NY Times article about True Grit hats & costume

[panamaJess]

thought you guys might find this article interesting. It's about the costumes in True Grit, including the hats, designed by Oscar-nominated Mary Zophres

http://nyti.ms/fTL4Zi

 

[hatophile]

Cool article, thanks, Jess.

 

[barrowjh]

Yes, thanks.

 

[bowlerman]

I drooled over Bridges' bowler near the beginning of the film (not to mention Steinfeld's Boss of the Plains). It was perfect. Great light brown color, too, only I wonder if the set lights made it appear lighter, because the on-set photos in natural light make it appear char-brown.

For some reason I can't view this article though-- is it too long to be pasted onto the thread?

 

[ukali1066]

I think she did a great job

 

[DJH]

Thanks, I enjoyed reading that.

 

[monbla256]

thought you guys might find this article interesting. It's about the costumes in True Grit, including the hats, designed by Oscar-nominated Mary Zophres

http://nyti.ms/fTL4Zi

Thanks for the link. Interesting article on the "hollywood" way with clothes for the movies ! Would be interesting to read about the costuming and hats used in the first John Wayne film as well

 

[Feraud]

For some reason I can't view this article though-- is it too long to be pasted onto the thread?

Here it is-

February 23, 2011, 9:52 am
The Bagger Rounds Up a Costume Designer
By MELENA RYZIK

Lorey Sebastian/Paramount Pictures

Jeff Bridges and Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit.”
It’s time for the fun party game that is Ask the Bagger. In today’s installment, we speak with an Oscar-nominated costume designer at the request of a commenter, perdita.

Will Mary Zophres’s designs for “True Grit” earn the first time nominee an Oscar, or will the fanciful costumes from “Alice in Wonderland” win out?

Vote for Best Costume Design
Mary Zophres, the costume designer for the Coen brothers’ “True Grit,” has worked with them before – on “Fargo,” “No Country for Old Men” and “The Big Lebowski,” among other films. Ms. Zophres has a lot of contemporary films on her resume, like “Ghost World” and “Iron Man 2,” and Oscar attention tends to go to showier period or fantasy films. Perhaps because of that, this is her first nomination. She was not expecting it.

“It’s a Western,” Ms. Zophres said. “It’s not fancy, it’s not opulent in any way. I’ve never used so much dirt in my career.”

Ms. Zophres began her process by doing a lot of research, but she didn’t have many period pieces to look at. “There’s very, very little clothing that exists from the 1870s,” she said. “The Gene Autry Museum let me come and look in their basement,” where they have clothing archives, but she wasn’t allowed to handle anything. “They let me sort of feel them, but you have to wear gloves,” she said. She mined diaries collected from the period and old Montgomery Ward catalogs.

The costume team came up with prototypes and had fittings with the cast; they then made every article of clothing, from the boots to the hats, from scratch, in multiples. Ms. Zophres paid particular attention to the headgear.

“In a Western one of the most important things for defining a character is their hat,” she said. “So we had quite a lot of hats, somewhere around 50 hats, to try on to find one that was right for the character and for the actors’ face.”

The memorable hat worn by Hailee Steinfeld, as the fearless Mattie Ross, is based on an early design by Stetson. “In 1870, there was no such thing as what we consider a classic cowboy hat,” Ms. Zophres said. “They were wearing like city hats gone bad – like a bowler that had been caught out in the rain too many times.”

On a trip out West, John Stetson, a Philadelphian, took note of how men in the field were using their hats to block out the sun. “He came up with this ‘Boss of the Plain’ hat, with a four-inch brim and four-inch crown,” Ms. Zophres said. “In my mind that was her hat, it was her father’s hat that she wore.”

Because all of the clothing for the film was made new, Ms. Zophres and her team had to age everything.

“Nothing looks good in a Western unless it’s aged properly,” she said. “We have an aging department. They literally start beating up the clothes.”

The process is lengthy and painstaking. “There’s a lot of paint that’s used, there’s a lot of sanding involved, there’s a lot of tumbling, we call it – you put it in a dryer with tennis balls and it literally gets beat up,” she said.

There’s actual dirt too; once she even aged something in a cement mixer. “You make all these things, the tailors made it all pristine and it comes pressed and beautiful, and then you take it to the aging department and they ruin it,” she said.

Their period dedication was so great that, save for undergarments and shirts, they didn’t wash any of the actors’ clothing – even as they spent days riding horses in the sun and dust of New Mexico. So was there a period smell to the costumes, too?

“It wasn’t gamy, but it didn’t smell great in the trailer,” Ms. Zophres said. “Nobody complained. I think it helped them get into character.”

As for her Oscar chances, she’s not holding her breath.

“I don’t think I have a chance in hell,” she said. “A Western has never won best costume design. It usually goes to the fancier movie.”

But she is thrilled to just be able to go to the show, which she normally watches from home. She went to the Los Angeles vintage emporium Decades to get her dress, a backless red Carolyne Roehm.

“It’s a total Jessica Rabbit dress,” she said. “But I thought, I may never get nominated again, so I’m going for it.”

 

[bowlerman]

thanks!!

 

[Ande1964]

Great article. I thought the hats and costumes were perfect. I love that Bridge's main hat has a little hole where the pinches meet. Looks like he's been wearing it out in the wild for five years running.

Anj

 

[The Good]

I thought the wardrobe looked authentic. The "costuming," if we can call it that, was very well done for True Grit. I was particularly impressed by that of the Rooster Cogburn and Mattie (spelling?) character. It was a good film too.

 

[Wolfwood]

I thought the hat that the Texas Ranger wore (cannot remember the character's name) was surprisingly similar to the cavalier/musketeer hats of early 17th century (sans the feather). Not only the brim width and shape, but it even had the leather hat band with a buckle, which is typical of the era.

Had no idea such similar styles might have been around for such a long time.

 

[Cliffnopus]

Thanks for posting Jess, great article. Too bad she didn't win.

Cliff

 

[MCrider]

Like she stated in the articles, the fancier movie costumes usually win and it did. But I doubt those who vote know the effort that went into True Grit's clothes. Knowing that everything was new made and then beat up to make them look old might have swayed some votes! I enjoyed the movie and the clothes were great. More authentic than John Waynes (which I also love) in the clothing department.

 

[Zombie_61]

Great article. I thought the hats and costumes were perfect. I love that Bridge's main hat has a little hole where the pinches meet. Looks like he's been wearing it out in the wild for five years running.

Anj

I concur. I was very pleased to see Bridges' "daily" hat was more "fedora" than "cowboy" (in the "traditional movie cowboy" sense, that is); far more authentic, historically speaking. I wish the article had been a little more in-depth though...maybe they're saving that for the dvd.