the power of color in costume design + film 🎨

[@MissMisnomer_]

I believe at one point I heard in the behind the scenes that the Stormtroopers were designed to be pure white so that when they used the black plastic for their eyes and mouth slits on the helmets, the intense contrast would make them look like skulls. I feel like we so often associate white with purity and innocence and good that we forget it is also a color common in symbols of death, like skeletons and ghosts. It even symbolizes mourning, bad luck, and death in Chinese culture.

[@shizukagozen777]

Not just "chinese", in east asian culture*.

[@bambibambi-gs4ly]

@@shizukagozen777 and not only that, but in many asian cultures. in south asia, white is worn to funerals

[@shizukagozen777]

@@bambibambi-gs4ly Yeah, that's what they meant by "it symbolizes mourning". 😉 Edit: My bad, I think my comment isn't very clear: they meant that for Chinese culture, and I corrected them by saying it's the the case in east asian culture but as the Eastern part of Asia as a whole, south included. 😋

[@bambibambi-gs4ly]

@@shizukagozen777 yes, but you only mentioned east asian cultures. im also including an example of south asian cultures.

[@shizukagozen777]

@@bambibambi-gs4ly I edited my comment right when you posted this. 😂

[@Kai-Xi]

Another point about the stormtroopers I never considered until watching this: their armor may be white, but it is over a black under suit. Similar to Han Solo's dark vest over a cream shirt (and, in Return of the Jedi, Luke's black outfit opening to reveal white underneath) there is a through line of characters' "true colors" being those closest to their heart

[@gimmepuffsleeves]

Yes yes yes I love this take!

[@mymelodyblues]

Another reason I love the yellow jumpsuit in kill bill is because yellow can symbolize a warning or danger, so the bride is literally a walking caution/danger sign.

[@ann14a]

i never thought of the importance of the colour of audrey hepburns dress in breakfast at tiffany's like that!! now that you mentioned it, it does seem really jarring to see her grieving in such a bright dress

[@gimmepuffsleeves]

It's such a simple and small thing, but really has a huge impact!

[@LeastInsaneUtsu-PFan]

This was why I LOVED the costumes in Breaking Bad. I would spend almost the whole episode explaining the colour choices to my mom, it was so fun and honestly exciting to see their growth (or decay) represented by their colour scheme.

[@gimmepuffsleeves]

I love this so much!

[@samwallaceart288]

Green Walter: "At this rate, we'll have the shipment done with time to spare" 😎 Pink Walter: "No Skylar, I DO NOT want to communicate with you." 😞

[@LeastInsaneUtsu-PFan]

@@samwallaceart288 basically lol. More so like beige to red but yeah that’s basically the whole show

[@ChrisBrooks34]

A great companion book to this video is Colors of Film: The story of cinema in 50 palates. It's a small coffee table book that has a nice array of films that demonstrate so well how color is used throughout this wonderful visual medium

[@gimmepuffsleeves]

Adding to my cart!

[@wraithshark]

I'm falling in love with character design. But I find colors REALLY difficult to choose! I hope I can figure out how to understand them the way these amazing costume designers do

[@rileysmith3038]

The colors in Asteroid City are on a whole other level!! I'm obsessed with that movie

[@Nyzahnewton]

As a fashion stylist and occasional graphic designer this video was chefs kiss. Subscribed and excited for more! 🫶🏾💞🫶🏾💞

[@gimmepuffsleeves]

This made my day! 🥹 Thanks so much 💖✨

[@samwallaceart288]

With Star Wars, I like how Leia and the stormtroopers share that white color, as they're both _the face_ of the government as regular folk see it; the Princess Senator, and the Imperial Peacekeepers. But the stormtroopers are an artificial sterile white shell covering a jet-black interior; compare to their leaders the officers and Vader, who behind the scenes show their true darkness brazenly, unafraid of judging eyes. The officers being more gray once more separates the group; as Vader being pure-black is the military fighting man who embraces the dirty work under the white shell; while the officers sit in the middle, no pretense of political nobility, but sheltered from the dark details of the fighters they rely upon. The colors perfectly convey that Vader is more secret and evil than the stormtroopers, but is the same as them in function and duty.

[@gracehinkle3623]

Leia also is wearing white because she is meant to be disguising herself as more Innocent. She's secretly transporting the DeathStar plans under the guise of a counselor ship heading to Coruscant (Imperial City at the time). The all white, loose long dress gives her more of an innocent appearance, but you can tell she clearly planned ahead and although appearing innocent the outfit has a lot of functionality. The dress is long but doesn't drag so it's less likely she'll trip, she blends in with the white walls of (most) of her ship and has a hood. She is also wearing flats, a thing that is common in the Star Wars universe for women and especially in the OT (she also wears flats even in her slave outfit where she is at her most vulnerable and sexual), but people always assume she wears heels because "girls wear heels" and because the old Oscar presentations of the costumes messed up and added heels

[@samwallaceart288]

@@gracehinkle3623 Good shout. It's the right balance of appearances and tactical versatility. And I always liked women in flats in Star Wars. I _never_ understood the appeal of high heels.

[@gracehinkle3623]

@@samwallaceart288 I personally like heels, but obviously I'm a girl who grew up in our earthly society. It's common for women, not just Leia and the OT, all across the Star Wars Galaxy to wear flats so it makes sense both functionality wise and fashion wise for her to. Men in SW wear heels more then women, which I think is a fun and logical way to show the different fashions and play on the whole "men want to be taller" stereotype that seems to be prevalent even in SW

[@hermina_grayson]

That's an amazing video! I feel really lucky that the algorithm suggested your channel to me! Best of luck!

[@gimmepuffsleeves]

Then I'm really lucky that you decided to click in to watch!

[@ProjectLethargic]

"What character do you think of when you see these colors?" I said the cast of RWBY...

[@KaleidoSTAR_PH]

I love your analysis! I mean, I know right color choices can make a huge impact but with a depth and meaning! not to mention the specific functions I just knew! thanks for making this!

[@imaansayed8147]

This was an excellent video! Went to the comments to see what additional thoughts people had and was so confused when there none. really great writing and format :)

[@gimmepuffsleeves]

😭 okay I was having a rough week but your comment really cheered me up!

[@slurpy-f3k]

PLS do more fashion/costuming videos. Just stumbled across your channel and I’m obsessed ❤

[@gimmepuffsleeves]

Omg thank you! Don't worry, I have more video ideas in the pipeline ✨

[@kiaskii1784]

this was a really cool video!!! i hope you get more recognition, your passion for movies is really inspiring :)

[@gimmepuffsleeves]

Ahhh thank you! I was so nervous since this was my first video essay but I'm so glad my passion came through :D

[@juanam735]

I loved this video. A comment about Atonement, Joe Wright wanted the dress to be green probably because Ian McEwan describes it as green in the book. It works great in the film, but it was always green. It's described as a green, "bias-cut", "backless" silk dress.

[@pika-2]

Michael Jackson's Thriller is so iconic and amazing 😊

[@theblackcatgirl7013]

9:14 Another thing about color. If you use it improperly it could convey the wrong message to the audience. The black dress makes her look classy and mature while if the whole thing was hot pink it would make her look like a girly feminine less-mature(especially with all the accessories) barbie girl.

[@gimmepuffsleeves]

So true, especially if it's the first time you see a character on screen!

[@Serufi]

I absolutely love, love, LOVE talking about cinematic techniques and design, and color is by far one of my favorite things to talk about, right alongside symbolism. I've actually been considering making a channel dedicated to my love for moviemaking techniques now that I'm done with grad school. ANYWAY, all this to say I really loved this video, and I like your other movie-focused videos as well. (I'm sure the book ones are great too, I'm just not much of a book girlie these days haha.) So, thanks for the great video, and I'm so excited to see more from you! May your channel prosper, and may you continue to have fun expressing yourself and sharing your thoughts! ❤

[@gimmepuffsleeves]

Ahh thank you so much! You should definitely start a channel 🎬 there's a lot of appetite for it!

[@liaomar6521]

I’ve heard of colors meaning stuff but more in relation to the emotions they invoke and imma be so real I DID get that from a random person so I don’t know how true that is. Also great video! It was fun to watch

[@gimmepuffsleeves]

Thank you so much!

[@Skye_Writer]

Fun fact about Scarlett's dress for Ashley's birthday; in the book, it is jade green festooned with way too many pink silk roses (the through line being that Scarlett has terrible taste and doesn't know when something is "too much"). Costume designer Walter Plunkett pointed out to Margaret Mitchell that every dress she actually goes to the trouble to describe Scarlett wearing is "green." You are right, the red was chosen as visual shorthand to brand her as someone lusting after another woman's husband. Selznick (the producer) was unhappy with the dark wine color of of the actual dress though, and kept pushing the Technicolor guys to make it more red in post-production. Note that every time Scarlett wears red, she has actively done something to pursue Ashley after his marriage; when he leaves for the train station the morning after Christmas, the first time we see her after marrying Frank and Ashley says he is going to leave to take a bank job up North (and she manipulates Melly into guilting him to stay), and then at his birthday party after having been caught embracing him.

[@LucasMartins-i6u]

This video is so good!

[@gimmepuffsleeves]

Thank you 🥰

[@la_lorraine]

Love your videos!!❤❤, color it’s such and important part of movies and tv shows✨✨

[@tfg-oq2sc]

I would love a part 2! I have wanted to have my own signature color but I've had trouble choosing. It's so helpful to see the theory broken down like this with great examples! Subscribed

[@gimmepuffsleeves]

I'll definitely keep this in mind when working on future scripts! Thank you for watching.

[@kactilove5543]

I loved watching this 💗you have such a calming voice

[@gimmepuffsleeves]

Thank you so much 🥺

[@Sinikkastudio]

0:22 the chakras ❤

[@amoscaul3264]

Thank you so much for making this, besides the video you've mentioned I barely can find a long form video on costume design. Except for videos discussing dresses, which is no issues but I love the full spectrum. It is very, very underlooked, and would love to see more thoughts on it in the future.

[@gimmepuffsleeves]

You're welcome! I hope to do many more videos in the future covering all sorts of movies and costumes. Working on multiple scripts at the moment

[@samueldeandrade8535]

0:06 There is nothing funny about that. School's essays are NOT the same as independent essays.

[@Sometheinuhuh]

Yeah, things tend to be more fun enjoyable and overall better when you're not forced to do it.

[@samueldeandrade8535]

@@Sometheinuhuh exactly, I think that is pretty obvious. I never understood this "mentality of naive sarcastic teachers": "Why the students don't like school's essays, but like to make essays by themselves?". Duh-uh, you really need to ask?

[@joshuapatrick5093]

I havent watched the whole video but i hope you have looked into voldemorts costume design throughout the movies as they did something very clever using colour

[@gimmepuffsleeves]

Maybe in the future!

[@joshuapatrick5093]

@@gimmepuffsleeves it's really clever the way they subtly changed the colours in his outfit throughout the movies to represent him getting weaker

[@starberry847]

3:20 i thought the left one was buzz lightyear lmao

[@gimmepuffsleeves]

the right color combo is also very woody coded too 😆

[@itssandra9030]

How do you choose the color to compare with the original? For example: why red and green and not green and blue?

[@gimmepuffsleeves]

tbh i didn't have a solid method, it was whatever looked "best" on canva

[@BRAZEN_Muse]

Krita is a free and open source version of photoshop - they basically do the same thing.

[@gimmepuffsleeves]

I'll take a look, thank you for the rec!

[@Kiki-xc4mj]

such a cool video, u gained a new subscriber :P

[@robynwilliams460]

That was so interesting! Thank you!

[@gimmepuffsleeves]

So glad to hear and you're welcome! 😊

[@-WizardKid]

3:03 I got NONE of these correct 😭

[@gimmepuffsleeves]

😿

[@atlaslmika]

I see Crimson Peak teheheh

[@IAMNOTEMO]

I really enjoyed this video! You did agreat job!

[@gimmepuffsleeves]

Thank ya!

[@95DiKar]

I loved the video😍

[@gimmepuffsleeves]

Thank you! 💕

[@PrincessDie187]

Colour then shape then texture

[@Randomnamepoop]

Such an interesting video. Thank you ❤❤❤

[@gimmepuffsleeves]

Thank you for watching!

[@Burning_Dwarf]

Gimp is a good editing software

[@christiandevita5735]

It’s funny that there’s a whole discussion on the importance of colour in costume and character when the example of the image is Kiddo’s biker outfit in Kill Bill. While I agree in the work behind colour scheme and palettes for characters in their environment and to express elements of story, personality etc. I would like to point out that Tarantino’s choice wasn’t based on the colour but in the fact that this is the outfit worn by Bruce Lee in Game of Death. More of a homage that a fully thought out decision in the character’s colour schemes

[@estersilva7804]

Nice video!!

[@gimmepuffsleeves]

thank you ester! 💖

[@princesspuddinhead]

Great vid :)

[@gimmepuffsleeves]

Thank you so much! ❤‍🔥

[@uweil918]

14:20 geez sorry for being an immigrant ig😂

[@gimmepuffsleeves]

immigrants get a pass for not knowing 😆

[@emmettoransky5088]

It's not surprising or new. Kids can write essays ambitiously but it has to be of their interest, at their own pace, without outside criticism during the process. And that why KZbinrs can easily do it. Nothing changed from childhood, you'll still struggle to write essays you don't want to.