Costume Femme Fatale Deconstruction

Inspiration: The Femme Fatale

Make up

My first inspiration for part of the costume is the make up and hair style from Sin city posters featuring the femme fatales. Much emphasis is on the colour of red, especially red lipstick which stands out on the monochrome background.

The femme fatale is the dangerous seductress who causes trouble for the protagonist, and sometimes is the antagonist in a film noir, and red is often used as a representation of blood and danger but also lust and romance suitable for a femme fatale. 

Femme fatale make up:

• Simple soft curls
• Dark eyes, winged eyeliner 
• red lipstick 
• Pale complexion

Costume: Inspiration 

Marilyn Monroe was the was the glamorous fashion icon. In the 1940/50s women often wearing form fitting clothes, something Monroe fully embraced the classic little black dress, much like an elegant femme fatale . I wanted to base the femme fatale appearance around her as she had a glamorous which would have influenced many women's fashion choice.   

   

I can see from this deconstruction that our femme fatale character doesn't have to be dressed elaborately,as the style is quite simple, but tight fitting or long and flowing to conform with the dress style of women in the 1940 and 50s.          

Deconstruction - Costume

Costume Deconstruction

In order to begin organising costume for our production, I have decided to look at the typical costumes of film noir characters and what they suggest.

Females

A key element of the film noir genre is the femme fatale, dangerous and seductive women who often enjoy creating danger for the protagonist. They wear heavy amounts of red and black, red symbolising passion and danger with black symbolising mystery and the unknown.

The dresses are seductive and often form fitting which means the character is able to tempt the protagonist into dangerous situations. They are sometimes shown wearing accessories such as floppy hats and long gloves, items seen as very glamorous during the 50s when the genre was at its peak. They are also often seen wearing large, gaudy items of jewellery embellished with diamonds and other jewels.

The hair is almost always tightly curled, and either long and flowing or in an elegant up-do. It's also common for femme fatales to don a veil or other hair piece if not already wearing a hat.

Bold, sultry make up is used to highlight areas of the face. As it's in black and white, the darker the colours used the more contrast there will be and therefore the more attention that is brought to the desired areas such as the eyes and the lips.

Males

An effective film noir look for men is very simple to achieve as the main features are simply an old fashioned fedora with a thick band around it paired with a trench coat. These items are used almost universally in film noir for men as, when worn in the right way, can perfectly depict either a detective or a gang member - the two most common protagonists of the genre. 

A smart shirt and tie will also be needed and will be easily accessible to us. Braces are also a common feature and could be shown if our character removes the coat at any point. 

The shirt and tie are appropriate for the character's line of work, and the fedora along with an oversized coat create mystery and to some extent conceal the character's identity, making them the perfect costume.

Overall, the male costume is far easier to achieve and for our production we will need to put a lot more effort into the femme fatale costume as it's more intricate and contains more key features.

Deconstruction Of Costumes in Film Noir

Female
The femme fatale in film noir's is often seen  wearing a tight red dress to show her slender figure and to seduce the male protagonist. The red dress is often paired with heels and red lipstick this colour symbolises danger which is a forecast of what is to come in the film. However, in old fashioned film noirs a black and white filter is often used so the colours cannot be identified. As shown in the image below sometimes the femme fatale also wears long gloves and may also wear tights.

 

Makeup is also an important part of the overall look. This is often thick red lipstick, eyeliner and mascara therefore is easy to create. Sometimes the femme fatale is also seen with long wavy hair. The aim is to make her look desirable. Due to the black and white filter the colours need to be bold therefore lipstick and dark eye makeup will be suitable.

 





 

Male

The majority of males in the film noirs wear suits. This is common for the era of when most film noirs were made or are set in the 1940's-1950's as this was the fashion. The suit is also often paired with a fedora and maybe a gun. Detectives are usually seen in a trench coat and may also wear a fedora.

 

This is a simple costume to recreate and does not involve any complex details. 

Practical Task: Costume

Practical Task: Costume  

Practical make up, hair and costume

Following my earlier costume deconstruction I had attempted to recreate the 1940/50 fashion.

 

In terms of costumes I searched through the amazon for cheap 1940's styled dresses that we could use, as a back up. 
However, I did have a look through the things I already had, and found that I had similar items of clothing to the 1940s styled fashion. 

  Normal outfits with filter

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This particular dress replicates the simple attire that may have been worn by the everyday woman.

 

Unfortunately the red doesn't show on the black and white filter, but when I later edited it so the red does show, it stood out more and made the image more dramatic.      

 























Both dresses are similarly styled to 1940/50s glamour, especially the black dress, as this is 1940's casino girl inspired dress.  

Make up and hair step-by-step



Here I have done step by step tutorial of my attempt at creating the femme fatale look. 

 

Evaluation:

 

Firstly, the whole make up and hair process took under half an hour which would be convenient when filming as it wouldn't take up too much time. I decided that instead of doing my hair with rollers, which would have given this look an authentic finish, I used hair straighteners which did the job just as well.  However, next time I wouldn't have bothered that much with eye shadow as this didn't show up quite as well during filming or when I put the filter in.

 

Luckily I had found my own costumes for the character of the femme fatale rather than buying some more myself.