
We don’t tend to focus as much on post-1910s-set films and TV shows at Frock Flicks (with some exceptions) — they just don’t usually scratch our main itch, which is things with Big Costumes (again, with some exceptions). So while I’ve enjoyed many films and TV series set post-1920s but pre-1969 (our cut-off), none of them have seemed worthy of a detailed review. Nonetheless, these are some excellent productions with very interesting costumes, and I’d like to share the love and some of the backstories on the costumes. So, here’s an arbitrary five post-1910s-set films or TV series that I’ve enjoyed, found thought-provoking, etc., in the last year or two.
Till (2022)
A heart-breakingly good biopic about Mamie Till-Bradley, mother of Emmett Till, who was lynched in 1955; her reaction to his death was galvanizing to the civil rights movement. Danielle Deadwyler gives a really moving performance as Mamie, and if you’re worried about it being TOO intense, know that you see everything from Mamie’s perspective (and so don’t see the actual lynching) — and this is just such an important story that I highly recommend the film.
The costumes were designed by Marci Rodgers (BlacKkKlansman, Passing), and they are on point. Here’s some interesting interviews with Rodgers:
“It first started with his hats … Those hats were prominent, and I was very adamant about building and making his clothes. We only know Emmett based on the photos that are historic. I wanted Chicago to bleed down south, and I can attest Emmett sticking out as a ‘city kid’ because my mother was from Mississippi. The way that we dressed, similarly to how Emmett dressed (from the north to the south) is just different” (Marci Rodgers On Reinforcing Mamie’s Strength with Costume Design for ‘Till’).

“I just really drove around the city and tried to encapsulate what it felt like to be living in Chicago in the mid-1950s. And also contemporarily, I reached out to the Chicago History Museum … and even historians that may have gathered information that we didn’t see as the general public … I actually asked my father. I started to dig into photos, just personally, to see what I could find to make sure it felt like Chicago in 1955” (‘Till’ costume designer Marci Rodgers on establishing co-existing wardrobe worlds that ‘bled’ into one another).

“Mamie was a middle-class working woman. She had access to certain stores and certain fashion,” Rodgers observed. “Obviously, Marshall Field’s … The first scene opens up with that. Mamie is shopping with Emmett. She sees it as being equal. The security comes to her and is basically like, ‘No,’ but in her brain, it’s freedom” (How “TILL” Costume Designer Marci Rodgers Captured the Racial Dynamics of 1955 America).

This article and video interview at Deadline is also interesting.
Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)
Alright, truth be told, this is still on my to-watch list because it’s 3.5 hours long. But I have been reading about the research that designer Jacqueline West (Quills, The New World) put into the costumes she designed and am absolutely fascinated! The story is true — in the 1920s, Osage native peoples discovered oil on their land, and white community members entered into conspiracies — often of the most personal and intimate kind — to defraud them of their resulting wealth. West did a ton of research with the Osage Nation in order to really capture an authentic look at their dress in this period and location, and worked with Julie O’Keefe, an experienced Osage regalia maker.
“I started doing research after I was first hired by Mr. Scorsese … I worked about four months in Deadwood, South Dakota, just doing research online and in libraries in the area … We live right by the Sioux reserve, where there are incredible Native American libraries. So I did my own research before I even got to Oklahoma, where we shot the film. Once I arrived, because of the generosity of the Osage people, everybody started bringing me the most incredible family photos — one of which we re-created in the film. So it started with research I came with, but it then got really brilliant after I got to Oklahoma. And I don’t know if you know this, but the Osage were some of the only people, aside from maybe the British royal family, who could afford to make home movies in this period. So there are brilliant archived family movies of them flying their own private planes; riding around Pawhuska in these beautiful cars, Duesenbergs and Pierce-Arrows; shopping in Paris and vacationing in Colorado Springs. So all that was another unique resource” (How Killers of the Flower Moon Got Its Impeccable Costuming).

“In the film, a marriage ceremony shows several women in the wedding party wearing American military coats trimmed with traditional adornments. The coats are believed to have originated at an 1800s meeting with Thomas Jefferson, who gave an Indian council member his coat, which didn’t fit the typically tall, broad-chested Osage. Over the years, more coats were traded, and the Osage redecorated them, passed them to their daughters and a wedding tradition emerged” (Authenticity takes the lead role in ‘Flower Moon’ costumes with the help of Osage consultant).

“Blankets — Osage status symbols and gestures of generosity — connect the community. ‘The power suit of the ’20s,’ says West, who had Pendleton, maker of trade blankets for Native Americans since the early 1900s, re-create period-correct designs and labels. O’Keefe invited Osage artisans Janet Emde, Ruth Shaw and Anita Fields to handcraft traditional ribbon work. O’Keefe explains that the blankets communicate stories through distinctive colors and patterns, and method of wrapping” (‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ Costume Designer Breaks Down Hidden Messages in Heirloom Patterns and ’20s-Era Suits).

“‘On top of trying to navigate how you’re going to fit in this culture and survive, you’re dropping Kardashian wealth on top of you, and all of a sudden you have the type of money they didn’t understand how to have,’ O’Keefe explains. ‘They’re trying to figure out what’s acceptable here. You also see that reflected in Minnie and Reta, they wear Caucasian clothing but they’re still wearing their blankets which is a showing of who they still are inside'” (‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ Costume Designer Jacqueline West Used Over 1,000 Blankets From Pendleton and Osage Nation).
I also recommend these interviews at TheWrap, Vanity Fair, and LA Mag.
Oppenheimer (2023)
The story of real-life physicist Robert Oppenheimer, who led the team that created the atom bomb during World War II. The film traces him from his early studies in the 1920s, through the war, up through his 1954 hearing in which his security clearance was revoked. Costume designer Ellen Mirojnick (The Knick, Bridgerton season 1) focused on showing the transitions between these eras and the various worlds through which Oppenheimer traveled (European and American universities, the Los Alamos Laboratory, and Washington DC politics).
“[Director Christopher Nolan] did not want anyone else to wear a hat, with the exception of Oppenheimer, which was a very big note. I needed to find a different way to present the ’20s, ’30s, ’40s, and ’50s that was accessible to a modern audience. That required me to dissect those periods and extract [their] essence, so we could feel the period without anyone [stating] it or any title that said ‘1935’” (How ‘Oppenheimer’ Costume Designer Ellen Mirojnick Found the Perfect Hat).

“Mirojnick and her team adjusted individual scientists’ suits and accessories to convey their personalities. ‘[It mattered] whether the character wore a three-piece suit, a two-piece suit, or a sweater vest with a sports jacket and slacks, or a sweater as their piece under the suit, whether they wore a green shirt or they wore a white shirt, a blue shirt…’ Mirojnick and her team characterized the various scientists via everything from cuff links to shoes to the patterns on their ties. But the goal for all the characters was to convey something of their essence, intuitively and silently, through the costumes without getting in the way of the story unfolding on screen” (Oppenheimer Changed the World, but Never His Style).

“When we start with Kitty, she is very, very elegant. She comes from a wealthy family, and she has beautiful clothes. She has a very cool palette. She has a lot of ambition. She is a worldly woman. And Oppenheimer himself was quite the ladies’ man. So, they were attracted to one another and immediately fell in love — or fell in lust. But it was quite different than Jean Tatlock. Jean Tatlock was the passion, Kitty was the ambition, and there’s a slight difference. Kitty was refined, and so we never really veered away from cool blues, a pale vanilla, a purposeful kind of taupe or a bit of brown. All of the combinations were very sophisticated, and she was a sophisticated lady” (Costume Designer Ellen Mirojnick on Finding the Essence of ‘Oppenheimer’).

Priscilla (2023)
A biopic of Priscilla Presley during the years she knew/was married to Elvis, and directed by Sofia Coppola (Marie Antoinette, The Beguiled). I love me a biopic, and although I saw new sides of both main characters, I still don’t understand Elvis’s attraction to the much younger Priscilla (some weird child/innocence thing, but not really a sexual attraction?). Given it’s a Sofia Coppola movie, there’s LOTS of focus on fashion and beauty culture, from shopping scenes to Priscilla painting her nails, and the camera lingers on these elements. Designer Stacey Battat (Z: The Beginning of Everything, The Beguiled) did a great job capturing Priscilla and Elvis’s styles and style evolution, and the 1960s is just a fun period.
“‘A big part of getting dressed and having something feel period appropriate is getting the foundations right,’ she says. ‘It’s not something you really think about, but a bra in 1959 is very different from a bra in 1970,’ she adds, pointing out that a ’50s bra would be far more structured and padded than a ’70s one. Battat used historically accurate undergarments to create a visual narrative: ‘When Priscilla was younger and more innocent she always had a petticoat, which is indicative of the time, but it was a choice to have her skirt be puffier and have that silhouette that’s a little more childish than a straight skirt.’ As the ’60s progress, ‘the puff of the skirt gets diminished; then, she moves into short shift dresses and then into pants. It’s working with the style of the time but also telling that story of how she was a girl and now she’s independent. The choice to put her in pants, the choice to have her in petticoats in the early part, created that differentiation’” (Clothes Tell the Story: Costume Designer Stacey Battat onPriscilla).

“I have talked extensively about Chanel and Valentino — they were both a dream to work with. Some other lesser-known collaborations were with Anna Sui — she made the pink dress Cailee wears when she arrives to Memphis and also a printed dress that she wears when she shows up in Los Angeles defiant. We worked together to find prints that Anna had in her archives and had the print re-printed on a more appropriate fabric for the time and then made a 60s inspired dress based on one in her archives out of it” (How Stacey Battat used fashion to put Priscilla at the centre of her own story).

“I had a lingerie timeline, just because there’s so many scenes in the bedroom and I wanted to have a visual. We could adapt it in the same way that we adapted the looks for her to feel younger in Germany and then change it as she gets older. I think they do become more sophisticated. It starts in cotton, and then goes into silkier fabrics. She aged in that bedroom” (Priscilla: a conversation with costume designer Stacey Battat on creating the dreamy outfits in Sofia Coppola’s latest film).

[On asking Priscilla Presley questions] “When did she stop wearing stockings? I think she said, ’65, ’66, she stopped wearing stockings. Or what would Elvis have worn in between shows? Would he be in the jumpsuit? She told us that he never came downstairs, not fully dressed. He never wore pajamas in the main part of the house. He only wore pajamas in his bedroom. He was always put together. He didn’t like or believe in denim. All of these things came from Priscilla, but I didn’t ask her about them directly” (Costume Designer Stacey Battat On Creating Iconic And Private Looks For Priscilla And Elvis Presley).
Read more at 10 magazine, Wallpaper, Marie Claire, Entertainment Weekly, and In Style.
Feud: Capote vs. The Swans (2024)
I admit, I don’t know much about Truman Capote other than “gifted writer, wrote In Cold Blood, potentially odd guy”; and I’d never heard of any of the high society women with which he was good friends (and later enemies). But just like season one of Feud, season 2 lured me in with interesting characters and faaaabulous costumes. And lots of snarky drama! The costumes were designed by Lou Eyrich (American Horror Story) and Leah Katznelson (White House Plumbers) — most if not all of the press has been focused on Eyrich.
“Lou Eyrich, the series’ costume designer, and her team faced the challenge of illustrating each character’s distinctive style while ensuring they complemented each other in group scenes. The Swans’ fashion choices had to convey their position in high society and the nuances of their personal lives. To achieve this, Eyrich and her team sourced designer vintage pieces and collaborated with Zac Posen for the reenactment of Capote’s legendary Black and White Ball” (From Screen to Wardrobe: Exploring the Wardrobes of Feud: Capote vs. The Swans).

“‘Everything had to have a feeling of wealth and glamour. Everything was perfectly groomed and polished,’ says Lou Eyrich, the series’ costume designer… ‘Every pair of shoes, every purse had to match. Presentation was everything, and their clothes had to present they were of that society.’ Since costume design is about narrative storytelling, perhaps [Babe] Paley (played by Naomi Watts) sums it up best when she says, ‘We see the importance of presentation. Underneath, it’s an act'” (The Matchy-Matchy Glam Styles of Manhattan’s Society Swans in ‘Feud: Capote vs. The Swans’).

“‘We got lucky finding a lot of great vintage. A lot of it is 40, 50 years old now, so, it’s either faded or missing a piece, belt or jacket or something. So that’s a little frustrating, but we can then use it as a template,’ Eyrich said. Her team created original designs for about half the costumes they couldn’t source” (Dressing the high-society ‘swans’ in ‘Feud’ was an adventure in both authenticity and artistry).

Read more at Women’s Wear Daily and Refinery 29.
Have you seen any or all of these TV shows or movies? What did you think of the costumes?