#costume design

[foxybouquet]

I’M GOING TO HAVE A HEART ATTACK

[gillisiart]

Variations of Wonder Woman’s costume for my concept of a ww animated series.

Personally, I like the “classic” style best but I’m still undecided on the hair

[kiis1k]

LOTR Legolas VS. The Hobbit Legolas

Ok. so. I know i wasn't the only person who, when watching the hobbit, was very put off by Legolas' appearance. Elves are supposed to be eternally youthful and beautiful! So how, and why, does Legolas look so much different than he does in the original trilogy?

To me, it's not a matter of Orlando Bloom being 10 years older, because he still looks amazing (and always will that man is gorgeous), but it is infact a matter of COSTUME DESIGN.

Now you may be wondering, “Costume design? But the same people worked on both trilogies, it can't possibly be that different.” and you’d be right. The big details are consistent, with all the races of middle earth, across the Peter Jackson films. But it is the little details that sell something, and they were kind of botched in the Hobbit, specifically with the return of Orlando Bloom's Legolas

Lets start with a quick spot the difference:

whats stands out to the viewer immediately? the hair, for one, and then the eyes.

In the LOTR trilogy, the hair is much looser, and therefore, more free. it creates a sense of youth in a character that, because though he has a fair face, he is probably 2,000+ years old. There are multiple instances in which Legolas, and his compatriots, are in battle, and his hair gets fussy and frizzy and tangles. it's not perfectly done. He hasn't combed it 500 times until there aren't any bumps left. Because that's not realistic, and it's not his character.

The flyaways are what sell his youth, the messy little ear braids, random hairs flung over his shoulder, knots and waves from movement. Even when little baby hairs around the face fall down, all of this makes a character seem younger. and all of this was removed from the Hobbit version of Legolas.

His hair is combed back perfectly. It looks like he's put hairspray in it. His braids are tight, perfect, and lack any of the original fluidity. His hair doesn't have a single knot, even once he's done flipping and killing spiders and jumping over dwarves. This makes his character seem years, decades, or centuries older and more experienced than he was in the Lord of the Rings, which takes place like 80 years later!

The wigs, though they were beautiful, were not properly styled in order to retain the familiarity of the character we all know and love from the original trilogy. That's not the worst offense though. that goes to the eyes.

BECAUSE WTF IS THAT.

The costume department really failed here. In comparison with Lee Pace (Thranduil), Orlando Bloom's contacts were abysmal. I'm not sure what the aim was, but if it was to launch Legolas 10 miles behind the enemy lines of the Uncanny Valley, they succeeded.

I'm truly not sure why they didn't just keep his original brown eyes, since it is very difficult to get contacts to look right on such dark eyes, but I would have paid to be in the room when they made the decision to put this image out into the universe. The eyes are just so piercing that every time his character came on screen, it was one of the inly things i could focus on. its especially jarring because THRANDUIL'S CONTACTS LOOK FINE.

It just makes the character seem so plastic, and so much older and less kind than he was. but honestly, the hobbit kind of served as a character assassination for Legolas anyways. I have opinions on how he should have been portrayed, but that's a separate post.

Honestly, I'm just not sure what there is left to say here. everything that could be said about the eyes has been said, and we were universally creeped out by it, me thinks. so that's my excuse to move on the the actual OUTFIIIIIIITTTTSSSSSS but only quickly.

So technically, I'm nitpicking, but these things are important in my opinion! So I'll just make a little list to make it easier to explain and quicker because everyones exhausted at this point.

the clothes are too tight, and too restricting for a "warrior"

the cut in unflattering and cuts him straight across the body, which does nothing for him and makes him look frumpy? somehow?

they're also too clean. He's a warrior, not a councilman.

The collar of most of the clothing in the hobbit is too high and mature, and also restricts movement.

all of the restricted movement makes the character seem stockier and less agile than we know, and see, him to be.

Basically, he looks like he's wearing a costume. (P.S. it shouldn't look like that)

and also, NONE OF THE AFOREMENTIONED PROBLEMS are helped by the fact that the editing and quality of these movies makes even phenomenal costume designs, like that of the dwarves and of bilbo, look so, soooooo costumey. And also the makeup department is its own can of worms, mostly with everyone having zero flush, but oh well.

anyways. That's just me.

feel free to add anything i missed, or disagree, by all means! to me, i just found not only the character's demolished personality and strange appearance a little too much to be able to look past it and truly enjoy his presence in the movies, but i still love the movies.

[idyllicchaos]

Lethal face card. Who wouldn't bow to the rightful Queen?

Rhaenyra Targaryen's red dress in House of the Dragon Season 2

[cursedjewel]

SO annoying this costume was for a super dumb movie that is straight up unwatchable (your highness 2011) bc she looks right

[xiaolanhua]

The Glory 雁回时 (2025) Dir. Yang Long – Ep. 10

[lamorchemoveilsoleelaltrestelle]

Tom Hiddleston and Mia Wasikowska in Crimson Peak (2015)

[beckylynchspenalytbox]

I love all the costumes in this series.

Deva Cassel as Angelica Sedara in The Leopard/Il Gattopardo (TV Mini-Series, 2025).

[eridonna]

𝓜𝓲𝓳𝓷 𝓛𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓷 𝓘𝓼 𝓥𝓪𝓷 𝓜𝓲𝓳 ⋆⁺₊⋆ ✶ ⋆⁺₊⋆

— 𝑬𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒂𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒉 𝒅𝒆 𝑴𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍, 𝑫𝒖𝒕𝒄𝒉 𝑹𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒍 (2025)

[fitzgeraldsflapper]

Costume Concept Art for Nosferatu (2024) by Linda Muir

[scarletstitchstudios]

I finally made my first yarn wig after 10+ years of crocheting my cosplays...

[alphacentaurinebula]

Once again the importance of costuming on this show!! The costume designer has a post on instagram showing how they created an elongated version of her skirt, so this shot would have even more power.

THE WHEEL OF TIME 3.04 'The Road to the Spear' (2021 - )

[notearsnora]

Paul Tazewell becomes the first Black man to win Best Costume Design at the Oscars.

[ashleyslorens]

WICKED Costume Design from Stage to Screen ↳ part 1 / part 2

— by Susan Hilferty — by Paul Tazewell

[thequeenwechoose]

Alicent Hightower's green dress with embroidery in House of the Dragon S 2