A Study on the costume Styles of Femme Fatale in Film Noir - focused on -

Abstract

Femme Fatale in Film Noir is a wicked woman character who seduces the male partner to a ruin. In the film, the dress style is of extreme importance for the personality creation of the character as well as the development of the plot. With this background, I have looked over the Femme Fatale dress style that appears in the movie . First, it expresses Femme Fatale which stresses the feminine trait by a dress style with enlarged chest and hip parts and long, slim silhouette with tight waist and knee line. Second, the Femme Fatale with pretended purity presents narcissistic satisfaction like a saint virgin by wearing a neck-high one-piece dress embellished with frills, but the use of mirror represents self-alienation and the vanity of purity. Third, the Femme Fatale with its military dress style presents authoritative sternness which leads seduced male into ruin with its destructive power. Fourth, wearing jersey type or knitted wear that sticks to the body presents sensual Femme Fatale. Fifth, the tulle, chiffon, and white handkerchief used for the creation of grotesque Femme Fatale represents harmlessness and prohibition of immoral behavior, and the black gloves, pillbox, and the number on the tulle present her uneasy psychological state from the fear of being discovered after murdering her husband. On the other hand, the see-through tulle presents alluring sensual beauty. Sixth, the combination of the dialogue in the final sequence and drapery type as in Greek goddess represents the saint virgin of salvation who acknowledges her own fault and returns to her purity again. In addition, accessories and others made from shining material represent hidden conspiracy through simple dress and contradictory dynamics, and shoes embellished with bonbon, etc represent sexual implications in connection with male.