Independent Study - How do costumes suggest character?

How do costumes suggest character?

Costumes are an essential part of building characters, the director and costume designer work together closely to decide what to reveal or hide about their character. For example, a character wearing worn, plain clothes suggests that they can't afford to buy new, fashionable clothes. Costumes also act to make a character feel real and believable, this means that a character in a teen, coming of age film set in the 1980s wearing the trends of the time and the extras also dressing the same way makes you believe that the film was set in the 80s and not filmed in 2016.  Another way costumes are used is to make the audience believe that the character's had a life before the film started. If the costumes aren't suitable from the time period or setting it can be jarring for the audience and make it difficult for them to immerse themselves in the film, for example, if a character from a film set in the 1800s was wearing jeans and a t-shirt it would make the film appear unrealistic and less believable. Whereas, Captain Jack Sparrow's costume in the Pirates of the Caribbean series that's worn and dirty makes you believe that he's a pirate. Therefore, a costume designer has to seamlessly blend a character into their story.
 
In Gone Girl, Amy Dune is portrayed on the surface as the perfect wife who supports her husband, however as the film goes on we discover that she's jealous and vengeful. Her costumes are usually simple but sophisticated. For example, when she first meets Nick she is wearing a casual outfit but she still manages to catch his attention. This suggests that Amy is naturally alluring and captivating because she doesn't have to but any effort into her appearance to appeal to Nick. However, as the film goes on we discover that this look was perfected to seduce a man like Nick and she's using it to play a version of herself that's very different to the truth.

Amy's costumes often include lighter colours which is confusing for the audience because colours such as white are used to connote innocence and purity which is very different from the way Amy acts. Alternatively, that could be the point, it could suggest that as well as playing a game with Nick and the police, Amy is playing with the audience by getting them to trust her and then revealing her menacing intentions. This all links in to how intelligent Amy is as she knows exactly what she's doing and the effect that it will have. At the end of the film, Amy uses white to play into the media's view of her being a vulnerable housewife that has been taken away from her perfect home. The modesty of the nightgown also plays into this as it suggests that she is sophisticated and pure. However, the dark, scarlet colour of the blood that covers her and the dress connotes violence and danger. To the characters in the film this suggests that Amy has been through something tormenting and both emotionally and physically scarring. On the other hand, to the audience, who know that it was Amy that killed a man and that its his blood that covers her, it reveals how dangerous she is. Red is also seen as a very romantic and alluring colour.  This could have been used to play into the idea that she's a femme fatale and has the power to kill a man after seducing him.

 

Amy also wears black on several occasions, this colour has several different connotations. Black can be used to suggest authority and power which fits with Amy's character as she is very controlling and always stays one step ahead of everyone else. Alternatively, black is also used to present evil as a lot of villains such as Dracula and Darth Vader wear black. When Amy wears black at her parents book release it could be used to suggest her anger and menace towards the way her parents have treated her. It could also be used to show that she is trying to gain control over the situation by demanding attention by wearing such a bold colour which reinforces the idea that Amy is a very jealous character as she wants the attention to be on her instead of her book counterpart.

In the film Sicario Emily Blunt's character, Kate Macer, is recruited to try and tackle the violence occurring on the US-Mexican border by hunting down a drug cartel that's responsible for the death of her team.
At the opening of the film Macer is wearing her tactical amour in an attempt to take down a drug cartel. Her uniform connotes authority and power because it tells the audience that she is more than an ordinary citizen and has the strength and intelligence to be part of the FBI. It also suggests danger and violence as she is prepared to defend herself from the oncoming events. The dark colour of her uniform is also used to construct connotations of authority as black is a strong and bold colour.

When she's not on a mission Kate wears simple and practical clothes. The colour palette of her wardrobe is cold and bleak, this could be used to mimic the negative and hopeless view of society and government organisations explored throughout the film. Kate's costumes are gender neutral and she never wears anything overly feminine, this could be used to show that to move up the ranks in the FBI and be taken seriously she has had to make herself less feminine because even though society has progressed, jobs in the army and organisations such as the FBI are still traditionally male and its difficult for women to be treated equally. The plainness of her clothes and the fact that she wears little to no make-up could support this. They could also be used as part of her costume to suggest that she has no time to spend on her appearance because she's focused on her job.

To conclude, the colour and style of a costume give the audience clues about the character and their personality. Costumes can also be used to reinforce the role the character is in, for example, the red in Amy's costume mimics the way traditional femme fatales wore red and the amour that Kate wears is used to emphasise the fact that she is part of a government organisation and fights for her country.  A character's costume is an essential tool in discovering more about who they are and what their motives are.