Fashion in cinema: reframing the field

While the interest in fashion in cinema is now thriving, it had traditionally been overlooked within the wider fields of both film and fashion studies, considered a niche (and gendered) subject. This article traces the fragmented and uneven development of fashion in cinema into a field of its own, and considers the major forms of enquiry that have emerged in specific disciplinary contexts. But it also turns to forms of practice outside of the academy that have recently co-shaped the field: popular writing on film and film costume, fashion and film curation, film festivals, and fashion image-making. In bringing all these disparate strands together, the article argues for a reframing of fashion in cinema as a multifaceted and dynamic field whereby distinct – though variously interlocking – forms of knowledge and experience have been produced in distinct contexts.