If you have seen the gloriously fun 1978-set American Hustle, you’ll know that Amy Adams’s cleavage features heavily, presented to the camera in Diane von Furstenberg wrap dresses and plunging sparkling gowns. It’s a 1970s cleavage: while undeniably sexy, it’s authentic-feeling – these are real boobs in a time before push-up bras and chicken fillets were invented.

Therefore it’s precarious, Adams’s American Hustle cleavage, you’re always expecting a nip slip, so presumably there was a lot of tit tape involved. Not so, according to the Oscar-nominated Michael Wilkinson, who created the costumes for the film. 

‘We wanted it to be period-correct, authentic to the 1970s, so there wasn’t any double-sided tape at all,’ he told us this week while he was in town for the BAFTAs. ‘That’s what gave the costumes that little sense of danger and electricity, not knowing what could happen.’

‘Amy said there always were three tricks to keeping everything in place,’ he confided. ‘One was to hold yourself correctly, very erect; the second was to avoid any breezes or sudden drafts; thirdly we had a great editor to ensure we were capturing everything correctly, exactly how we wanted it to be.’     

Wilkinson, who also created the costumes for indie favourite Garden State and fantasy action blockbuster 300, said he ‘searched the whole nation of America to find the right pieces’ for Adams and her co-stars, Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper and Christian Bale, trawling vintage stores and flea markets and contacting collectors to get his hands on vintage DvF, Gucci and Halston.

But it wasn’t just about vintage finds: speaking about the task of creating costumes for Adams, who plays the hustling and dishonest (but completely lovable) Sydney Prosser, and Jennifer Lawrence, who plays the jealous and spiteful (but completely lovable) Rosalyn Rosenfeld, Wilkinson said, ‘Because the characters were very idiosyncratic, I had to make idiosyncratic costume choices, think outside the box a little … A lot of the principal costumes, we designed them and had them made because there are very specific moments and very specific characters and you have to really get it right.’