Seabiscuit: A Dash of Splendour from the 1930s
All right, I admit it! Animal movies make me cry. So do movies about the underdog becoming a champion against all odds, and so most definitely do stories about working-class heroes. Therefore, it was an absolute given that I would get teary-eyed watching Seabiscuit (2003), the story of the unlikely champion racehorse who became a…
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CINEMATTIRE
All right, I admit it! Animal movies make me cry. So do movies about the underdog becoming a champion against all odds, and so most definitely do stories about working-class heroes. Therefore, it was an absolute given that I would get teary-eyed watching Seabiscuit (2003), the story of the unlikely champion racehorse who became a beacon of hope for downtrodden Americans during the Depression era.

(Yes, it seems to be vintage week here at Cinemattire, because nearly all the films I’ve featured lately have been set in the ’20s, ’30s, or ’40s. What can I say? They wore some lovely stuff back then….)

And Seabiscuit is no exception: the costumes are bee-yoo-tee-ful!

Right off the bat I must state the obvious: does it get any cuter than Tobey Maguire (perennially adorable) in a newsboy cap? Not much, you must agree! And here we get the added bonus of a rich saddle-brown leather jacket:

That cap looks pretty great backwards too:

His character, Red Pollard (Seabiscuit’s real-life jockey) looks 1930s period-perfect in shirt-sleeves as well…

…and fantastique in his red-and-white jockey silks, too:

Speaking of fantastique, Elizabeth Banks’ attire in this film is pretty much the definition of ’40s-fabulous. Fitted suits, ascot-style scarves, brimmed felt hats, accent brooches and earrings, and of course the obligatory Marcel-waved hair and cherry-red lipstick create the ideal image of a well-dressed woman of that era:

Special mention must go to this beauty of an ensemble:

Next we have the horse’s owner and his trainer, Charles Howard and Tom Smith (played by Jeff Bridges and Chris Cooper, respectively). Well, their costumes had me ruminating that perhaps, along with my category of “Jacket Movies”, there ought to be one called “Fedora Films”, because the number of swish fedoras in this flick was near-uncountable. Here are the gents themselves…

…and also check out these photos of extras on the set!

(Here’s the link for more of the above: http://beinamovie.tumblr.com/post/8269717418/beinamovie-com-on-the-set-of-seabiscuit-santa-anita)

There are also a couple of interesting pages out there about the swanky three-piece suits Jeff Bridges wore, which apparently were custom-tailored for him. Here’s an example of a suit…

And here are the links….

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?61801-Seabiscuit-Costumes-by-John-David-Ridge

http://www.screenused.com/?sectionID=item-detail&subsectionID=index.cfm&item_id=3363

Finally, here are some pics of the movie costumes on display:

And a link for those, too:

http://www.gettyimages.ca/detail/news-photo/seabiscuit-costumes-at-the-art-of-motion-picture-costume-news-photo/2919603?Language=en-GB

~ costume design: Judianna Makovsky ~