18 thoughts on “Costume Designer Piero Tosi: The Frock Flicks Guide

  1. Set in 1330? My, my, late middle ages has never looked so frilly before! LOL

    And those are all magnificent. See, Hollywood, that’s what doing your homework and acting on it looks like.

  2. These are just stunning. And that last gown in particular I love. Amazing! (And no shortage of hairpins for the most part, either!)

      1. it shows! can we, like, make an award and send it to him? and other worthy designers? I mean, these are just fantastic.

  3. Marcel Escoffier actually designed Alida Valli’s costumes in Senso, which is why they look more “Hollywood leading lady” than all the others which were designed by Tosi.

  4. Are the costumes in the first two pictures of Tosi designed by him for the theatre? Do you know what production they were for? They (as all of these) are incredible!

      1. No, this was Pier Paolo Pasolini’s 1969 film “Medea,” which was Callas’ only film. Piero Cicoletti and Gabriella Pescucci worked on the costumes as well.

        It’s on YouTube in an English-dubbed version.

  5. My favourites of Piero Tosi costumes are Il Gattopardo, Ludwig and L’Innocente. But all are so incredibly awe inspiring that I’m literally kneeling in adoration.
    He is the benchmark for costume designers as Mr Tosi dresses his actors including the extras from head to toe. They look right bc of this.

  6. The Leopard is hands down one of the most gorgeous films ever. I think Coppola pulled a lot from it for The Godfather.

    1. I read in a book on clothing through the ages, about the film “The Leopard”, that some of the shots were composed so the people were arranged like they appear in contemporary paintings of that era. They really tried with the verisimilitude of that film. I was surprised how much I liked it, and I still remember it though I saw it many years ago. I was just entranced by watching it.

  7. I’ve actually seen a lot of thee films and remember the costumes fondly. I think my favorite is Ludwig. I’m so glad there is a designer out there who believes in head-to-foot design.

  8. Thank you for this look at Piero Tosi’s magnificent work. I saw a number of these films in the theater back at the time, and it was nice revisiting them.

  9. I wish the male costumes in Il Gattopardo had received more coverage. Burt Lancaster as the patriarch had it all — the clothes, the posture, the hair. His character spoke so little during the performance (good thing as he was dubbed), yet his look, especially at the ball scene, conveyed so much emotion. One of my favorites, and it’s a hoot on the DVD extras to hear the director Sydney Pollack basically drool over Lancaster’s dressed by Tosi.

Comments are closed.