Costume and Cinema: Dress Codes in Popular Film presents an overview of the literature on film costume, together with a series of detailed case studies which highlight how costume is a key signifier in film texts. Sarah Street demonstrates how costume relates in fundamental ways to the study of film narrative and mise-en-scène, in some cases constituting a language of its own. In particular the book foregrounds the related issues of adaptation and embodiment in a variety of different genres and investigates this under-explored area through extensive analysis of popular films including The Talented Mr Ripley, Desperately Seeking Susan, and The Matrix.