Les Miserables

The movie adaptation of the Broadway musical (technically, it's an opera...) and Victor Hugo's 1862 novel, Les Miserables itself breaks many of the norms that have been set for modern movie making.  For example, the actors sang their songs on the set, not in a recording studio - everything heard in the movie is live singing. Crazy, I know.  The movie that I am talking about is the 2012 adaptation, directed by Tom Hooper and staring Anne Hathaway, Hugh Jackman, and Russel Crowe.  And many others. Costume design by Paco Delgado.

Les Miserables...or Les Mis cuz I'm lazy...tells the story of convict Jean Valjean (Jackman), also known as prisoner 24601, over a span of about 33 years.  Throughout the movie/play, he is running from the officer Javert (Crowe) seeing as he broke his parole.  Throughout his journey, he raises himself up from a convict to the mayor of a town in France.  As well as mayor, he owns a company which employs young women from the streets.  One of these women is Fantine (Hathaway).  Despite the fact that she is only in the movie for like half an hour, her importance in the movie itself cannot be understated.  Fantine gets fired, sells her hair, her teeth, and in the end herself so that she can send money to her young daughter, Cosette.  When she is about to die, Valjean finds her and promises to find Cosette and adopt her.  And he keeps his word to the now dead Fantine.  He rescues Cosette from the Thénardiers and raises her.  Years pass and blah blah blah, Cosette falls in love with Marius, whom is loved by Eponine and yada yada yada.  The 1832 revolution in France breaks out, and Maris is one of the lead rebels fighting.  All of the relationships are finalized by the end of the movie, as well as there are some deaths that are heartbreaking, but the ending...is something i don't have the heart to talk about....spoilersssssssssss grrrrrr

My wonderful boyfriend knows of my costume obsession and my excitement over Les Mis and sent this video right over there a while ago.  In this video, Paco Delgado explains his thought process behind designing some of the costume pieces.  He brings up an interesting point of the convict costumes being the same color as Fantine's prostitute dress.  This utilization of colors offers an interesting sort of parallelism between Valjean and Fantine.  It also presents the idea that the poverty in France at the time had become a sort of inescapable prison for the poor.  It can also be noticed that this same color is used in each of the Thenardiers costumes, be it Madame or Monsieur Thenardier.  The repetition of both the fabric and the color within these characters in similar situations of poverty brings up and interesting point of the multiple types of poverty that can be found within society, which can be connected to the United States today.  Yay for allegories!!  

Paco Delgado was nominated for the Academy Award for Costume Design for his work on this movie, which was an award Jacqueline Durran won for Anna Karenina.  Delgado's costumes for Les Miserables are in fact incredible and beautiful and interesting and amazing and I love them

SPECIFICS!!!!



Unlike Anna Karenina, this trailer doesn't show the costume symbolism that I really really love. However, it's still an amazing trailer. There's no denying that this music within the musical/opera whatever you wanna call it is amazing and aweinspring and lovely and epic and there are so many adjectives you can use to describe the music. Therefore, the trailer is here because its just amazing and you should watch it...just cuz its amazing...in so many ways.

Fantine's transformation is seen through her costumes, as it should be.  In the beginning scene when she is first introduced, she is wearing a lilac purple dress, which makes her come across as innocent and someone who takes wonderful care of herself, despite the fact that she is in poverty.  However, after she is fired from her job, it becomes evident that she is sinking into poverty quickly. In the picture up of her and Valjean, that is the red prostitute dress.  This dress itself is the same color as the convict costumes, which brings upon th  question of her imprisonment within society.  

Eponine is the daughter of the Thenardiers.  In the beginning of the movie, she is pampered and treated very well, in contrast to Cosette.  Despite her upbringing, she prooves to be stuck in the lower class when she grows up, which juxtaposes her with Cosette entirely.  And, this poverty which follows her, is portrayed in her costume.  Her main costume throughout the movie is a drab and tattered dress, the one pictured right next to this paragraphy thingy. She blends into the background in contrast to her flashy parents, which characterizes her.  She isn't really noticed by any of the other revolutionaries, especially from Marius until he wants her to do something for him.

The Thenardiers are the comic relief of this serious musical, and this is reflected through their costumes. Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen are perfect for this role - they're both wacky people and always play the wacky characters.  Yay!  Their costumes throughout the movie do change, but they always keep the same feeling of haphazardness and shabiness, which is perfect for their characters.

Cosette, whom is the blonde on the side in the dress, rises up in society thanks to Valjean adopting her.  Her dresses are all kind of the same - white, frufruish, very elegent and beautiful and puffy.  Very accurate for the time period.