While it is sometimes difficult to be sure of costume
design information because the silent-film period gave
designers no screen credits and, during the 1950s, the
studios disposed of many records, four elements can be
said to form the foundation of film costume design as it
is in the early twenty-first century: the establishment of
its own studio department; the freedom given to designers to create extravagantly; the influx of, and competition
with, international influence; and the recognition of
design as a force on fashion. Though built by e´migre´s
who had worked in the garment business (Carl Laemmle
was a haberdasher, Adolph Zukor a furrier, Samuel
Goldwyn a glover, and Louis B. Mayer a shoemaker),
early Hollywood put little emphasis on costume. Actors
used their own clothing and a woman with a better closet
would get a better part. This continued well into the
1930s for men like Fred Astaire and Cary Grant who
often wore their own, custom-made wardrobe. However,
an initial office of costume design was inaugurated in
1915 by designer Clare West who, with two years’ work
on Intolerance (D. W. Griffith, 1916), attained the
unprecedented credential of ‘‘studio designer,’’ raising
the status of what was formerly known as ‘‘head of wardrobe.’’ At that time, ‘‘wardrobe’’ was a division of the
‘‘drapery department,’’ which bought or rented clothes or
basted them together because, during the quick film
productions of the 1910s, a movie outfit could be discarded after a day. As early as 1921 The Woman’s Home
Companion cited the ‘‘studio designer’’ as an important
asset and urged stars, who still regularly wore their own
clothes on screen, to tap into it. A design contract was
also probably given to Peggy Hamilton who, by 1918,
costumed at Triangle (D. W. Griffith’s studio) and was
the first to outfit Gloria Swanson. But, as with many
designers of the era, she moved on within a year or so.
Cecil B. DeMille was one of the first to realize that
audiences wanted extreme couture and would pay to see
their fantasies on a sexy star. In 1918, knowing that her
talent would ‘‘make people gasp,’’ he hired West to
oversee Famous Players-Lasky’s costumes. She stayed
until 1925, through at least ten DeMille pictures. He
encouraged lavish creativity and West’s work, which fans
and stars adored, helped film costume to gain greater
artistic stature and to shift away from the pervading
European sensibility. In the teens, dazzled producers
brought in foreign artistes such as Paul Iribe (1883–
1935) and Erte´ (1892–1990) to work with in-studio
designers like Rambova, West, and Adrian, once the
French couturier Paul Poiret’s (1879–1944) outfits for
France’s production of Queen Elizabeth (1912) with Sarah
Bernhardt, which was distributed by Paramount, opened
the floodgates for ‘‘art’’ in Hollywood design. But by the
1920s, as costume design became a major component
of the film industry with an expanding department and
huge budgets, the Parisians lost out to the success of
artistically wild, barely wearable, or eminently practical,
super-styled clothing made by American costume designers, marking the beginning of an American fashion
autonomy. The ‘‘costume department’’ was not truly
established until the late 1920s, after which all studios
had one, inevitably headed—often for decades—by a
legendary designer. Some departments had different
designers for female or male roles; others had a single
overseer. After the 1950s’ costume design renaissance
with musicals, especially at MGM, the design department disappeared with the demise of the studio system,
taking with it many in-house craftspeople.
Other film industries, such as those of Latin America
and Asia, built their costume design on regional outfits
and elaborate textile traditions. The musicals made during Mexican cinema’s Golden Age (1930–1950) and the
Brazilian chanchada films (1935–1959) took excessive
liberties with traditional dress, which fans loved. The
costumes of India’s Bollywood musicals are similarly
steeped in ancient tradition and equally known for adaptations. Some films are even famous for breakthrough
deviations, such as Mughal-e-Azam’s (1960) invention of
a Rajput queen’s bra-cup blouse. Typically, famous
master costumers for Indian dance construct film outfits,
but there are many Indian costume designers who are
specific to the film industry, some of whom work
internationally.
Japan’s and China’s costume design also emerge out
of a fabric history involving high-toned color and ornate
weaves and embroideries, and their films have capitalized
on this tradition. From its inception, Japan’s film industry has produced popular period films. The country’s first
color film, Jigokumon (Gate of Hell, Teinosuke Kinugasa,
1953, Academy Award), set in feudal Japan, was exceptionally costumed by Sanzo Wada, who also acted as
color consultant. Kusune Kainosho made the costumes
for the classic ghost story, Ugetsu Monogatari (Tales of
Ugetsu, Kenji Mizoguchi, 1953; 1955 Academy Award
nomination). Ran (1985, Academy Award), Akira
Kurosowa’s epic King Lear adaptation, was costumed to enormous acclaim by Emi Wada, who later worked with
the English director Peter Greenaway on his colordrenched 8 ½ Women (1999), The Pillow Book (1996)
and Prospero’s Books (1991). Hanae Mori (b. 1926),
originally a couturiere´, worked for years with Yasujiro
Ozu and Nagisa Oshima, both directors with strong
mise-en-sce `ne. Hanako Kurosu designed for many of
Japan’s Shochiku company films. Japan’s samurai and
yakuza (gangster) films have also mutated over the decades, with costumes changing from the 1950s realism to
the late 1990s cyber-fashion.
Hong Kong’s wuxia (martial arts) films show a similar mix. China’s rich textile history has produced equally
strikingly visual dramas, notably those of Zhang Yimou,
who made Qiu Ju da guan si (The Story of Qiu Ju, 1992);
Yao a yao yao dao waipo qiao (Shanghai Triad, 1995), and
Wo de fu qin mu qin (The Road Home, 1999) with the
designer Huamiao Tong. An unusual period look, with
stylized color schemes of black, white, and red, was
adapted for Yimou by designer Zhi-an Zhang in Da hong
deng long gao gao gua (Raise the Red Lantern, 1991).
In the late twentieth century Asian styles considerably influenced Western costume design and fashion, as seen
in films such as The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001, 2002,
2003), designed by New Zealander Ngila Dickson and
by Richard Taylor, who devised the armor. Eiko Ishioka,
who created fabrics for Issey Miyake in the 1970s and
costumed Cirque du Soleil in the early 2000s, showed
international blends in the science-fiction film The Cell
(Tarsem Singh, 2000), Bram Stoker’s Dracula (Francis
Ford Coppola, 1992, Academy Award), and the Nohlike Mishima (Paul Schrader, 1985).