Designing Sexual Costumes for “Poor Things” – The Hollywood Reporter

In Poor Things, Emma Stone, as Bella, wears one of several Victorian-era costumes featuring puffy sleeves.

Courtesy of Scout Pictures

Well versed in modern period drama with a twist, director Yorgos Lanthimos (Dog tooth, Favorite) He had a simple fashion design design Bad things. As British costume designer Holly Waddington notes, “He didn’t want to be like a historical drama, he didn’t want to be like a sci-fi film, he didn’t want to be too ‘fashionable’.” ‘The result is The age of innocence Surrealism meets high fashion.

Adapted from Alasdair Gray’s novel Searchlight Bad things is a fictional feminist fairy tale in which the character Bella Baxter (Emma Stone) is brought back to life with the inquisitive, uninhibited mind of a young child by the Frankensteinian Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). Against the backdrop of London, Lisbon, Paris and Alexandria, the costumes support the story of a young woman’s social and sexual awakening.

Bella’s “style,” as Waddington calls it, consists of the late 19th century Victorian era with contemporary curves and exaggerated silhouettes. While crop tops, 1930s-style bodysuits, flesh-colored blouses, and a brace known as a bustle cage (which gave shape and volume to skirts) are just a few of the looks, the real look — and one of the director’s favorites — is the big puff sleeves.

this, no Seinfeld A puffy shirt as made famous in the 90s sitcom. As Waddington explains, “There was a very short window in the 1890s in which women wore these huge sleeves, and once we started filming, the size of the sleeves obscured the camera angles. The large sleeves felt strong and were like lungs full of breath and air that ignited Bella and brought her to life. The center pleat detail of the front bodice with lots of flaps, accompanied by a narrow waist, quickly became a running joke between the designer and the director, who dubbed the basic outfit the “vagina blouse.”

While dressing in traditional period film costumes is often a lesson in quintessential period authenticity, Waddington by contrast varied freely in her work. “I was looking at very light fabrics that were beautiful and luxurious but not suitable for adults,” she says. “For me, it was important that there was a sense of organicity in every detail. Victorian dresses were decorated with a lot of beads, feathers and lace, which is a hallmark. I decided to forget that and wear my own clothes. Victorian dresses are very dense and include a lot of pieces of dead animals, Like feathers, so I found patterned silks and beautifully woven blends of silk and linen to get those wild textures.Designing with an eye for the present day also translates to the use of plastics, like the yellow plastic Bella machine.

The beginning of the film is shot in black and white, depicting Bella’s early years wearing lingerie, pants, ruffles, quilting, and baby doll dresses. As she grows up and discovers her voice and sexuality, the film is shot in colour, moving from paintings and frills to more form-fitting structures such as a grand dame-style society uniform for a grand tour and an elegant brothel during her tenure. In an infamous Parisian house.

The color palette keys in the film’s sexual undertones. “I was exploring everything that had to do with the body,” says Waddington. “I used a soft palette of pink that resembled human skin, and everything started to resemble female genitalia.” The use of latex to cover Bella became another symbol (it was called the “condom coat”, because it represented the color of condoms in the Victorian era).

Beyond 19th century inspiration, the designer looked to a variety of references, such as Bella’s “click pants” that were influenced by 1930s French lingerie (and reminiscent of Busby Berkeley fashions of the 1920s). ‘Space Age’ designers of the 1960s Andre Courrèges (white leather shoes with open toes) and Pierre Cardin, along with fashion icon Elsa Schiaparelli and crowd favorite Moncler, were also influences.

Waddington kept the black for Bella’s stay at socialist meetings and her medical career in a dark coat, bare legs and shoes. “She used the color black as soon as she entered the world of medicine,” she says. “I didn’t want it to be too gimmicky anymore, because she was in medical school and I wanted her to blend in, and the fabrics had to become more serious.”

Through December 15, Waddington’s work is celebrated in a special exhibition at the ASU FIDM Museum in downtown Los Angeles at 919 S. Grand Ave. The fashion show, which is free and open to the public, features memorable looks from the film along with Waddington’s original pencil drawings. Props and behind-the-scenes photos from Lanthimos. The fashion exhibit was unveiled on November 30 at an event hosted by fashion designer Ariane Phillips and attended by the likes of Jeremy Scott, fashion designers Mark Bridges, Trish Somerville and Gunnar Dieterig, and actors Lola Glaudini, Harley Quinn Smith and Monet Mazur.

A version of this story first appeared in the December 7 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.