Fashioning Spanish Cinema: Costume, Identity, and Stardom by Jorge Pérez (review)

Reviewed by: Fashioning Spanish Cinema: Costume, Identity, and Stardom by Jorge Pérez Jennifer Brady Pérez, Jorge. Fashioning Spanish Cinema: Costume, Identity, and Stardom. U of Toronto P, 2021. 265 pp. Supremely written and expertly researched, Jorge Pérez's Fashioning Spanish Cinema: Costume, Identity, and Stardom is a must read. Pérez provides readers with five well-developed chapters, each of which includes what the author calls "case studies" (29) of filmic examples of on- and off-screen fashion: chapters one and two present couture fashion in Spanish cinema in its role of communicating messages of morality, subverting antiquated gender roles, and cultivating celebrity status in Spanish society; chapter three focuses on the expansion of meaning in men's costuming in film; chapter four presents convincing examples of how non-Spaniards are frequently portrayed on screen through costumes that emphasize otherness and difference; and chapter five explores the ways in which off-screen fashion (e.g., at photoshoots and red carpet events) helps to express the complexities involved in capturing the identities of certain celebrities. Scholars and students of contemporary Spanish cinema will surely appreciate the author's control of descriptive language; his encyclopedic knowledge of films, actors, costume designers, and directors from Spain; his impressive command of costume design and the history of fashion; and his indepth knowledge of the development of celebrities and their influence on society. Readers outside of higher education, too, will relish Pérez's ability to write in a tone [End Page 103] that mimics the opulence and intrigue of great cinema as they learn more about Spanish movies, fashion theories, and stardom. The cornerstone of this book is that it remains scholarly and erudite even as it opens itself up to be accessible to non-academics—a delightful skill displayed by the author that makes this book a true joy to read all while engaging in learning about fashion and film. In Fashioning Spanish Cinema we see that the visual style of onscreen costuming offers insight into the narrative elements of a film by revealing complexities of characters and plot. On-screen costumes also provide information about fashion's impact on—and with—cultures and communities outside of film. In this sense, Pérez builds on the interdisciplinary themes of fashion in film, visual aesthetics, and sociocultural relevance that were addressed in the seminal book Undressing Cinema (1997) by Stella Bruzzi. How attire shapes and is shaped by gender identities is one of the pillars of Pérez's book. He notes that fashion is "a barometer of changes in gender roles" (205): from the multilayered meanings of filmic representations of men in underwear to the high fashion of creating women stars in the film industry, the costumes that characters wear in movies and the styling they showcase off-screen offer more than aesthetic texture and narrative ornamentation that enhance plot and character development. Pérez points out that mise-en-scène costuming and off-screen styling influence—and are influenced by—social and historical panorama with regard to issues of race, gender, ethnicity, and nationhood. For instance, in filmic representations of Black men and women in films like Carles Mira's El rey del mambo (1989), Montxo Armendáriz's Las cartas de Alou (1990), José Miguel Juárez's Los hijos del viento (1995), Imanol Uribe's Bwana (1996), Icíar Bollaín's Flores de otro mundo (1999), José Luis García Sánchez's Adiós con el corazón (2000), and Vicente Molina Foix's El dios de madera (2010), Pérez examines how costuming choices reinforce hypersexualized and/or xenophobic stereotypes of the fetishized gaze. Characters in these films wear costumes that "display blatant and strategic visualization of difference," which is one strategy to "justify attitudes of rejection and exclusion" (148); and this strategy, Pérez notes referencing bell hooks, is yet another example of how "race and ethnicity are . . . commodified as sources of pleasure for white consumers" (157). Costumes have the power to reinforce or challenge viewers' preconceived notions. All too often, as Pérez shows, costume designers and film directors end up stylizing characters in ways that fortify stereotypes. For instance, in...

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