Costume, Camera, Action!

AdDRESSing Style
Costume, Camera, Action!
Fashion and Movies: A Never-Ending Dialogue

Sara Martin, University of Parma

in conversation with

Grazia d’Annunzio, Università Statale di Milano

In ENGLISH

How important is an outfit in developing a character? What is the role of a costume designer in making a movie or TV show? Could you picture Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s without the long black dress and the pearls? How about Richard Gere in American Gigolo wearing a stiff tweed blazer instead of his iconic sexy unstructured jacket? And what about Mrs Meisel “sans le tailleur et le chapeau?” Professor Sara Martin loves movies and costumes, and her book L’abito necesario: fili, trame e costume nel cinema e nella televisione (“The Necessary Dress: Threads, Weaves and Costumes in Cinema and TV”) will be the starting point in discovering a fascinating world “behind the scenes” as well as an intriguing tool for better understanding – paraphrasing Sunset Boulevard, “what the wonderful people see in the dark.”

Sara Martin is associate professor of cinema at the University of Parma. Since 2019 she has been director of CAPAS (Centre for Visual and Performing Arts Activities and Professions) at the University of Parma. Sara Martin’s main lines of research concern the relationship between cinema, costumes, and set design as well as the history of film criticism. Among her publications: Scenografia e Scenografi, 2013, Gino Peressutti. L’architetto di Cinecittà, 2013, L’Abito necessario. Fili trame e costumi nel cinema e nella televisione, 2022, Atti critici in luoghi pubblici. Scrivere di cinema, tv e media dal dopoguerra al web, 2019 ( edited with M. Guerra), Culture del film. La critica cinematografica e la società italiana, 2020.