Happy anniversary, Cobb! Today makes it exactly one month since “Inception” first hit theaters — I bring this up not to make any point, but as an excuse to those readers who cry foul over each new post about the film. May I continue?
Anyway, while most discussion on the film is largely played out, I did want to draw attention to this interesting interview with the film’s costume designer, Jeffrey Kurland, on the excellent, self-explanatory website Clothes on Film. (To be fair, the piece appeared over a fortnight ago — I’m the one behind the beat here.)
As Gerard noted in his Tech Support column, costume design is the least likely technical area (Best Original Song excepted, of course) for the film to receive Oscar notice — though it’s probably a shoo-in for a nod in the Guild’s contemporary category. Still, Kurland’s stylish, subtly defined threads remain, for me, one of the film’s most intelligent visual cues. They’re easy to write off as a bunch of sharp suits and shimmery gowns until one notices the considered differences in tailoring that distinguish the male characters in particular: Cobb’s cautious American classics versus Arthur’s fussier three-pieces, or Eames’s rumpled, anachronistic linen verus Fischer’s severe corporate uniform.