Costume as a Component of Film Image and an Indicator of Socio-cultural Changes in Society

Abstract

The article addresses the topic of the mutual influence of cinema and society, reflected in the personality and the changes in the costume and appearance of the movie character. In this context the collaboration between the designer and the film director is analyzed as illustrated by certain works by Yves Saint Laurent in the French cinema of the 1960s. Unlike the costume designer, the couturier, who works mainly outside the boundaries of studio filmmaking, introduces signs of the social dynamics of his time into the artistic space of the film and, in particular, into the image of the film character. Thus, the article draws attention not only to the role of costume in creating the image of the movie character and its significance in the stylistics and dramaturgy of the film, but also to the socio-cultural context within which the costume exists, reflecting through external indicators internal personality changes and signs of important social shifts. The films created with Yves Saint Laurent can be analyzed not only in terms of costume as an in-the-frame artistic detail and an element of the screen persona, but also treating wardrobe as the character’s “milieu”, lifestyle, personality and inner world, manifesting themselves also through articles of clothing which cease to be just mere “objects”, becoming cultural codes of the epoch with a timeless cult status. The main research material includes the films “The Pink Panther” (by Blake Edwards, 1963), “Arabesque” (by Stanley Donen, 1966), “Beauty of Day” (by Luis Bunuel, 1967). The example of Yves Saint Laurent’s work in the French cinema of the 1960s testifies that the collaboration of the designer and the director is not only a commercial, but a socially significant phenomenon. This fact suggests that the study of period costumes in various national cinemas can contribute to a better understanding of social processes and states of mind of members of different social groups and their relationships dynamics.