Phantom threads: original costume designs for A Matter of Life and Death
Costume designs for this world and the next by Hein Heckroth for Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s immortal fantasy A Matter of Life and Death.
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Costume designer Hein Heckroth’s original watercolour design for the airman jacket and overalls worn by pilot Peter Carter (David Niven) in the opening scenes on the beach.
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The resulting uniform modelled by David Niven in A Matter of Life and Death (1946).
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Niven wearing the airman jacket.
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The design for the outfit that Carter is wearing when he finds himself on the stairway to heaven.
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Heckroth’s design for the 18th-century garb worn by Conductor 71, the heavenly agent (and former French aristocrat) who collects Carter to escort him to heaven.
![](https://core-cms.bfi.org.uk/sites/default/files/styles/responsive/public/2022-05/a-matter-of-life-and-death-1946-marius-goring.jpg/1440x0/a-matter-of-life-and-death-1946-marius-goring.jpg)
Marius Goring playing Conductor 71.
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The design for a suit and overcoat worn by Dr Frank Reeves, the physician whose help June (Kim Hunter) calls upon to advise on Carter’s apparent concussion.
![](https://core-cms.bfi.org.uk/sites/default/files/styles/responsive/public/2021-04/a-matter-of-life-and-death-1946-heavenly-court.jpg/1440x0/a-matter-of-life-and-death-1946-heavenly-court.jpg)
Roger Livesey playing Dr Reeves, as he finds himself defending Carter’s right to continue living in a heavenly court.
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How Heckroth imagined the judge’s outfit.
![](https://core-cms.bfi.org.uk/sites/default/files/styles/responsive/public/2022-05/a-matter-of-life-and-death-1946-chief-judge.jpg/1440x0/a-matter-of-life-and-death-1946-chief-judge.jpg)
Abraham Sofaer playing the judge who holds Carter’s fate in his hands.