The power of costume in Catch Me If You Can

Speilberg’s Catch Me If You Can explores our unhesitating acceptance of the visuals with which we are presented every day. Be this through subtle body language decisions or clever vocabulary, we often believe what we see without query. In the film, Leonardo di Caprio exploits this unquestioning acceptance, fooling his characters as to his real identity. A huge part of this visual trickery lies in his wardrobe choices.

Based on a real life story, di Caprio plays Frank Abognale Jr., a professional con artist living and loving in the Swinging Sixties. Not much more than a mere schoolboy of eighteen, he successfully impersonates the lives and careers of a pilot, a doctor, a teacher and many more. He fraudulently earns millions of dollars and even secures himself a perfectly prim and pretty fiancée, she herself believing him to be a doctor.

His costumes throughout the film illustrate the power that the simple presentation of a uniform has. Frank is able to easily deceive by exuding a strong visual façade of status. Wearing a uniform that reinforces his chosen persona, Frank grows increasingly self-assured in his ability to deceive. This can be seen no better than when he begins to impersonate a Pan Am pilot. The unmistakeable smart and accomplished air (oh, I went there) that the Pan Am uniform provides sees Frank empowered by the image he has built. He strides through the airport, receiving countless admiring glances and looks of respect, despite never having as much as sat in a plane. He is surrounded by beautiful stewardesses, themselves costumed to the embodiment of the sixties air hostess image: tightly girdled uniforms, with fully made up faces complimenting the shiniest hair and the highest heels. Presenting us with a visual reminder that flying was once synonymous with luxury style; their costumes instil a smokescreen of confidence and, in Frank’s case, somewhere to hide.

Before becoming the ultimate conman, Frank begins the film as a young school boy trapped in his parent’s divorce. His sadness is visually reflected through the lacklustre, dull and colourless attire he wears before he begins his life of deception. As he falls deeper into his false world of impersonation, his ‘off-duty’ clothes become increasingly flamboyant and vivacious as his confidence grows. Fitting with the sixties vibes, out of uniform he kits himself out with a palette of vivid and loud colours. He can be seen in white trousers and bright blue shirts with orange Wayfarer sunglasses casually perched atop his head. He becomes a man that can have all he desires and beings cultivated a collection of luxuriously tailored suits and expensive cars. However, as the film draws to a close, Frank’s wardrobe demonstrates a complete turnaround in his appearance as his lifestyle dramatically changes. Caught and imprisoned for fraud, his health deteriorates as his riches turn to rags, his long, unkempt hair and dirty clothes a visual embodiment of this.

2002, USA

Director: Steven Spielberg

Costume Design: Mary Zophres

Summer lovin' in (500) Days of Summer

With the swell of sunshine so nearly upon us for another year, what better film to entice us into the season fully than the glorious (500) Days of Summer? Starring the bashfully handsome Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Tom Hansen, he is clothed in beautifully geeky skinny ties and buttoned up cardigans. However, it is his office object of desire, Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel) who really takes the proverbial fashion biscuit. Summer, witty and charming with a penchant for The Smiths, is a young woman who doesn't really believe in love. Nevertheless, one thing is for sure, and that is that she believes in fashion.

         

The immediate thing to note about the costume ensembles of (500) Days of Summer is their timelessness. The pieces are stylish and fashion-forward without screaming ‘my name is (insert try-hard fashion victim’s name here) and I’m a try-hard fashion victim’. Summer especially is clad very cleverly. She wears a simple sun-inspired menagerie of cottons, denim and embroidery, with flatteringly feminine A-line shapes and full skirted designs. She undoubtedly enjoys dressing and knows what suits her, the feel of her outfits unmistakeably soft and romantic. With modest hemlines and a relaxed fit, Summer exudes effortless beauty without the need for revealing more. Her unawareness of the impact of her beauty only adds to her appeal. Here is a girl who is not afraid to be her own person, her controversially casual attitude to life and love going hand-in-hand with her self-possessed style.

In another nod to her vivacious fashion poise, Summer is dressed almost exclusively in blue for the entirety of the film. Hued in everything from duck egg to midnight navy, it becomes her signature trademark. The all-blue palette rebrands the term of the LBD (little black dress), lending an idiosyncratic twist to create Summer’s own ‘little blue dress’. Softer than the classic black version and a quirky alternative, it is again a reflection of Summer’s eccentric and unabashedly individual manner.

The morning following Tom and Summer’s first night together, a surreal dance sequence takes place in the street, employing a plethora of seemingly arbitrary dancers and background actors. It is the only scene in the entire film where blue is worn by anyone other than Summer. Costume designer Hope Hanafin confirms that the idea behind this was to show that, in the morning-after glow of his night with Summer, Tom’s whole world is a reflection of his all-consuming lust for her. Now that’s some signature dressing.

So if you want to rock a little bit of carefree charm this summer, do it the Deschanel way in a beautiful blue and you’ll feel anything but melancholy. 

2009, USA

Director: Marc Webb

Costume design: Hope Hanafin