The Credits: The coldest assassin is the kind you don’t see coming. In a lineup of globe-trotting sharpshooters from the movies, The Killer (Michael Fassbender) may be the most difficult to identify. On a crowded city street, he could be anyone—and that is by design. Costume designer Cate Adams developed the style for director David Fincher’s vision of a dangerous character you would hardly ever notice.
4 comments:
I think this article is very interesting. What they talk about in the article is the costumes of a more background character, even though he is really the main character. It's honestly so cool to me to hear the psychology behind how somebody is meant to blend in and the type of clothes that really make them do that. I think ordering costumes from Amazon and just other convenient places is genuinely so smart. Also I think it was really cool how the designer was talking about how she wasn't necessarily the biggest fan of the director's work all of the time or the actors work all of the time, yet she worked on them with this show and had a great time. Opinions change and things we like now we may not like later. I think people who do call students are so insanely cool and talented and I wish I could do that but who knows maybe I can?
It is easy to forget how much detail and energy goes into something that looks so ordinary. This design choice goes along perfectly with the character and the vision of the movie. As costume designer Cate Adams pointed out, James Bond is easily identified by his signature suit. This character absolutely looks like a tourist who would keep talking to you even as you start to walk away. The bucket hat is the most iconic part of this look. I love that the most tedious piece of clothing to find was his shoes. It had to be this perfect look of a dad shoe and finding it took time. Adams also mentions how important it was to buy multiples of most of the pieces knowing that the prop blood would destroy the clothing. People here in the School of Drama often forget how destructive prop blood can be for costumes.
I thought this article gave insight into a fascinating point of view for costume designing a movie with big-name directors and actors. I really appreciated how Cate Adams described her process for designing and choosing costume pieces, as well as the more realistic parts of her job - working day to day on a set, always coming prepared with extra clothing in case blood got on some or a costume got destroyed in any way, and working with the director and other members of the creative and production team to make decisions. I found it very interesting how much thought goes into costumes that are meant to be as simple and basic as possible. It is a fact, however, that we make assumptions about people based on how they dress, so understandably, every design decision is important, from different tones in different locations to exact shoe models, and so on.
This was a really interesting article to read. As someone with admittedly very little (by which I mean absolutely zero) experience in costume design, I feel like, a lot of the time, the intention of the costume design is to make the main character stand out a bit, so the audience can tell who they are, and understand that they are important and different and need to be clearly identified. With that being said, I think it’s really interesting and kind of unique how the main idea for the design here is “some guy who just kind of fits in and isn’t super noticeable.” If you think about it, it does make sense for an assassin though. I think that the designer did a really excellent job of making that concept a reality. I love how his outfits are normal everyday things, but they just seem slightly offputting. I think that’s the best way for him to blend in, since he doesn’t fit perfectly into his surroundings. Being slightly imperfect hides him better.
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