Skip to content

WELCOME TO OUR STORE

SUPPORT OUR WORK

  • HOME
  • MAGAZINE
    • CURRENT ISSUE
    • BACK ISSUES
    • FIND SELVEDGE
    • ORDER FAQS
    • CONTACT US
  • SUBSCRIBE
    • FOR YOURSELF
    • FOR SOMEONE ELSE
    • FOR AN INSTITUTION
    • FOR STUDENTS
    • SUBSCRIBER ACCESS
    • SUBSCRIBER FAQS
    • CONTACT US
  • SHOP
    • SELVEDGE GOODS
    • ARTISAN GOODS
    • MAGAZINES
    • WORKSHOPS
    • TALKS
    • MEET THE MAKER
    • BOOKS
    • ORDER FAQs
    • CONTACT US
  • LEARN
    • BOOK A WORKSHOP
    • BOOK A TALK
    • LISTEN TO A TALK
    • MEET THE MAKER
    • TRAVEL WITH US
    • EVENT FAQS
    • CONTACT US
  • ARTISANS
    • SHOP
      • ALL
      • CLOTHING
      • INTERIORS
      • ACCESSORIES
      • TOYS
    • EXPLORE
    • ACCESS TALKS
    • WATCH SLOW TV
    • LISTEN TO PLAYLIST
    • CONTACT US
  • COMMUNITY
    • READ OUR BLOG
    • JOIN OUR COMMUNITY
    • SLOW TV
    • LISTEN TO A PODCAST
    • VISIT A TEXTILE COLLECTION
    • SEE AN EXHIBITION
    • ENTER A PRIZE DRAW
    • MAKE A PROJECT
    • CONTACT US
  • COLLABORATE
    • ADVERTISE WITH US
    • WORK WITH US
    • WRITE FOR US
    • WRITE FOR THE BLOG
    • BECOME A STOCKIST
    • CONTACT US
    • SEE ARTISAN INFO
  • STORY
    • READ OUR STORY
    • GET TO KNOW US
    • READ ABOUT US
    • CONTACT US
Log in
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • Vimeo
Selvedge Magazine
  • HOME
  • MAGAZINE
    • CURRENT ISSUE
    • BACK ISSUES
    • FIND SELVEDGE
    • ORDER FAQS
    • CONTACT US
  • SUBSCRIBE
    • FOR YOURSELF
    • FOR SOMEONE ELSE
    • FOR AN INSTITUTION
    • FOR STUDENTS
    • SUBSCRIBER ACCESS
    • SUBSCRIBER FAQS
    • CONTACT US
  • SHOP
    • SELVEDGE GOODS
    • ARTISAN GOODS
    • MAGAZINES
    • WORKSHOPS
    • TALKS
    • MEET THE MAKER
    • BOOKS
    • ORDER FAQs
    • CONTACT US
  • LEARN
    • BOOK A WORKSHOP
    • BOOK A TALK
    • LISTEN TO A TALK
    • MEET THE MAKER
    • TRAVEL WITH US
    • EVENT FAQS
    • CONTACT US
  • ARTISANS
    • SHOP
      • ALL
      • CLOTHING
      • INTERIORS
      • ACCESSORIES
      • TOYS
    • EXPLORE
    • ACCESS TALKS
    • WATCH SLOW TV
    • LISTEN TO PLAYLIST
    • CONTACT US
  • COMMUNITY
    • READ OUR BLOG
    • JOIN OUR COMMUNITY
    • SLOW TV
    • LISTEN TO A PODCAST
    • VISIT A TEXTILE COLLECTION
    • SEE AN EXHIBITION
    • ENTER A PRIZE DRAW
    • MAKE A PROJECT
    • CONTACT US
  • COLLABORATE
    • ADVERTISE WITH US
    • WORK WITH US
    • WRITE FOR US
    • WRITE FOR THE BLOG
    • BECOME A STOCKIST
    • CONTACT US
    • SEE ARTISAN INFO
  • STORY
    • READ OUR STORY
    • GET TO KNOW US
    • READ ABOUT US
    • CONTACT US
Log in Cart

Item added to your cart

Access Denied
IMPORTANT! If you’re a store owner, please make sure you have Customer accounts enabled in your Store Admin, as you have customer based locks set up with EasyLockdown app. Enable Customer Accounts
Staff Picks: Phantom Thread

Staff Picks: Phantom Thread

December 29, 2017
Share

For the second instalment of our Staff Picks, Features Editor Niamh McCooey explores the world of haute couture in Paul Thomas Anderson's new film...

What do we talk about when we talk about haute couture? The answer of course is extravagance, luxury, and even the superfluous. It’s the one-off, the bespoke, the beautifully preposterous gown in all of its squeezed-into glitz and glamour.

Haute couture was taken to its height in the mid 19th century by an arsenal of elite designers in the world’s chicest cities (think Cristóbal Balenciaga in Paris and Charles James in New York). It’s no secret that these characters became admired – deified, almost – by their contemporaries, and Paul Thomas Anderson’s new film, Phantom Thread, pulls back the curtain on these powerful figures, revealing the obsession that so often feeds the fashion house.

Anderson’s new film takes place in 1950s London and follows Reynolds Woodcock, a fictional fashion designer played by Daniel Day-Lewis (who’s stated that this will be his final role) as he manages his own label, The House of Woodcock. With costumes designed by the Oscar winning Mark Bridges, this film is filled with lavish, sumptuous outfits that every Selvedge reader is bound to be dazzled by.

Famous for his intense preparation before filming, Day-Lewis learned how to drape with a specialist in New York, before training with a French cutter to achieve the unmistakably sculptural elements of haute couture fashion found in the film.

Embroidering secret messages into his garments (much in the way that Lee Alexander McQueen was once said to have scrawled profanities in the lining of a jacket for Prince Charles), Reynolds strives to control everyone around him in his attempt to create the finest fashion in haute couture. Through this lens of 1950s glamour Phantom Thread asks, do the ends really justify the means?

Against a backdrop of truly stunning craftsmanship, this film reveals the darker side of what fuels the fashion world – something that blurs the line quite finely between what’s real, and what is perhaps a figment of the imagination.

Back to blog

1 comment

I am very glad I clicked on this article, thank you for flagging this film up. A look behind or through the key into the creative mind of a fellow artist and designers, excites me enormously. Just hope I haven’t missed it. Thank you again Niamh.

Jilli BlackwoodJanuary 5, 2018

Leave a comment

Please note, comments need to be approved before they are published.

Invalid password
Enter

Quick links

  • SEARCH
  • ABOUT US
  • T&Cs
  • FAQs

Subscribe to our newsletter by entering your email address below. "I just wanted to say how much I admire your informative and inspirational newsletters - I always look forward to them!" Tricia, San Rafael, USA

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • Vimeo
Payment methods
  • American Express
  • Diners Club
  • Discover
  • Maestro
  • Mastercard
  • Visa
© 2023, Selvedge Magazine Powered by Shopify
  • Choosing a selection results in a full page refresh.