Creating a believable world for the audience to immerse themselves in when watching a movie or television series is just as important as great direction and the actors' brilliant performances. While this often comes down predominantly to set design, the characters' costumes play a huge role in the movie, especially in franchises such as the MCU or Star Wars.
Not only do costumes help create the universe in which the characters live, whether it be helping to identify the period or the country they live in, but costumes can also say so much about who the characters are as people. Even if a movie fails to deliver in other departments, sometimes it is worth watching purely to see the impeccable costume design.
Updated by Alexandra Locke on October 16, 2022: Clothes can say a lot about a person, and that is especially true in film. Sometimes, the clothes are so extravagant or so exquisite that they leave the rest of the movie wanting. This article has been updated to add even more movies with an excellent sense of fashion.
15 Chicago Brings The Razzle Dazzle
Chicago is the hit movie musical about Roxie Hart and the women she meets on Death Row in the Cook County jail. All having committed crimes against men, many of the women deftly dance and sing their way around their guilt to justify the murders they committed.
As the movie is set in the 1920s, it is filled with the glitz and glamour of jazz clubs and stage acts, as well as the typical styles worn at the time. Each musical number is more extravagant than the last. Thankfully, Colleen Atwood ensured the costumes for the numbers were equally impressive. No other movie has ever made incarceration seem quite so glamorous.
14 Titanic Shows The Disparities Between Classes
Titanic is an epic 1990s movie about the 1912 sinking of the RMS Titanic. Though the movie centers around the romance between the high-society Rose Dewitt-Bucater and wanderer Jack Dawson, it also features many real-life people who were aboard the Titanic.
As such, the movie also highlights the fashions worn by differing classes at the time. The beautifully intricate outfits created by Deborah Lynn Scott display the upper class's shine and the humble garments of those on the lower decks. Overall, Titanic is a beautiful movie that has an eye for detail.
13 Crazy Rich Asians Involves A Wedding
Crazy Rich Asians follows Rachel Chu as she travels to Singapore with her boyfriend for a wedding. There, she discovers that the down-to-earth Nick is a member of one of the richest families in the country. Rachel is swept up in the world of glitz, glamour, and more extravagance than she has ever known.
Though the movie is set in the modern day, the clothes under the costume design of Mary Vogt are some of the most striking in cinema. Rachel wears many fabulous dresses that are runway-ready, but the crowning look is Araminta's gilded wedding jumpsuit with a flowing train and jeweled veil. The look is utterly captivating. Crazy Rich Asians is a must-watch, even if viewers only skip to see Araminta walk down the aisle.
12 Marie Antoinette Features Luxurious Costume Designs
Sofia Coppola's stunning semi-biographical historical drama Marie Antoinette stars Kirsten Dunst as the final queen of France before the French Revolution. The movie follows Antoinette as she becomes a royal and enters into a life of luxury and extravagance. The stunning costume design perfectly displays the over-the-top, meticulous beauty of the French royalty during the late 1700s.
Not only are Marie Antoniette's costumes so thought-out and beautifully created, but this also extends to the entire supporting cast around her. The beautiful costumes even won designer Milena Canonero the Oscar for Best Costume Design at the 79th Academy Awards.
11 Memoirs Of A Geisha Displays Japanese Fashions
Memoirs of a Geisha is a 2005 film about a poor girl from a fishing village who becomes one of the most prominent geishas in Kyoto. Through many trials and tribulations, Chiyo — later renamed Sayuri —finds her place in the geisha community. The whole story is elegantly punctuated by truly breathtaking Japanese garments by costume designer Colleen Atwood.
Not only are the kimonos and other outfits worn by the cast gorgeous, but they also help to tell the tale. Each piece worn by the women signifies their standing within their okiya. The costumes in Memoirs of a Geisha elevate its storytelling, making them an integral part of this great film.
10 Cruella Brought The Iconic Villain Into The Punk Scene
The 2021 Disney live-action feature Cruella reimagines the origin story of popular villain Cruella deVil from the novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians. Emma Stone leads the cast as Estella Miller, a talented up-and-coming fashion designer in 1970s London who becomes known by the name Cruella.
Depictions of Cruella deVil on screen have always placed her in elaborate costumes, but Cruella takes this to new heights. DeVil becomes known for her outlandish, risky, and experimental designs that leave the fashion world, and the viewers, stunned. Jenny Beavan took home the Academy Award for Best Costume Design during the 2022 ceremony.
9 Little Women's Characters Are Embodied In The Movie's Costume Design
2019's Little Women brought the March Sisters from Louisa May Alcott's classic novel back to the big screen. Greta Gerwig's screenplay followed two different timelines as the March sisters grew up together, dealing with domestic struggles, financial issues, death, and grief and attempting to find their places in the world as young women.
While some have argued that the costumes were historically inaccurate, they are stunningly beautiful, perfectly embodying each character's personality and wants in life. From the beauty and spectacle of Amy's gowns to the ease and casual nature of Jo's waistcoats and flowing shirts, each sister's nature comes out just as much through her costumes as through her actions.
8 Black Panther's Costume Design Is Some Of The Best In The MCU
Costume designer Ruth E. Carter is known for her incredible attention to detail when it comes to her costume design for movies. Having previously been acknowledged for her work on films such as Malcolm X and Amistad, Carter won the Oscar for her impeccable costume design on the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Black Panther. The MCU has some brilliant costumes, but Black Panther stands out among them.
Carter created some incredible costume designs for which she envisioned a futuristic, fictionalized, diverse African society untouched by colonizers and inspired by indigenous people across the continent. Carter perfectly blends authentic African designs with traditional superhero outfits and costumes, making them practical and helping to depict Wakanda's culture.
7
The Devil Wears Prada Is A Memorable Look At The Fashion World
The beloved 2006 comedy-drama The Devil Wears Prada gives viewers an inside look at the biggest names in New York's fashion circles. The cast stars Meryl Streep as Miranda Priestley, a fashion magazine editor, and Emily Blunt and Anne Hathaway as her co-assistants.
The Devil Wears Prada references many well-known fashion houses and big names within the fashion world, with many establishments agreeing to their clothing and accessories being featured in the movie. Due to the vast array of costumes used in the movie, it became one of the most expensively costumed films of all time, which is enough to entice many viewers to watch.
6
Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire Stands Out In The Franchise
Every aspect of the Harry Potter franchise that brought the beloved novels to the screen helped to create the elaborate wizarding world, with costuming being a huge part of that. While every movie had brilliant costume design, The Goblet of Fire stands out.
Not only did the movie feature an elaborate Yule Ball, with characters dressed in their finest clothing, but two new school uniforms were created, which perfectly embodied the teachings and styles of Durmstrang and Beauxbatons. In a franchise full of impressive and well-thought-out costume design, The Goblet of Fire is the shining star.
5 The Lord Of The Rings Brings Middle Earth To Life
The Lord of the Rings is a sweeping fantasy epic about the struggle for power in a world full of magic and dark forces. Frodo Baggins and his companions set out to destroy the Ring of Power with the hope of ending the constant fighting for such a small trinket.
Due to its setting, the costumes deftly give off a high fantasy feel while keeping a keen attention to detail. Each race within the franchise has unique clothes specific to them. Plus, the iconic weaponry is brilliantly brought to life with precision. The thought put into what the various beings would wear by Ngila Dickson and Richard Taylor is impressive, considering the vastness of such an expansive franchise.
4 Emma's Costuming Brought Vibrant Color To The Regency Era
Based on Jane Austin's beloved novel of the same name, 2020's Emma starred Anya Taylor Joy in the title role of Emma Woodhouse, a wealthy, independent woman who plays matchmaker within her friendship circle.
Alexandra Byrne, who received an Academy Award nomination for her work on the movie, managed to perfectly design costumes that were not only period accurate, but brought vibrancy, obvious wealth, and beautiful color to Emma's wardrobe. Byrne's costumes completely embodied Emma's personality, showing her as a lover of making a statement.
3 Gentlemen Prefer Blondes' Costumes Highlighted The Cast's Beauty
The 1953 musical Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is now regarded as one of Marilyn Monroe's most notable performances. Alongside actress Jane Russell, who portrayed Dorothy Shaw, Monroe played the role of Lorelei Lee. The two are best friends and showgirls who travel the Atlantic together to get to France.
The friends are very different, with Lee valuing wealth, beauty, and, most specifically, diamonds, highlighted by the iconic number "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend." The stunning costumes emphasize this wish for the finer things in life and, in many sequences, are as much a shining star as Monroe herself. Costume designer Billy Travilla ran into many issues during the movie, with some of his designs being censored due to them being deemed inappropriate. However, Monroe's pink dress has become one of the most iconic dresses in movie history.
2 Alice In Wonderland Created An Even More Bizarre World Than The Animated Movie
One thing that is true of almost any Tim Burton project is that it is dark yet eccentric. This even extends into Disney, as he directed the 2010 live-action adaptation of the 1951 animated movie Alice in Wonderland. Coupled with the outlandish set design, Colleen Atwood's costume design helped to take the story to a more bizarre and wacky place than ever before.
From Alice's stunning yet simple gowns to the Queen of Hearts and The Mad Hatter's vibrant, detailed costumes, Wonderland drew audiences in completely. Atwood was awarded for her talents, receiving an Academy Award and a BAFTA for her work on Alice in Wonderland.
1 Moulin Rouge! Is A Surreal Musical Spectacle
While the center of Moulin Rouge! is the beautiful romance between Christian and Satine, Baz Luhrmann's original, surreal musical is all about spectacle. The over-the-top dance sequences, the eccentric characters, the music, and the costumes all contribute to the overall spectacle of the movie.
Set in Paris's Montmartre Quarter, the movie follows a writer, a courtesan, and the patrons of the Moulin Rouge as they rehearse and put on a play about a secret love affair, mirroring the plot of the movie. The entire movie is brilliant, but the visuals stand out, winning the movie accolades in the costume and art direction departments. Overall, the play at the Moulin Rouge, and the movie, would be nothing without Catherine Martin and Angus Strathie's stunning costume design.