An Eye for Details

THE MOVIE: “Shadows and Fog”

THE SETUP: Kleinman (Woody Allen, pictured), an inept clerk, joins a vigilante group to track down a killer in a Central European city, circa 1920, while contemplating major life questions. Meanwhile, a distraught sword swallower from the circus, Irmy (Mia Farrow, pictured), walks the same streets and temporarily enters a house of prostitution.

THE LOOK: Costume designer Jeffrey Kurland establishes striking visual contrasts among grim reality, the fantasy world of the circus and women of the night. Kleinman is the essence of the early 20th-Century schlump in his shapeless, hang-down black suit. For this role Allen abandons his preppy horn-rims for European-style oval wire-rims. Student Jack (John Cusack) and Doctor (Donald Pleasence) wear antique frames as well, which are among the movie’s exacting period details. Others include a pointy sleep hat for hag-like Alma (Julie Kavner) and an art nouveau headpiece for high-wire artist Marie (Madonna). These touches give costumes a magical feeling. They look as if they were unearthed from an old trunk, dusted off and slipped onto the characters.

Working-class men wear worn, gloomy jackets and faded striped shirts. The prostitutes, particularly the one played by Kathy Bates, are gloriously tacky in period corsets and funky old robes. Similarly, Farrow’s Irmy first appears in a shimmery beaded circus get-up, with serpents wrapping around her arms. But in her real life she slips into a sad-sack cotton dress.

THE SOURCES: Kurland combed antique stores across the East Coast, Los Angeles and London for authentic accessories, including the eyeglasses and corsets. But he credits Robert Marc Opticians in Manhattan with ferreting out in Europe three identical pairs of 1910 silver wire-rims for Allen. Kurland found Allen’s period suit in England, then he washed, scratched and overdyed it. Many of the corsets are originals, although he made Madonna’s from millinery velvet. Repeat Performance in Los Angeles provided many hats and headpieces, including sleep hats and Madonna’s metallic crown, plus items such as the silver beaded fringe affixed to Farrow’s costume. Kurland designed all the circus costumes.

THE PAYOFF: Kurland, as much a Woody Allen movie fixture as Mia Farrow, really hits his stride. Neither the oppressively dark production qualities nor the black and white film detracts from the make-believe quality of the costumes.