Inventing the Abbotts is one of the more forgettable films in that subgenre of melodrama that took a retrospective look at 1950s suburbia and was incredibly popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Pleasantville, The Truman Show, Blast from the Past, and The Majestic were other examples of kind of movie that enjoyed a moment as America looked back one last time before the turn of the century. This film follows one family whose patriarch has become incredibly successful and a poorer family of the man’s now-dead business partner. The rich family has three teenage daughters, and the poor family has two sons around the same age. You can guess where things are headed from there. Though Inventing the Abbotts was not particularly well reviewed, the wardrobe, and performances by then up-and-comers like Liv Tyler, Billy Crudup and Phoenix have received fond remembrances, especially as the film now enjoys the kind wash of nostalgia that it lavishes upon its era. Costume designer Aggie Guerard Rodgers, who did the wardrobe for Americana staple American Graffiti as well, brought that sense of nostalgia to this film’s costumes. The brothers, played by Crudup and Phoenix, are decked out in iconic all-American looks: greaser haircuts, flannel work shirts, thick cardigans and varsity jackets. The costumes presented in the film are both timeless and stylish. As recently as two years ago, Vogue revisited the wardrobe from the film, glowing, “Capturing a distinct era is the goal of every period film, but Inventing the Abbotts benefits from a certain timelessness, thanks to the constant presence of sportswear on the runway.”

Another poorly reviewed Phoenix picture that lives on as a cult favorite in some circles is 8MM. Nicolas Cage and Phoenix star in the film which explores the dark underworld of hardcore porn and snuff films. Cage plays Tom Welles, a family man private investigator who takes a job that brings him face to face with darkness and depravity. Phoenix’s character, Max California, is his metaphorical Charon, there to ferry him into the depths. California has a punk rock edge with a bit of a goth looked mixed in: he would look at home at an Orgy or Prodigy concert and his look is very 1999 counterculture even if it reads as a bit over-the-top today. The character is not a musician, however, but an adult film store clerk perfectly positioned to guide Cage’s character into the heart of Hollywood depravity while dispensing bromides like, “If you dance with the devil, the devil doesn’t change, the devil changes you.” California is dressed like what suburbanites in that time imagined corrupting forces to look like. He has blue hair, tight leather shirts, cut-off tanktops, barbed wire wrist tattoos, an eyebrow ring and other flourishes from an era where a ridiculous number of Americans felt that the most corrupting influence of American cultural like was Marilyn Manson. Costume designer Mona May might look like a strange choice as costume designer of 8MM at first glance, as she tended to handle lighter fare at that point in her career. But, May had a gift for heightening popular looks for the screen, which she did here—and in films like Clueless, Night at the Roxbury, Never Been Kissed, Loser, and The Wedding Singer. Despite the film’s box office failure, the character’s look remains popular on Pinterest and Tumblr today: because it is still, in its own dated way, cool as hell.

It’s hard to think of a musician with a more iconic look than Johnny Cash. After all, he is known as the “Man in Black.” Walk the Line, the James Mangold film about Cash’s drug-addled early years and burgeoning romance with June Carter (Reese Witherspoon), earned Phoenix an Oscar nomination. The film also brought an Academy nod to costume designer Arianne Phillips. In addition to her life as a costume designer, Phillips has a busy career as a stylist for musicians. This experience dressing rock stars helped her understand how important the key Cash looks would be in the film. She told the LA Times that for Walk the Line she had a “tiny budget and just eight weeks to research, gather and in some cases create the 1,000 or so costumes.” For Cash, however, she made all of the black suits and tux shirts from scratch. Though Cash is known for his black wardrobe, he didn’t actually start wearing black until the mid-’60s, a move that was considered shocking. The moment when Cash unveils his all-black look at Columbia Records is a key scene in the film, for which Phillips had to balance meticulous research and a look that would translate as stunning to modern audiences. The results speak for themselves. For suit aficionados paying attention, in this particular sequence, Cash is wearing a thin three-piece single-breasted wool suit with a slim notch lapel, welted breast pocket and double rear vents. The jacket has a red lining and is accompanied by a waistcoat. The pants have a nice, slight break and the shirt has french cuffs.

In Two Lovers, Joaquin Phoenix plays a suicidal hipster Brooklyn photographer. The James Gray film, like so many set in Brooklyn, chronicles the loves and losses of a certain brand of intellectual thirty-something New Yorker. In his review, Roger Ebert refers to some of the characters as “staunchly bourgeois,” and that is exactly right. This is not to say that this is a bad film: Two Lovers received positive reviews applauding the restraint and depth of the acting and the script. It is just to say that this is a type of film we are familiar with, whether it is coming from Noah Baumbach, Whit Stillman or James Gray. Thanks to the discerning eye of costume designer Michael Clancey, Phoenix very much looks the part of man who would lead this kind of film; while so much is going poorly in his character’s life, he still has a level of self-respect in his style. In other words: Phoenix’s character is still able to get a fit off. Much of Phoenix’s wardrobe from Two Lovers auctioned in 2013 lands with Brooklyn menswear staples from that time, including a dark blue Levi’s denim jacket with white fleece lining, a nylon adidas windbreaker, and navy Dickies work pants. Though we couldn’t find the brand of the baggy brown winter coat Phoenix wears in the film, the look of that jacket was essentially standard issue in turn-of-the-decade Brooklyn. It is strange to think of a film that is roughly a decade old as a period piece, but Two Lovers is undeniably of its moment, and the precision-accurate wardrobe is a key part of that.

The Master is a film that relies on the authenticity of its period setting to communicate theme. The film is about the rise of a Scientology-like cult called “The Cause”, but it is also about the search for meaning in post-World War II America and the human desire to have others control our destiny. Designer Mark Bridges sought rigorous authenticity in the film’s costumes. In an interview, he talked about consulting “early, early pictures of L. Ron Hubbard in Arizona.” He adds, “We were greatly informed of [the style of the] the followers by the faces and clothing of the followers. And that’s like 1950 Arizona.” There was also the matter of getting the period just right. One example of this is the mens’ pants. Bridges says, “It is unbelievable how high [these pants are], the space between the armpit and the top of the waist is like 6 inches.” In contrast to other Paul Thomas Anderson character like Barry Egan in Punch Drunk Love, Dirk Diggler in Boogie Nights, or even Lancaster Dodd in this film, the goal wasn’t to make Freddie stand out, but to blend in with the crowd, and that meant hitting the standard looks of the era. It is fitting that Phoenix’s costumes would not be particularly remarkable because Freddie’s character is adrift, looking for a sense of purpose, and is easily influenced by others. In the same interview, Bridges reinforced that Phoenix doesn’t put any of himself in his roles, but submits himself to the identity—and the wardrobe—of his characters. Bridges explains, “Joaquin worked [with his costumes], he felt those pants high and that’s where he bent and that’s how he took his stances. The way he worked with jackets and things. With an actor like Joaquin, my goal is to make him be able to live in those clothes. So it’s always very gratifying when those clothes somehow make them somebody else.”

Near-future science fiction costuming is one of the most difficult tasks a designer can take on. Her is one of the best examples of this done right. Though Casey Storm’s Her costume design did not receive any Academy recognition, his work on the film has endured, and has been analyzed as a realistic but conceptual take on the style of a 21st century that’s a few years removed from our own. Storm’s approached the “future” by making intentional, modest tweaks to the wardrobe of the present rather than going for a tin-foil hat overhaul. High-waisted pants serve as one clear design element he used to set us in the future, short collars is another. Storm also assumed a move towards warm colors, eco-consciousness, layering of multiple shirts, and an aggressive unsexiness in the fashion of the future. He told The New York Times that he considered how technology would continue to be an important part of day-to-day life in the future, and modified his costumes to allow for that. For example, the “eye” of the phone always needed to poke out of Phoenix’s pocket. The secret to the distinctive look of Her is that in the near future, it is likely that fashion will continue to be a mix of vintage concepts and new ideas, just as it is today. As Storm explained in a 2014 interview, “I guess the general idea is that if we continue to parlay the idea of bespoke clothing, you can take a little bit of every decade that you like and create a mish-mosh style. Waists from the ’30s, slim fits of the ’60s, colors of the ’70s.” The thing that Her gets so right is that life and style will likely continue on as it is in the future, and that means while fashion will be different, that difference will largely draw on what has come before.

Doc Sportello is one of Phoenix’s most memorable and idiosyncratic characters. Though this is another Paul Thomas Anderson collaboration, here Phoenix stands out rather than blends in. Doc’s frumpy unsexiness strikes a sharp contrast to the sensual, skin-baring female characters that dominate this film. Many of the womens’ costumes required haute-couture research and careful assembly to make the skimpy high-end looks right; one actress’s bathing suit required four fittings to get right and another’s crocheted dress required scouring LA vintage stores. By contrast, Doc “is not a style maven.” Mark Bridges, who returned to work with Anderson and Phoenix again on Inherent Vice told Vanity Fair that he “felt like Doc would have key items that he would be comfortable in.” To convey this, he dressed Doc in a hodge-podge of eras and trends. “At one point he wears a vest that was from a ’30s suit over a gauze shirt with ’60s straight pants and hippie sandals. It's kind of an eclectic look.” Doc only owns two pairs of pants, and they are from different eras: a pair of slim cut pencil corduroys from the ’60s and some very ’70s bell bottoms. There is also a hazy proto-slacker cool to Doc’s style which includes an army fatigue jacket and embroidered chambray shirts. Though Doc’s look is more distinctive than some of Phoenix’s other characters, Bridges reports that the actor still took a similar approach to his role and his costumes. The designer told GQ, “...early on in the process Joaquin was growing his hair and they just asked me to sort of just get some stuff...just go out and get some clothes that were from the period so that Joaquin could start inhabiting the character.” In the context of the film, Doc’s relaxed, scattered fashion makes sense. As a private investigator, he regularly wears disguises, and perhaps he looks at style as just another disguise.

Though Joker’s suit is the most iconic costume of the film, Arthur Fleck’s wardrobe prior to his transformation is equally important. In fact, for Phoenix’s final look to fully resonate, you need to pay close attention to the drab costumes Arthur wears up to that point. Mark Bridges once again worked with Phoenix on this film. He meditated on Fleck’s early looks in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, saying, "I looked at his vaguely outdated worn shirt, polyester pants and acrylic sweater that was inexpensive and might have been bought at a thrift store. I was trying to paint a picture as we learn about this man's life, and my choices also came from his personal appearance and financial status as he is living in a metropolitan area on the low rung, hand to mouth." Because Fleck lived with his mother, Bridges created a “vaguely juvenile” look for Fleck, from his childlike hooded jacket down to his white socks. Bridges was careful to tie Fleck’s prior life into his Joker transformation. He told Variety, “[Arthur Fleck’s] clown waistcoat is his Joker’s vest. The clown tie becomes a necktie that he wears. Everything has a motivation, and it all comes out organically.” Bridges also looked to the era for inspiration. He cites Dustin Hoffman’s Ratso Rizzo character from Midnight Cowboy and real life 1980s subway vigilante Bernhard Goetz, outsiders beaten down by the city and looking to push back, as Fleck inspirations. For a film meant as a twisted commentary on the superhero origin story, Joker’s costume design works perfectly. While Fleck is totally transformed as he becomes the Joker, if you look closely, you see the influences of his depressing environment on the final ghoulish monster that society had a hand in creating.