March 31, 2018

"This is Where Your Life Is: The Costumes of 'Brooklyn' and How They Tell The Film’s Story in Clothing."

An excellent analysis by Tom & Lorenzo, with lots of screen grabs from the movie, which I highly recommend and have blogged about a few times.

25 comments:

tcrosse said...

Somebody did a similar analysis of Vertigo as told by the colour of Barbara Bel Geddes' sweaters.

robother said...

Perfect. Brooklyn worked for me, now I get to see why it worked. (And why it left me so wistful for 50s fashions.)

traditionalguy said...

Wonderful movie in so many ways. 5 Stars.

victoria said...

Just read the article. As always, T and Lo hit it out of the park. Fun to read, with information tucked in.


Vicki from Pasadena

Wince said...

The symbolism of the clothing is interesting, but Saoirse Ronan's face told me the story.

tcrosse said...

Saoirse Ronan's face told me the story.

It's interesting to see which screen personalities would be effective in silent movies, and in those which bare only the face.

Fandor said...

Great costumes from BROOKLYN. I'll have to check out the film.
Althouse, have you watched BABYLON BERLIN on Netflixs? It's compelling, nightmarish and oh, so good!

Mid-Life Lawyer said...

My favorite movie of the last several years. Great article.

David said...

Tom and Lorenzo not doing slapdash here. Very interesting.

Jimmy said...

One of my favorite movies of all time. Reading Tom and Lorenzo is something I would never do, except when the Professor links to them. I love the clothing worn in the film, and the article explains so much of the appeal. Great post.

The Godfather said...

An excellent movie. Did it win any awards? I never thought about the aspects of costuming that Tom and Lorenzo focus on, but I'm sure that subliminally they affected my reaction to the movie.

Sebastian said...

I think I'll like the movie, in spite of the very very obvious "motifs."

rcocean said...

The movie was a bore.

But it looked great! Of course, I didn't really notice the fashions, just that everyone seemed to be wearing brand new stuff that looked:

Absolutely Fabulous.

Jon Ericson said...

Crap! I recently recommended this blog to a normal person!

tcrosse said...

Crap! I recently recommended this blog to a normal person!

These are Althouse's lab notes for the great abnormal psych experiment called the First Trump Administration. No normies need apply.

Jon Ericson said...

You look like Ren Hoek.
Aside from the hat.

Jon Ericson said...

And I look like Stimpy. Yeah, yeah.

Jon Ericson said...

This post is Purgatory!

the 4chan Guy who reads Althouse said...

Have Tom & Lorenzo ever analyzed the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue?

Because I think they'd notice things that I might not notice.

Like fabric.

The Germans Have A Word For That.

tcrosse said...

Two different movies. I kept my eyes on Ms. Ronan. Tom and Lorenzo were focused on wardrobe. This is not to disparage their analysis, but we were viewing the film through different lenses.

Jon Ericson said...

So, when are the basketball games over?

wwww said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
MountainMan said...

One reason I come back to this blog again and again is to be pointed to articles like this, which I probably would not have read, or even known about, otherwise. I loved this movie and now I have a better understanding of why I loved it due to the subtle changes introduced by her changes in fashion. I had never considered before how fashion could play such an important role in telling a story. Brilliant article.

Ann Althouse said...

"Two different movies. I kept my eyes on Ms. Ronan. Tom and Lorenzo were focused on wardrobe. This is not to disparage their analysis, but we were viewing the film through different lenses."

The effect of the clothing is meant to be subliminal and is more effective if you don't focus on it. I'm sure Tom and Lorenzo focused on the character's face and gestures and speech especially on first viewing. This post represents close scrutiny and repeated watching.

I'm not sexually attracted to women either.

Professional lady said...

Loved the movie. I took my parents to see it - both in their 90s and children of immigrants (not Irish). Even though their parents came earlier and from a different ethnic group, all of us were affected by the movie. In their day, when you left home, you never went back or saw your family in the old country again. Especially reminded me of my maternal grandmother, who came alone when she was 19 and was very seasick during the long trip across the Atlantic.