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Costumer Designer Louise Frogley talks about dressing
James Bond and creating a new look for "Quantum
of Solace"...
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Louise Frogley On Dressing 007
18th December 2008
Louise Frogley talks about working with Marc
Forster, the director, to create the right look for "Quantum
of Solace". “I hadn’t worked with Marc before
so I had to learn his taste so that the costumes would feel right
to him. I would show him everything I did right from the beginning;
I just kept sharing everything with him until I understood what
he wanted. He is extremely respectful of all the people that
work with him, he really likes ideas to be offered up. Our ideas
give him a feeling for what he wants and we can go ahead and
do it. It’s a very exciting time.”
Renowned designer Tom Ford was chosen to supply
all Bond’s suits in "Quantum of Solace". “We
arrived at Tom Ford for Daniel’s suits because I wanted
something very sleek and extremely well cut and Tom Ford use
a prestigious Factory in Italy. I wanted something that was beautiful
and elegant that would remind us of the type of suit Sean Connery
wore in the early Bond films. I think Tom Ford is a genius, he
just got it, he understood what we needed and that why I wanted
to use him. They worked so hard to get what we wanted, he sent
somebody to Italy just to track down a particular material for
us. I wanted to use ‘mohair tonic’ for the suits.
It is very difficult to find because it is a sixties fabric and
I am quite sure Sean Connery would have worn it in at least one
of his suits. It is a very strange material but it films beautifully,
it’s just lovely. Not only did we want a very rare material
but we needed a huge quantity because we had to make so many
suits. Tom Ford found it for us.”
Daniel’s suits in the film have a very
specific cut. “These suits don’t have belts, they
have side adjusters and they are higher on the waist, the trousers
are narrow and there are no pleats. The jackets are single breasted,
two buttoned with a narrow lapel and as narrow a shoulder as
possible for a man that is as muscular as Daniel. They are extremely
waisted and slightly flared out in the skirt part of the jacket
so there is some movement. They give a lovely silhouette.”
Frogley explains how she approaches a project
of this size with so many locations to consider, “Firstly,
you have to read the script and figure out how many costume changes
there are for a character. Then what will happen to the character
whilst he/she is wearing each costume. In some cases, Bond could
go through 24 hours in the same clothes having been blown up,
shot out of a plane and stranded in the desert. I have to predict
how the clothes will look after certain events happen that we
may not have shot yet. It is quite a delicate balancing act -
too much or too little just won’t work. I go through it
with the stunt coordinator and do as much research as possible
about what is likely to happen to the clothes. It is very important
because you are trying to put the story together - the more information
you can gather, the better equipped you are to do that.”
“Working with Daniel is really good because he knows his
body incredibly well and he knows when something looks right.
There is nothing better than an actor like that. I put him in
a Y-3 jacket, he looked great - he knew it and I knew it,
I put him in a pair of Staypress trousers and they were just
perfect. Often you can put clothes on and they are OK but every
now and again you get something that is fabulous and with an
actor like Daniel, you can just go for it.”
For the party scene in Panama, Louise Frogley
wanted a contemporary look for Camille (played by Olga Kurylenko)
and Agent Fields (Gemma Arterton). “We dressed both the
girls in Prada for the party scene. It is not like we did a deal
with Prada, it just worked out that way. The dresses were very
simple but elegant and they were just perfect for the characters
and the look I was going for.” Olga’s character has
to jump out of a plane in the costume worn at Greene’s
glamorous fundraising party. Frogley and her team had originally
thought they would have to dress her in a trouser suit, but that
didn’t feel right to Frogley, “I realized we were
designing the costume to fit the stunts and it seemed to me we
were putting the cart before the horse. People took it for granted
that it had to be a certain way but when we actually looked at
it carefully we questioned why we were designing a trouser suit
with arms for a glamorous party set in a hot country - it
didn’t make sense. So in the end, Camille goes to the party
in a fantastic black Prada dress, NOT a trouser suit!”
Frogley describes how she uses costume to add
another layer to the storytelling process, choosing clothes that
reflect the character. “I wanted the bad guys to be eccentric
but not intrusive. If you notice the clothes, they are a little
off but it doesn’t hit you over the head. With Anatole
[Taubman] I used a Chrome Hearts medallion for Elvis. It is a
rather spooky chrome doll. Anatole really liked it and I think
it helped him in some way to develop Elvis’ character.”
"Quantum of Solace" filmed in more locations than
any other Bond film to date with big set pieces in each local.
Frogley explains how she approached the challenge. “First
of all you have to have a really good grip on who is wearing
what, when and where and then you work it out backwards. You
see what you don’t have, where the holes are. When you
are working on location, you have to decide if you think you
can fill those gaps in the countries you will be working in.
I always have what I call ‘the mother ship’ back
in England who can send materials to me if necessary. On "Quantum
of Solace", I actually found lovely evening dresses in Panama
which we used for Tosca Opera scenes in Bregenz, Austria. The
Panamanians like to go out a lot but don’t want to spend
a lot of money, so it was ideal for dresses. Then I topped them
up with more dresses from Angels in London, mixed it up a bit
and I think it worked really well.”
Thanks to Sony Pictures Releasing UK.