In my first steps of researching historical accuracy and
authenticity in film and television, I will be looking at the costume designs
of one film and two television shows to see how costumes designers went about
trying to make the time period authentic by costumes.
Hitchcock (2012)
Grazia Daily Interview: http://www.graziadaily.co.uk/conversation/entertainment/hitchcock-costume-designer-julie-weiss-talks-dressing-helen-mirren--scarlett-johannson-and-jessica-b
The Wall Street Journal Interview: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887324705104578147281252134850
I looked at the online Grazia
Daily interview with costume
designer Julia Weiss, who was talking about dressing the actresses on the
Hitchcock biopic (Scarlett Johannson, Helen Mirren, Jessica Biel, etc.), and
also her interview with The
Wall Street Journal, and in her interviews she talked about how she created
the costumes for the cast of Hitchcock and her inspirations behind the
designs.
When asked about how she conducted her
research for the costumes she said that the research came from everywhere
(books, archives, photos), but she also points out 'We must remember this is a black and white movie, and our memories are
in black and white and somehow we colour correct our own memories'. This shows that even though some of the colouring
may not be authentic, she has tried to keep it as authentic as possible with
how people think they remember the colouring to be based on the shades of grey.
She also talks about how she was able to see the original dress Janet Leigh
wore in Psycho (1960) and that she knew it was blue from
Janet's book, but in Hitchcock the dress which she wears is in fact
white so it shows the lack of authenticity but is able to be overlooked as the
original Psycho was in black and white.
Even though she did
lack in some accuracy, it is explained in WSJ's
interview with the costume designer that she had to alter certain truths in
favour of the overall effect of the film. They explain that, 'Ms. Leigh was
said to have worn a blue dress in the film, but the costume designer says she
didn't replicate the costumes that closely. She dressed Mr. Hitchcock in his
roomy black suits in each scene because that is the way he is remembered—though
the director probably wore other clothes at home.'
She also talks about sourcing the costumes and creating each
person's look and she said that she did not use anything from the original Psycho, as 'you are dealing with a memory and that was quite a few
years ago'. This shows that it doesn't really show a great deal
of authenticity as she is regarding it as a memory but tried to
go for as much accuracy as possible as Julia Weiss 'studied the
film as well as the lives of the characters, digging through news archives and
even interviewing people who knew them', and went
shopping at vintage stores and archives such as Western Costume Co., Palace
Costume and Prop Co. and other places.
When talking about the looks she
states, 'As a costume designer, I have no desire to work alone.
I want to be part of something so in order for those costumes to work they have
to belong to the actor and the character.'. This helps to give the authentic feel to the costumes as it makes the
characters look as though they are wearing a piece of clothing they would
normally wear as oppose to a costume.
In terms of colour,
Weiss doesn't use accuracy but more how it would portray on screen, in terms
that hot colours can 'connote control' and softer colours 'less likely to
overwhelm a scene in which an actor needs to emote subtly'. This is
shown in Hitchcock with Alma Reville (Helen Mirren) wearing red on the day she
goes to the set and takes charge, and also the red swimming suit which also
emotes control and freedom.
These are some photos to show how
accurate and authentic the costume design was in Hitchcock:
