Cracked.com | Cracked.com: Every cent counts on a movie set, so it’s understandable that sometimes, a character’s outfit is simply plucked from the studio closet rather than sourced wholesale. After all, it’s not like anyone’s going to know that the heroine of this fall’s teen rom-com is wearing the same jeans as the heroine of last fall’s teen rom-com. Some costumes are so iconic, however, that the very idea of reusing them is both blasphemy and ballsy as hell.
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I was astounded to read this article and see that such recognizable costumes are reused in near original form! I actually don’t have a problem with this, it only becomes weird when it gives the appearance of being lazy or unoriginal with the costume design, such as when the costume may have been worn by a similar character in the first film. It would also have to be a very iconic piece, like Rose’s jacket in Titanic. I think reusing costumes is definitely a great way to be sustainable and stay within budget, but it also leads to some really funny unintended connections between completely unrelated movies. I wonder how many times this has happened, especially in different period films that are set in roughly the same time period. As someone who pays close attention to costumes in films, especially when it's a period film, I don’t think I’ve ever seen the same costume in two or more films.
As someone who has always been insecure about reusing old costumes, it’s so reassuring to see that this happens even on the professional level! I’ve always been afraid that, if I use pieces from past shows in a production I’m working on (even if I alter them significantly) I’m compromising myself artistically. The truth is, unless you’re building everything from scratch (which virtually no one has the budget to do besides Paul Tazewell) then it’s basically impossible to create a look that isn’t “borrowed” to some extent. I wonder how these designers felt when they realized they had repeated looks from recent shows/movies—and I wonder how the original designers felt to see their costumes on screen again! My favorite instance of repeated costumes would have to be the shared dress from Tuck Everlasting and Titanic. The fact that both stories take place within two years of each other prove how hard good period garments are to come by!
It is obviously a difficult task to create every costume for each of the films and shows that these studios are taking on. I think that using what you already have is the best practice in costuming. While many people are learning how to value our environment and protect it, costumers can do their job by understanding what resources they have and using them instead of creating more costumes that will inevitably sit in a warehouse somewhere. I wonder how different studios keep track of the costumes they have in storage. I think that a fun job would be keeping a database on what costumes or props are kept after filming various projects. Props are also a good way to reuse things that appear in one project in another project, which doesn't seem like teams are just recycling all aspects of a film or series. If searchable databases hold information on what is in storage, it can help production teams understand what they have access to.
I love when people who watch a lot of movies put in the time and energy into noticing things like this, its nice to know that people are paying attention to the costumers. Pulling from existing stock comprises the origins of a very large chunk of most costumes, at least it did for my highschool and most others. It is fun to see that the pulling from stock part of costuming doesn’t go away in the film world. I wonder if there are more cases of old costumes being altered for new shows that people aren’t as aware of. If the same shirt is styled in two completely different ways for two different aesthetics, or if costumes get cut up or dyed to better fit the world. I wonder if some places have restrictions on alterations to the costumes in stock, if there needs to be permission, or if there is a separate stock for pre-roughed up clothing.
I honestly had no idea that Hollywood reuses costumes. it makes sense, obviously, I just thought that they would source and create different things for every production. The overall attitude of this article seems to be suggesting that this is bad, but I think this is super cool. For example, the first one they mention works perfectly. Since the character in Hocus Pocus is wearing a Halloween costume, it’s a really fun touch that it’s actually a gown from a movie character. I really don’t see a problem with the second one either, I think it’s a cool fun Easter egg, but I see how people could feel betrayed by this iconic piece being used in more than just the original Titanic film. As for the last three, I feel like these are very understandable. Any type of sitcom or episodic type of show that takes place in our current everyday life with characters that are just like our current everyday selves should be wearing the same clothes that we do. I love it when I’m watching a show, and I see that a character has the same piece of clothing that I myself own in my closet. It’s just so freaking cool. I really don’t like the stance that the writer of this article took, saying, “either the two shows shared a lazy costumer or there were only so many personalities available to women on the late 90s TV.” Maybe I’m reading too much into this, but to me this sounds absolutely insane. If anything, I think this makes it more realistic. I think that reused costume pieces, especially in episodic TV, are a great idea. Where it gets a little bit more muddy for me is in historic or fantasy television or film, which is much more reliant on iconic and custom pieces. I also wonder how designers are credited when costume pieces are reused and if they have any say and what happens to them or if they fully belong to the studio and another designer can alter it however they want.
I clicked on this article hoping the 13 going on 30 dress would be mentioned.. And I was right! Seeing reused costumes on screen is one of my favorite little trivia bits I like to keep up with, similar to being able to recognize actors across movies. I feel very vindicated now that I know the Titanic and Tuck everlasting dress are the same, I thought they were similar! It makes sense that movies would pull from costume stock, I mean how else are you going to costume your extras, but it does seem a touch odd to me when costumers use unaltered costumes that were custom-made for other films—especially highly recognizable ones. At my high school, as many theatre companies do, we reused costumes. But when you had highly customized pieces, we always made sure to change something about them so that it didn’t have that holdover recognizability from past shows. Considering how few examples there are of recognizable costumes, it seems like the movie industry is pretty good at maintaining the illusion of originality when it comes to how costumes are sourced.
Personally, I love this. It just makes it so much more realistic to me! I remember watching Modern Family as a kid and seeing Lilly wear the same exact outfit I had was such a “guess they shop at the GAP” world-building moment for me; I absolutely loved it. Now, this isn’t nearly the same, but I think it gives more of a sense of realism to the media it’s featured in. The viewer will likely not remember that the dress in x movie is the exact same garment in y show, but I feel like it serves to subconsciously unify the world the characters are living in. Let’s be real, unless someone's entire closet is Haute Couture, someone else is going to own some of the same pieces. It’s honestly more realistic that some characters would wear the same things. Especially if the characters are from the same archetype or genre, chances are they’re shopping at the same stores.
I have written about this in other movie costuming article Newsquizes, but i’m glad an article finally touches on the pulled costumes for movies, as opposed to building for every piece in a movie. I know it is common place in theatre to pull costumes from stock and storage facilities and I know that thus it must be common in film as well, as no matter how big the budget is that’s a lot of work to build every costume. Naturally with the sheer amount of media that exists costumes are bound to overlap and I don’t see it as a huge travesty that some people have noticed. I do see where it might not be ideal to have a very iconic piece of clothing from one movie appear in another as it could distract the audience from the movie at hand, however, if not it is just like a hidden easter egg.
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