The Important Role That Costume Design Plays In Setting the Time Period of a Film

In a rather stylish episode of the cinematic series “Now You See It“, narrator Jack Nugent talks about the nuanced role of costume design in films, particularly how it helps to set time period, economic class, character differentiation and establish audience expectation. Nugent also spoke about the unique challenge of keeping the designs up to date, even if the film is set in the past.

This issue that still shows up today striking the balance between looking too dated or too generic. So a movie made in the 70s might have generic costuming but a movie about the 70s embraces the old-school style to bring about the nostalgia of a lost time.