While Powell’s work onOrlandois utterly singular, it was not the first time that she had worked on afilm that challenged our sense of historical time and how it’s represented. Her collaborations with Derek Jarman onCaravaggio (her first feature film),Edward II, andWittgensteinuse the structure of the period film as aprism splitting “history” into akaleidoscope of events, images, and ideas assembled into astory about the past that may be inaccurate, but which is nevertheless true. “People thought Derek’sCaravaggio was aperiod film,” sheremarked in 2019, “but it absolutely was not: it was kind of set in the 1940s and inspired by the Italian neorealist films of that time.” Powell’s costumes are an irreverent mix of vintage and modern styles and fabrics, all distressed to evoke the economic depression Italy faced in both the late-16th and mid-20th centuries. Yet, it’s hard to see anything other than Baroque sensuality in Jarman’s reproduction of Caravaggio’s iconic works – aresemblance owing as much to Powell’s command of texture and drapery as to the cinematography. The sparse sets give her costumes room to do the work of weaving together the various periods and artistic influences that give the film its identity. The level of visual cohesion that she achieved is aremarkable accomplishment for any designer, much less one working on their first film. And now, 40years later, Powell has given usThe Bride!.
The past several years have seen Powell fearlessly interpret beloved costumes worn by Snow White, Cinderella, and Mary Poppins – characters that have transcended their film origins to become myth. In many ways,The Bride!is the culmination of Powell’s body of work thus far. Her approach to styling The Bride (Jessie Buckley) in Gyllenhaal’s film trades the iconic shapeless white gown and bandages worn by Elsa Lanchester for aloud mix of 1930s styles: abias-cut silk evening dress in bright orange, electric blue stockings, and red heeled boots. The odd ensemble communicates both Ida’s rebellious spirit (colors would not have been coordinated in this way at the time) and her place at society’s fringe. It’s the only dress that Ida actually wears, and it becomes increasingly disordered as the woman wearing it becomes further confused about who she was before she was brought back to life, and who she is becoming.
As inOrlando,costume inThe Bride! not only responds to events as they unfold, but actively changes the film’s narrative, repeatedly pulling the lovers out of their present and into the fantasy space of cinema. Frank’s (Christian Bale) need to go to the movies (relatable) is what moves the plot along, and as they drive to theaters across the country, they also watch themselves on screen, moving as protagonists through the landscape of 1930s musicals, horror films, and romantic dramas. The silver screen becomes aplace where they cansee themselves, and in the one place in the film where they are able tobe themselves – asubterranean club filled with social outcasts from an array of historical periods – it’s through apartnered dance number that that feeling is expressed. Each of these meta-cinematic moments calls attention not just to how costume is used inThe Bride! but to costume’s central role in creating cinema itself. It’s through costume that characters, worlds, and fantasies are built, and in almost 140years of film history, few have built them as well as Sandy Powell.