in tightly
wound buns. Once again, fashion has become enamoured with this period of time. The
Mulleavy sisters over at Rodarte did white blouses with puffed sleeves that touched the
heavens at their Fall 2019 show. At Alexander McQueen, Victorian aesthetics mingled with
gothic sensibility in the form of a suit with a train and slits in the sleeves. [5]

Ultimately, this trend is all about dreaminess and looking dramatically comfortable. To say that
the Victorian era had a significant impact on worldwide fashion is an understatement, with
today’s designers still returning to the period to inspire current clothes that are worn by a new
generation of fashion forward individuals. Billowy sleeves, ruffled blouses, and just the right
amount of velvet, lace, and chiffon have been featured in the collections of several prominent
designers, including Chanel, Miu Miu, Alexander McQueen, and many more.
London Spring 2019 runway shows:
 ERDEM SS 19

Simone Rocha Spring 2019 Ready-to-Wear

Alexander McQueen Pre-Spring/Summer 2019

A turn-of-the-Twentieth Century silhouette is

executed with a collector’s eye and obsession for
rare detail and fine craftsmanship:

Victorian puffed sleeves are deconstructed with

seams and canvases exposed, tailoring, high
necklines and corseted waists appear throughout
in this collection. Sara Burton takes her
Victorian-esque woman down to the countryside,
but this time, she added a touch of sexual
subversiveness, as was the heroine, Lady
Macbeth.
 V

“Suspiria” by Luca Guadagnino.

This film - a remake of the work of the Italian director Dario Argento in 1977 - tells about the
ballet school, which turns into a haunt of witches. The cast is- Dakota Johnson, Tilda Swinton
and Mia Goth, the music was written by Tom York, and one of the producers was Sylvia
Venturini Fendi.

Costume designer: Giulia Piersanti

Giulia Piersanti is the costume designer for Suspiria, who is also responsible for the style of the
previous films of Luca Guadagnino - “A Bigger Splash”, and "Call me by your name."
She graduated from Parsons, was a knitwear designer in Lanvin and Balenciaga, and the
development of costumes for the "A Bigger Splash" and "Call me by your name" combined with
work in Celine. [6]

The action of “Suspiria” Guadagnino takes place not in Freiburg, as in the tape of Argento,
and in the divided Berlin of 1976–77, the Berlin Wall lies directly behind the windows of the
dance school. One of the most important sources of information about the style of the Piersanti
era is Sibylle magazine - “the socialist version of Vogue”, which was released in the GDR. [7]
 Having taken Louise Bourgeois as a source of inspiration, the costume designer has
developed special prints: the ornament resembles floral, and the drawings recognize hands,
legs, chest, and vaginas. Prints printed on different fabrics,
of which the heroines made blouses, dresses and scarves.

Photo: Courtesy of Amazon Studios

Piersanti is certainly not the first to use human hair, but these kits
in the new "Suspiria" turned out to be one of the most dramatic. The references also include
Martin Margiela's coat of blond wigs (spring-summer 2009 collection), and the performance by
German artist Rebecca Horn, where she is hacking her hair.

Rebecca Horn performance

Martin Margiela S/S 09 Wig Coat

Louise Bourgeois, detail from A l'infini, 2008-09

Photo: Courtesy of Amazon Studios/ Sketches

and the dancers appear not in sports leotards, but in

bardic bondage of false hair, which allowed them to move
freely and look like a single whole. Bondages differ in
shape and are inspired by the Greek style of drapery.
“We wanted them to look like the hair of the people who
were sacrificed to the witch clan. [8]

The costumes for the “Volk” - the culminating dance was

inspired by the bandage eroticism of
the Japanese photographer
Nobuyoshi Araki and the work of the
artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude
“Wedding Dress” [9]
 Christo and Jeanne-Claude “Wedding Dress” art

Kiko Mizuhara for the Nobuyoshi Araki x Supreme 2016

Fall/Winter Collection

Suspiria’s promo poster

 VI
Suzy’s story line:

Suzy- just from Ohaio

She arrives in Berlin after traveling from the small Ohio town, where she was raised in a
conservative religious community, and
is visibly more homely than the other girls at the Helena Markos Dance Academy.
Suzy-Part II

When Suzy attends the dinner party immediately following her company’s performance of Volk,
she is well on her way to confronting destiny. She knows that she is going to assume her place
among the coven — even if she doesn’t yet understand what that means — and she is
radiating silent confidence. The shy Ohio girl is gone, and in her place sits a woman ready to
claim her true power.

The print on her dress, which is inspired by Louise Bourgeois drawings.

They are scattered women’s hip bones made to look like cherry-tree branches.

Louise Bourgeois, Femme, 2007, pencil and gouache on paper

Photo: Christopher Burke, New York
Suzy - The Black Sabbath

Suzy has removed her hip-bone-laden black dinner dress at this point and changed into a
sheer brown kind of caftan, going from modest layers at the beginning of the film to “more open
and strong” and comfortable with her naked body.
Madame Blank’s line:

Giulia selected silk blouses with prints, midi skirts, patchwork capes, classic trench coats and
trouser suits of pastel and dark shades for the heroines. The closer to the horror finale, the less
connection between the characters and reality, and their clothes are brighter and more
eccentric - the demonic Madame Blank (Swinton) appears on the screen in a scarlet dress in
the floor and a black kaftan with a floral ornament.

Photo: Courtesy of Amazon Studios

Photo: Courtesy of Amazon Studios

VII
The Fashion story:

Shoes for Suspiria were made by Francesco Rousso, who worked with Miu Miu and Sergio
Rossi and invented Tribute Yves Saint Laurent shoes and Dior Fusion couture shoes. The
costumes and knitwear for psychiatrist Josef Klemperer, Piersanti were developed together
with the creative director of Ermenegildo Zegna, Alessandro Sartori.

Tribute Yves Saint Laurent Dior Fusion couture shoes

Francesco Russo's shoes for “Suspiria” [10]

 VIII
Fashion impact:
Vanity Fair Italia Fashion story, by Jason Bell — Vanity Fair Suspiria (SOHO Management) [11]

Suspiria Fashion Story for Vanity Fair Italia Fashion story inspired by Luca Guadagnino's
Suspiria, shot
Suspiria Fashion Story for Vanity Fair Italia Fashion story inspired by Luca Guadagnino's
Suspiria, shot

Suspiria Fashion Story for Vanity Fair Italia Fashion story inspired by Luca Guadagnino's
Suspiria, shot
UNDERCOVER 19AW WOMENS “SUSPIRIUM” Collection [12]

Scenes and characters from the movie itself are emblazoned across sweaters,
trapeze-dresses, and full-length circle skirts, which is where Tilda Swinton, in her role as the
Madame Blanc comes in. Wearing the red cape she appears in during the film’s bloody climax,
Blanc is emblazoned across the front of a black, full-length coat, as accessorised with red
heels and a severe-looking headband which appears to be made from bone.
UNDERCOVER 19AW WOMENS “SUSPIRIUM” Collection
UNDERCOVER 19AW WOMENS “SUSPIRIUM” Collection
And 70s in last fashion shows:
BURBERRY RESORT 2020

There are plenty of options on a raincoat,

coats in particular, smooth, draped, worn over
wide-hem dresses, and wide-hem trousers,
more like a sleeveless shirt, custom-made,
with one of the novelties of the season - a soft
shawl with a soft lining.
And light coat-dresses with an interesting
recurring “scarf-line” detail giving a drape and
fluttering volume to the sleeves.
 Bottega Veneta, Cruise 2019

Bottega Veneta AW 19-20

 IX

Although these are two completely different films, they both tell the story of women and the
commission of both physical and moral crime. And since it affects them as a person, a unit of a
society, the expression of their wardrobe plays a big role. Through the wardrobe, they tell us
the story that directors had left behind the scenes. Through the wardrobe, we learn those
details from the life of the heroines, which can only be guessed. Perhaps this is what happens
in life when we ignore a bunch of clothes in the closet and choose what we are going to wear
today. Probably, it also works with the designers who are creating collection and runway show,
the way the designer tells his story, which things in the collection he prefers to make as the
background, and which ones he chooses as accents of the show.
These are all human stories and interactions with both clothing and the world through clothing.
If after Lady Macbeth there is a demand for strict colors, clean silhouettes and complex design
of the dress, with an embroidered shawl and ruffle collars, then after Suspiria there is a color
from brick-brown to burgundy red. The shapes and silhouettes are already have set by
Victorian dress, and 70s, the color and mood of change have shown through the imaginational
looks - a feeling that permeates the entire film in Suspiria.

In my opinion, some films give fashion and people trends in clothes, based on forms and
silhouettes, clothes of a certain epoch and time, perfectly illustrating it with fabrics and
technics. And there are films that tell and show you the story, not as a complete look, and this
gives people and fashion things to thought: how to convey the story through the length and
form of garments. It seems to me that both types of films give an excellent mood board
together. And progressive brands, in my opinion, like Burberry by Ricardo Tisci, or Undercover
by Takahashi, which reminds me Suspiria atmosphere. And Simon Rocha, Alexander Mcqueen
collections, where we can find the spirit of Victorian epoch, but in very delicate, intimate,
modest, modern way.
They are just about that, we can look at their collections, and watch their own films.
 X

Bibliography:

1. “British costume period drama”, [online], available from

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/apr/15/lady-macbeth-black-racial-diversity-brit
ish-costume-period-drama, April, 2017

2. The archaeology of a dress, [book], 29 March, 2011

3. Drama and Desire: “Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth” by John Singer Sargent,
Art Gallery of Ontario, "Art Matters" [book], June 22, 2010

4. Death Becomes Her: A Century of Mourning Attire at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art, [museum booklette], February 1, 2015

5. “Victorian inspired fashion trends”, [online], available from

https://www.vogue.com/vogueworld/slideshow/victorian-inspired-fashion-trend, 2019

6. “Suspiria’s costume designer talks” [online], available from

https://www.vulture.com/2018/11/suspirias-costume-designer-explains-10-of-the-films
-looks.html , November, 2018

7. “Suspiria costume designer”, [online], available from

https://www.vogue.com/article/suspiria-costume-designer, 2018

8. “Suspiria costume designer”, [online], available from

https://www.vogue.com/article/suspiria-costume-designer , 2018

9. “Suspiria costume designer talks”, [online], available from

https://www.vulture.com/2018/11/suspirias-costume-designer-explains-10-of-the-films
-looks.html, November, 2018

10. “Fashion trends”, [online], available from https://www.vogue.it/galleries/gait97583,

2018

11. “Vanity fair Italia fashion story”, [online], available from

https://www.sohomanagement.co/new-york/artist/jason-bell/vanity-fair-italia-venice-fil
m-festival-issue/thumbnails, 2019

12. “Suspiria collection cult movie”, [online], available from

https://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/article/43580/1/undercover-jun-takahashi-suspi
ria-aw19-collection-tilda-swinton-cult-movie, 2018