Costume

In "Hugo," Martin Scorsese's new 3-D film based on Brian Selznick's bestselling "The Invention of Hugo Cabret," London-based costume designer Sandy Powell helps create the storybook image of an orphan boy (played by Asa Butterfield) living inside a Parisian train station in the early 1930s. Her awards are many (she's won three Oscars in nine nominations — her second was with Scorsese for 2004's "The Aviator"), and she's a favored Scorsese collaborator ("Shutter Island," "The Gangs of New York")

A Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman expressed "sincere regret" Thursday for any "implied insensitivity" related to costumes of Mexican men worn at a recent downtown fundraising event. The department will review the use of such costumes at future events, the spokesman said. Links to photographs from the event were forwarded last week from the official Twitter account of LAFD Chief Brian Cummings. One photo shows the chief with three men in LAFD apparel wearing sombreros and exaggerated fake mustaches.

Most of us are collectors, whether we display our obsessions in the workplace or hide them in their original boxes at home. We devote hours to researching and buying wine and designer bags, comic books and antique buttons, action figures and shoes. Neil Zevnik is a slave to costume jewelry. Zevnik has been an actor, a personal chef (his client list has included Liz Taylor and Pierce Brosnan) and a marine mammal rescuer, but it's his 21-year-old hobby that has turned into an obsession.

"Arrested Development" costume designer Katie Sparks, whose efforts on the first two seasons of the Fox sitcom earned her a 2006 nomination from the Costume Designers Guild of America, was tapped by series creator Mitchell Hurwitz to work on the new streaming-to-Netflix season that will be released May 26. She recently spoke about her work on the original series and the challenges posed by revisiting - and re-dressing - the quirky Bluth family after...

"Dark Shadows,"which hit theaters on Friday, not only revives long-dormant vampire Barnabas Collins, it also brings back some giggle- and cringe-inducing fashions of the early 1970s. Leisure suits. Mirrored aviator sunglasses. Bell-bottoms, chunky sweaters, macramé jewelry. These all contrast with the stand-up collars, cravats and capes worn by Johnny Depp as Collins. Costume designer Colleen Atwood was more than up to the challenge after numerous previous collaborations with director Tim Burton (her efforts for the director's"Alice in Wonderland" earned her a 2010 Academy Award)

The gig: Michael Wright went from struggling actor to hotshot TV executive. As executive vice president and head of programming for TBS, TNT and Turner Classic Movies, Wright oversees some of the most popular shows on cable, including "The Closer," "Rizzoli & Isles," "Men of a Certain Age," along with Conan O'Brien's comeback show "Conan" on TBS, which made its debut last week. Prodigy on a playground: When Wright was 7, he was clowning around on a playground in Sacramento and caught the eye of a woman looking to cast the part of the title character for a local production of the hit musical "Oliver.

For sale: one used lion costume. But we're not talking just any lion costume. Archivist James Comisar owns one of the largest archives of television artifacts, with about 10,000 individual objects. Now he's looking for a new home for the iconic Cowardly Lion costume designed by Gilbert Adrian and worn by Bert Lahr during all the "mane" sequences in the beloved 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz. " This may be the perfect time to pique collectors' interest in the costume because of the opening Friday of Sam Raimi's big-budget "Oz the Great and Powerful," which tells the story of how the wizard came to take up residence in the Emerald City.

Kit Quinn wipes away the sweat below her faux-ruby-encrusted tiara as she makes her way by foot to Anime Expo, an annual mecca of sorts for anime and manga lovers. It's been two years since she's been there, and she's surprised by the hordes of people at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Her raven black hair and fair skin, coupled with a red and white schoolgirl uniform, elbow-length gloves and red pumps, make her a near-perfect doppelganger of the wildly popular anime character Sailor Mars.

Even before it gets to New York, "Les Miserables" is the blockbuster theater event of the winter. They lined up for it at the Kennedy Center, where it ended its sold-out break-in engagement last week. They are lining up for it on Broadway, where it opens March 12 (previews begin Saturday). They will line up for it at the L.A. Shubert in a year or so. And they won't be disappointed. "Les Miserables" doesn't set the musical theater forward by one inch.

Designing costumes for a film is never easy, but this year's five Academy Award nominees faced some very daunting tasks ? starting with characters that might shrink or grow, Shakespearean gender switches, animal hides and royal regalia. We asked the five women to tell us about the biggest challenge of their movie. FOR THE RECORD: Costume design nominees: The credits for two illustrations that accompany a Calendar section article elsewhere in this edition about Oscar-nominated costume designers misspell the last name of "The King's Speech" designer Jenny Beavan as Beaven.

"Too much of a good thing is wonderful," declares Liberace in the closing minutes of "Behind the Candelabra. " The line, borrowed from Mae West, is a fitting description of the late pianist's famously over-the-top aesthetic: In his long-running Las Vegas show, Liberace was known to make his grand entrance via bedazzled Rolls-Royce limousines and for wearing glitzy ensembles like star-spangled hot pants or a sequin-lined, white fox coat with a 16-foot...

The costume designer who worked with Michael Jackson was alarmed by the music legend's frail figure during his last days, a makeup artist testified Friday.   Michael Bush -- who created much of the singer's wardrobe for 25 years and wrote a book about the experience -- appeared upset after he finished up a June 2009 fitting inside Jackson's bathroom at Staples Center , Karen Faye said.   “He said 'Oh my god, Turkle. I could see Michael's heartbeat through the skin in his chest,'” Faye recounted.

The tattered dress Anne Hathawa y wore in her Oscar-winning performance as Fantine in "Les Miserables" recently went on display at Universal Studios Hollywood . It's among the wardrobe items featured at the theme park from three of five films nominated for 2013 Academy Awards for costume design. The pieces are being shown as part of the NBCUniversal Experience, which takes visitors on a behind-the-scenes tour of props and costumes at the amusement park. The display features the opera gown Keira Knightley wore in "Anna Karenina," which won the best costume award for Jacqueline Durran; more costumes from "Les Miserables," including the white gown worn by Cosette (Amanda Seyfried)

Director/producer/writer Baz Luhrmann must be pretty proud of his latest offering, "The Great Gatsby," due out May 10. At least it looked that way Tuesday night in New York at Prada's cocktail reception kicking off the SoHo store's exhibit of the movie's costumes, designed by Luhrmann's wife, Oscar-winning costume designer Catherine Martin, in collaboration with fashion designer Miuccia Prada. One might say he embodied the phrase "busting his buttons" (as seen here). Some of the movie's stars -- Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire and Isla Fisher -- attended, as did Katy Perry, Florence Welch and Maggie Gyllenhaal.

Madonna's “Like a Virgin” wedding dress and Jean Paul Gaultier cone-bra corset are two of the iconic costumes in rock 'n' roll history. And they will be on display to the public in L.A. on Thursday during a one-night-only pop-up fashion exhibit at Macy's in Century City. The event, titled “Madonna's Fashion Evolution,” marks the first time many of the star's costumes have been displayed together. Items have been brought in from all over the world. The pink satin cone-bra corset (worn during the "Blonde Ambition" tour)

Most of us are collectors, whether we display our obsessions in the workplace or hide them in their original boxes at home. We devote hours to researching and buying wine and designer bags, comic books and antique buttons, action figures and shoes. Neil Zevnik is a slave to costume jewelry. Zevnik has been an actor, a personal chef (his client list has included Liz Taylor and Pierce Brosnan) and a marine mammal rescuer, but it's his 21-year-old hobby that has turned into an obsession.

"The Hunger Games"is a visual smorgasbord of a movie, a cast of hundreds dressed in everything from utilitarian garb with Depression-era grit to glam-gone-grotesque Gaga get-ups inspired by the latest haute couture. Then there's that dress worn by the young heroine Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) that goes up in flames. It may seem as if it doesn't get much better than this for a costume designer. But the pressure is on to please fans of author Suzanne Collins' YA trilogy, who have purchased millions of copies of the books and have already broken the record previously held by"Twilight Saga: Eclipse"for advance ticket sales for the film, which opens March 23. "I tried to stay as close to the descriptions in the book as I could," says costume designer Judianna Makovsky.

The gig: Melody and Amy Tsai help run Leg Avenue, their family's costume and lingerie business in the City of Industry that had $87 million in sales last year. Amy, 42, is in charge of merchandising, while her sister Melody, 30, leads the creative team that designs hundreds of Halloween costumes, including cute bumblebee, sassy sheriff and sexy zombie. Beginnings: Originally from Taiwan, the Tsai family immigrated to Southern California in 1984 in search of financial stability.

For those of us up late at night concerned about Halle Berry's high-risk pregnancy at age 46, fear not. It appears that the pregnancy, at the very least, will not affect her role in the upcoming "X-Men" film. As if that makes anything any better. Director Bryan Singer teased fans with Berry's return to the franchise in a tweeted photo of the Oscar-winning actress smiling in her all-black costume. Berry confirmed her appearance in "X-Men: Days of Future Past" on "The Tonight Show" in March, and she'll reprise her role as the weather-manipulating mutant Storm.

This year alone, Beyoncé sang for the president, headlined the Super Bowl, scored her 17 th Grammy, debuted a highly rated HBO documentary and was named half of pop music's first billionaire couple (with hubby Jay-Z). So what does such an accomplished woman wear to launch her latest world tour? The answer, in a gold-plated nutshell, is whatever she wants. And she did. Beyoncé kicked off “The Mrs. Carter Show" tour Monday in Serbia, and the pop diva donned some daring attire.