16 thoughts on “James Acheson: The Frock Flicks Guide

  1. Years ago James Acheson was the Keynote at CSA in New Orleans – he was great. Charming and funny and honest about how he did what he did. He even relayed his early days at the BBC and how he got into costuming,including Daleks made out of egg crates. (and yes, when asked about the Fourth Doctor scarf, he said ‘we had a bag of wool, gave it to a woman who knit, and she came back with the [now iconic] scarf’). He was great.
    Thanks for highlighting his work.
    Just realized that was in 2008!

  2. Yummy yummy yummy, all of it. Thank you for putting this together!

  3. In no particular order:
    Last Emperor – bored me spitless, but it WAS gorgeous.

    Dangerous Liaisons – the best of the best.

    Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein – I admire any costumer who can make Helena Bonham-Carter stand up straight and not slouch.

    Restoration – Only Sam Neill can NOT look like a total prat wearing petticoat breeches. Who knew Robert Downey Jr. was so pretty? And what WAS that plume attached to in that one (infamous) scene?

    Man in the Iron Mask. Awful, but Jeremy Irons. The costumes (and Jeremy Irons) were the best things about the movie.

  4. Gorgeous. I’ve always loved the costumes in Dangerous Liasons AND Man in the Iron Mask. (Jeremy Irons steals the show in that, btw…(

  5. Holy, i didn’t know he did the costumes for The Last Emperor. The costumes in that movie were drop dead gorgeous and accurate.

    Mine are definitely this and Dangerous Liaisons.

  6. Wow. the Masque of Mandragora costumes were designed by the same individual as Dangerous Liaisons and The Last Emperor. I am impressed.

  7. Dangerous Liansons is the movie that got me into costume films. I saw it on video when I was way too young (about 11 i think) and had no idea what the plot was simply because I wanted to see the dresses they were wearing. I still consider it to be one of my favorite movies in no small part because of James Acheson’s costumes. Proof that good costumes can change your life :)

  8. The young king pictured is Edward VI, and Acheson is a genius, apart from the priestesses’ ritual robes in the M of A, but Ancient Pagan Ritual stuff is not usually convincing.* (And I would have cast Linda Hunt as Viviane.)

    My favorite is still “Dangerous Liaisons.”

    *The costume and make-up in “Britannia,” especially the druid facial prosthetics are not bad, though I saw two episodes on Virgin Atlantic coming back from England last month, and am more than ever convinced that Zoe Wanamaker is.the Goddess incarnate.

  9. Dangerous Liaisons — I’ll never forget Glenn Close’s final scene. Absolutely heartbreaking, why has she NOT won an Oscar yet? And the costumes are brilliant.

    And why doesn’t everyone look that fabulous playing tennis???

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