Curse of the Crimson Altar (1968)

Costume Design by Michael Southgate

A loose and low budget adaptation of a H. P. Lovecraft's 'The Dreams in the Witch House', that swaps the original short story's premise for a more generic Satanic coven plot. The film's costume highlight is the dress Barbara Steele wears as the witch Lavinia, a large sleeved affair with faux-gemstones on the chest.

Completing the look is a feather-adorned ram horn headdress, with a little skull embedded on the middle. Michael Southgate's career is virtually non-existent past this film; one wonders how many other films they worked on, or if Steele's dress was the work of another designer?

THe only other costumes that were made for the film are not really much 'costumes' due to how much skin they show! Nita Lorraine wears a vinyl executioner pastiche - with nipple pasties! - as the 'woman with whip', and Nicholas Head wears nothing but bracelets and a horned helmet as the 'blacksmith'.

The swirly nipple pasties are hysterical.

Perhaps the horns are homage to deities such as Cernunnos and Pan?

The rest of the film's costumes are bought clothes for the present-day scenes, and period wardrobe stock for the cultists in the dream sequences. However, Christopher Lee's jacket was itself an example of wardrobe reuse - he had previously worn it in 1965's The Skull, and would later wear it again in The Wicker Man!

The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) & Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972)

Note: While only a wardrobe credit was given to Elsa Fennell on the first film, the sequel film had Brian Cox credited as the for Vulnavia's costumes. However, according to the Vulnavia: Our Lady of Phibes exhibition, Cox also designed Vulnavia's costumes on the first film as well.

The cult classic starring Vincent Price as the titular antihero, The Abominable Dr. Phibes and its 1972 sequel Dr. Phibes Rises Again, no doubt utilized costume house's period wardrobe stock for all cast members past Price, Virginia North and Valli Kemp.

Due to the lack of crediting or publicly accessible research materials, it's hard to know if Price's period costumes - his 1920s suits, as well as his Arabian and Roman outfits in the sequel - in both Dr. Phibes films were custom-made for Price, or were reused wardrobe stock.

However, the ominous hooded cloaks that Price wears - the shiny off-white and metallic black versions in the first film, and the red cloak in the sequel - had to have been custom-made for the picture. My favorite is the black one, due to the reflective texture and, of course, a cheeky homage to the Grim Reaper.

In the first film, Virginia North portrayed Phibes' partner in crime Vulnavia, with her costumes all designed by Brian Cox. Vulnavia's dresses were inspired of the glitz and glamour of 1920s fashion, with her first outfit being a white dress, worn under a translucent gown with golden jagged edges, completed with an ornate headpiece.

Vulnavia's second outfit, when luring one of Phibes' victims, is this all-white furred coat and hat.

Vulnavia's third outfit, that she wears for most of the film, this this baggy-sleeved grey shirt and black breeches, worn with a black furred hat and boots. When outdoors, it is worn with a black cloak.

Sadly, a good deal of Vulnavia's dresses are barely seen in the film, such as this orange and red dress with a golden vest section, that is only seen at a distance, not letting us see the dress properly at all. Even the promotional photo has the dress at a distance!

Another barely-seen dress of Vulnavia's is this lilac and white design with flowing sleeves that is only seen in extreme close-ups or at a distance when sitting.

Yet again, another dress of Vulnavia's that is barely seen in the film, with even the publicity photo showing it better being in black and white! This dress is purple with glittery lining around the sleeves.

Vulnavia is next seen wearing this yellow dress with a large golden collar and jagged lining around the collar and waist, and once again this dress is barely seen in full, only from the waist-up behind lab equipment!

Vulnavia's last outfit thankfully gets seen very clearly, which could be why it's managed to be one of the film's most iconic looks - a red and golden robe, worn with a pink jewelled headdress with spines stuck on it, the spines also fitted with gemstones on each end. Completing this look is a golden collar with small snakes attached to it.

(Also, if you thought I forgot the infamous head-crushing frog mask, well I didn't! It's just that it is more a 'prop' than a full on costume in my eyes, albeit a really nicely designed one.)

The success of the first film of course warranted a sequel a year later, Dr. Phibes Rises Again with Valli Kemp now playing Vulnavia, but with costumes again designed by Brian Cox. Her first notable outfit is this slight rehash of her black fur hat look from the first film, this time being worn with a silver buttoned black jacket.

Vulnavia's next outfit is another fairly simple design, this one being an all-white riff on the colonial explorer design (as per the setting of the film), with a trailing scarf around the pith helmet.

Vulnavia's first dress in the sequel is a white flowing design, with a long 'tail' of fabric, giving her an almost angelic appearance - an angel of death, as her victim finds out.

Vulnavia's next dress is this lovely lilac dress with flowers around the collar and shoulders - notice also the metallic hairpiece she wears with it as well, like the filaments inside a flower.

Vulnavia also wears this yellow dress with golden leaves around the chest and shoulders, as well as some in her hair as well!

Lastly, is the slightly Ancient Egyptian-inspired dress that Vulnavia wears during the film's finale, which is a shiny blue dress and sleeves (that seem to be separate segments) with golden lining around the exposed shoulders and chest, and worn with a tiara as well.

Juliet of the Spirits (1965)

Costume Design by:

- Piero Gherardi ( notable efforts: La dolce vita (1960), Federico Fellini's 8½ (1963), Danger: Diabolik (1968) )

Fellini's Juliet of the Spirits (Italian: Giulietta degli spiriti) is a wonderfully dream-like tale centering on the medium Giulietta (Giulieta Masina) who is grappling both with her present and past in the form of a cheating husband and buried childhood memories respectively. The costume designer Piero Gherardi, who had previously worked with Fellini on La dolce vita and 8½, creates some of his most wacky and stylish work yet, that seek to help the off-kilter feeling of the film. Giulletta's first notable outfit is this white jacket and shorts worn with a domed hat, a simple but striking look.

Giulietta's second outfit of note is this beautiful jacket coated in stone-like pieces of different colours, worn with white tights.

Giulietta's third outfit, which is only briefly seen, is this white mandarin collar jacket worn with a black coned hat and black evening gloves.

Giulietta's final outfit of note is this red ruffled gown fitted with a clasp, and was apparently meant to be worn with a gorgeous tassled headdress that only made it to publicity photos, never seen in the film itself.

Giulietta's various neighbours are dressed even more outlandish, with Valentina (Valentina Cortese) in particular being seen wearing dresses that utilize a lot of flowersa and ruffles, the one getting the most screentime being this black and red design.

It should be worth noting that the different dresses worn by each of Giulietta's neighbours tend to be the same general design for each, only changing in colour and fabric, as Valentina's first dress is a black and yellow version of a similar design - also note the other neighbour wearing the purple top with a collar of curved black thread!

Another one of Giuletta's neighbours, Sylva (Sylva Koscina - the cast in this film tend to have their characters named after their actual first names) also wears dresses with a floral motif, her first one being this aquamrine and pink design worn adorned with flowers and worn with a large hat.

Sylva's other dresses also happent to be mostly slightly different variations on the same design, such as the white dress (notice also Valentina wearing a white version of her own dress), as well as the ruffled grey design only seen briefly towards the film's end.

One of the film's earlier scenes when Juliet is at the beach (and experiences one of her first visions) has Claudie Lange in a very minor role as a tourist, wearing a wide-brimmed hat and tassled veil both in yellow, worn over a bikini.

There are also several flashbacks into Giuletta's past, where she finds out her grandfather ran off with a ballerina named Fanny (Sandra Milo), who wears this tassled grey corset, ruff collar, and top hat under a veil.

Some of the film's most wild outfits are again worn by Sandra Milo (who plays multiple roles in this film) as the promiscuous Suzy, whose first outfit is this white dress and trailing furs worn on the front.

Suzy's next outfit is this grey veil lined with black tassles, and worn with a wide-brimmed black hat.

Suzy's last outfit is perhaps one of the film's wildest dress, which is a design almost out of a fairytale, being a black and yellow dress with large shoulders shaped like bat wings, with streaming yellow fabric from the waist, and worn with a red floral neckerchief as well