Michael Wilkinson barely made it into the 1970s, born early in the decade that brought us disco, the Watergate scandal and the Village People. He was just a toddler, but can still recall growing up in an Australia that was heavily influenced by American fashion and pop culture.

"My mom wore a lot of big Marimekko prints, and I remember seeing my dad in purple bell-bottoms," said Wilkinson, who was too young to pass judgment on something that was simply the norm. "I wasn’t playing fashion police at that age. I was less picky than I am today."

The grown-up Wilkinson still has a soft spot for ’70s fashion and said he was thrilled to be able to re-create that world as costume designer for the film "American Hustle," opening Friday. The film, directed by David O. Russell, is about two con artists — Christian Bale as Irving Rosenfeld and Amy Adams as Sydney Prosser — who are pushed into a realm of dirty politicians and mafia by an ambitious, unhinged FBI agent, played by Bradley Cooper.

In reading the script, Wilkinson said he marveled over the originality of the story and how the characters were not cliched, and was excited by the idea of seeing them express themselves through their clothing. As a result, both Bale’s and Adams’ characters go through 40 costume changes in the film.

"The characters use clothes to reinvent themselves in trying to become the people they aspire to be," Wilkinson said in a phone interview.

"There had to be something about Irv’s clothes that was very appealing. You want to trust him, you want to believe him," he said. "It’s Sydney who starts helping him find a way to present himself to the world. We played with a lot of beautiful fabrics, some colors that were quite expressive, great combinations of vests and shirts, stripes and plaids."

While remaking Irving, Sydney is also reinventing herself, Wilkinson said.

"She’s a small-town girl who arrives in New York and wants to appear very sophisticated and worldly. She has a natural sense of style, and when she meets Irv, she gets the confidence to explore it. She picks out Diane von Furstenberg dresses, wears Halston and starts really enjoying this new silhouette.

"I had a pair of Manolo Blahniks custom-made for her. It’s an interesting choice because he was turning attention back to the stiletto in the 1970s, while everyone else was wearing platforms. The stiletto would have been a fashion-forward choice for women."

Cooper’s character, Richie DiMaso, is the FBI agent who is seduced by Irving’s style.

"He starts off as someone who doesn’t care so much about how he looks," Wilkinson said. "He starts by wearing ill-fitting polyester suits, but once he’s introduced to the world of Irving and Sydney, a whole world opens up to him. He starts trying on silk shirts, three-piece suits, and starts experimenting with sunglasses."

To get a sense of who those people were, Wilkinson said he cast a wide net in studying photos, posters and advertising of the era.

"I looked not only at high-fashion photos, but at hard-hitting documentary photos of real people. But the goal at the end of the day was not to be slavish to the period, but to investigate the characters through the psychology of their fashion choices."

Wilkinson said he worked with costume and vintage houses in Los Angeles and New York to find as many authentic pieces as possible, including working with Halston, which granted him full access to its archives.

"We would redo pieces to suit a character’s idiosyncrasies. Then I started to make things from scratch, because there were a lot of custom pieces the film required, like a white metallic jersey dress that looks as if it was poured onto Jennifer Lawrence’s character."

Lawrence plays Irving’s unpredictable wife, Rosalyn, who threatens to bring his world crashing down due to boredom and neglect.

"She’s starved for attention and uses all her resources to produce some very outlandish ensembles," Wilkinson said. "She’s very provocative and doesn’t shy away from wearing a leopard-printed chiffon jumpsuit."

One of the first pieces he created was an ultrasuede skirt to pair with a pale apricot chiffon blouse from Halston, for Adams’ character. "I wanted her to look confident and strong but also convey vulnerability with this fragile fabric."

In interviews with other media outlets, Lawrence said it took a while to grow accustomed to going without a bra, consistent with the era’s bra-burning women’s liberation movement.

Wilkinson said the fashions were less structured, with clean and simple lines. "It was a really expressive time for fashion, and I’m hoping people will be inspired to take more risk in dressing as the person they want to be, and have the confidence to walk tall and have confidence in their own skin," he said. "I have the feeling that people hide in their clothing today."

Wilkinson’s film credits run the gamut from sci-fi to vampire romps, including "Terminator: Salvation," "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn" and "Jonah Hex." He’s currently in preproduction for the new "Batman vs. Superman" movie, set to film next year as a sequel to "Man of Steel."