Kind of Like the Real Thing

The Movie: “First Knight.”

The Setup: King Arthur (Sean Connery, far right), his bride, Guinevere (Julia Ormond, near right), and Lancelot (Richard Gere) are revisited in Camelot.

The Costume Designer: Nana Cecchi, whose credits include “Ladyhawke” plus several Italian movies, sets and opera costumes.

The Look: Purists might have a problem. So might lovers of period glitz, although there’s plenty of metal studding to go around. Everything from dresses to warrior gear merely touches on medieval particulars, and then diverge into a spareness of line that would almost suit the “Star Wars” crowd. “I was invited to be extremely free, extremely modern,” Cecchi explains. “It’s completely invented. I wanted to be extremely geometric and stylized in order to make the audience comfortable to come inside.” For example, Lady--eventually Queen--Guinevere is strangely jewel-less (other than crowns, there’s not a piece of jewelry in the whole picture) and devoid of the expected head coverings. But that’s not to say her silk and chiffon velvet dresses aren’t exquisite. Innovative, though not necessarily successful, are get-ups on Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. They wear cowl-neck sweaters, tabards with asymmetrical patterns of metal and--on one shoulder only--rather disconcerting shields of armor the size of a frying pan.

Hit: Not on screen for long, it’s Guinevere’s wedding dress of creamy silk with pearl-embroidered paneled veils and a jeweled floral crown.

The Macho Factor: Lancelot’s pilgrim uniform involves tight pants and a buttonless rough cotton shirt that exposes a bit of chest. The piece de resistance is a pair of waist-high leather boots that attach to the belt. “That was really invented,” Cecchi says. “Richard said it was extremely comfortable and that it was the best costume he ever had in his life.”

Inspiration: Dreams (“It was one of those mysterious things where you wake up in the middle of the night and imagine Camelot is blue”), imagination, and 13th- and 14th-Century miniatures.

Sources: Most principals’ costumes were made at Costumi d’Arte Peruzzi in Rome. Guinevere’s dresses were made by Annie Hadley at Pinewood Studios in London.