Clothes on Film: With Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997), costume designer Deena Appel created one of the most iconic screen looks of all time. That is no overstatement; Austin Powers has been copied and homaged and wheeled out every year as a Halloween costume, with very little credit put Appel’s way. It is a rather sad indictment of how the industry works that, despite its importance, especially in a film such as Austin Powers, a costume designer will rarely see any kudos come their way.
3 comments:
I watched Austin Powers as a kid a lot. Like, a lot a lot. I'm not exactly sure why I was allowed to, but hey, I wasn't complaining. I'd like to rewatch these movies with an adult's eye. I'm sure they'll be way more funny to me now than they were back then. When watching these films I remember noticing Austin's attire quite a bit. I remember always being amused with his funny looking pants. Oh, and the necklace he wears that I didn't know what it meant...I'm so glad that this article allows me to learn about how these costumes were designed. Deena Appel is a clearly talented artist and designer who toes the line expertly between humor and tackiness. I think my favor rendering of hers is the one with Austin in green striped pants, and then the perfectly matched fabric stapled to it. Amazing that they were able to find the exact fabric Deena had designed.
The article, “Deen Apel on the Costume Design of Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery” seemed like a good read, for, as the article puts it, it surrounds the costume design “of the most iconic screen looks of all time”. Not just Austin, but every character in the movies has an iconic look. Each costume enhancing the quirks of each character. Seeing the character costume design sketches and hearing the costume designer talk about them in detail, truly increased my appreciation of the movie and the costumes in it. Loved seeing the process and planning that went into the things I saw on the screen from Dr.evil’s look to the Fembots bullet bra. After reading this article, I definitely believe that the costumes featured where a huge part in what makes the Austin Powers franchise so good. The next time I see a austin powers costume in the seasonal halloween costume store, I will think about this article, and might have an idea of what i'm going to dressed up as this year.
Seeing this article pop up on the list made me so happy! At my Grandmother’s house when I was younger, she didn’t have cable, but she did have a TV and a VHS player. Two of the first few VHS movies my brother and I would play on repeat was Austin Powers: International Man on Mystery and Austin Powers in Goldmember. In the film discussed in the article, I thought the costumes were amazing. The designer talks about her process and research on the intrinsic and daring style of the 1960s. Through whimsical patterns, stunning aesthetics, and bold cutouts, this movie wowed me. I feel this designer did a brilliant job on this movie. For being a comedy, she still kept it visually interesting for the viewer by giving it a sharp cutting edge with the costumes. She points out in the article multiple times that the budget for this show was very small, so the product of it all becomes even more remarkable. It is not always about money, creating a great and frugal design just takes a little more creativity.
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