A bit of a hiatus and a shakeup

Hey anyone who's been checking out this blog still; life's been a little hectic these last few months, so I've not been updating this as much; combined with social media turning out to be even more of a crock thanks to Boer billionaires, even Blogger's starting to feel uncertain as a platform.

Though I'd hope that Google isn't run by quite as insane people, the net already feels like in such a bad state - NFTs, AI ''art'' (disgusting pictures), dead-end spammy directories, so on. It's hard to feel optimistic about how things are going.

I also decided to delete the 'costume designer retrospectives' and will no longer do these; partly, they make the project feel like a chore rather than a fun and free-wheeling hobby, and also so many costume designers, especially in the Golden Age of Hollywood, have such long careers! Never mind that costume design is a group effort as is, especially in later decades. I will just keep to the old method from now on, whenever I feel like doing more blog posts again, and I hope that will be soon.

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.