Photos: Kingsman: Behind the Scenes
Costume designer Arianne Phillips gives us access to the fitting room of a very stylish spy movie.
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“Because action movies are so physical, we created up to six versions of each suit.” Photograph by Jaap Buitendijk.
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“Sophie Cookson plays a young recruit who comes from a privileged background. She’s the English version of preppy, a bit like Kate Middleton.” Photograph by Jaap Buitendijk.
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“Sofia Boutella plays Valentine’s sidekick, a henchwoman with prosthetic legs who does the dirty work. Boutella is also a dancer and very physically gifted.” Photograph by Arianne Phillips.
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“Samuel L. Jackson is a bad guy—a tech entrepreneur named Valentine with a God complex whose clothes are a little age-inappropriate. He’s not quite cool, but he definitely has real flair. He’s also super-obsessed with color, so a lot of his costumes are very tonal. Everything matches.” Photograph by Jaap Buitendijk.
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“Michael Caine is an icon of the genre, and he was referenced so much on my mood boards. He plays the head of the Kingsmen. His clothes have more bravado than Colin’s, which are very classic.” Photograph by Jaap Buitendijk.
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“Taron Egerton plays a young recruit from a rough part of town. As research, I took a lot of undercover photos of kids in East London. I wanted him to wear what these guys usually do: Fred Perry shirts, Adidas sweatshirts.” Photograph by Arianne Phillips.
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“You can see our tailor at a fitting with Michael Caine. To me, Michael’s style in The Italian Job and Harry Brown is everlasting.” Photograph by Arianne Phillips.
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“I based these recruits’ pajama-like uniforms on Winston Churchill’s famous one-piece ‘siren’ suit.” Photograph by Jaap Buitendijk.
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“For Colin, we modernized the traditional Savile Row silhouette: softened the shoulders, dropped the waist.” Photograph by Jaap Buitendijk.
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“We used only British fabric and only British brands. Turnbull & Asser made the shirts. Cutler and Gross made the glasses.” Photograph by Arianne Phillips.
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“The Kingsman club tie was made by Drake’s. I actually designed the pattern with Matthew [Vaughn, the director], who grew up attending an English boarding school and going to Savile Row tailors. He understands the culture better than anyone. There are so many rules to British presentation, things you can and cannot do. ” Photograph by Jaap Buitendijk.
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” Being a Kingsman is about having the right attire from head to toe—and, once you are ready to reveal it, the right weapon.” Courtesy of Arianne Phillips.
